Agenda item

To receive any updates from partner organisations:

 (a)      Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

 

            Mike Franklin, of Wiltshire Fire and Rescue, read out a statement relating to the potential merger of Wiltshire and Dorset Fire and Rescue Services.

 

            Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was facing an annual budget shortfall of between £3.1m and £3.9m in the context of an annual budget of £25m which would need to addressed by 2017/18.

 

            An options appraisal was undertaken with Dorset Fire and Rescue Service and a business case would be developed to consider the amalgamation of the Services.  No decisions would be made until September when the business case would be submitted following consultation (expected to run from 16 June to 24 August).  Further details would be provided in due course.

 

            Concern was raised that sharing services with partner organisations locally was not being considered as an option to address the cost savings, which would benefit the County. 

 

            The Chairman thanked Mike Franklyn for the information provided and welcomed Paul Egan (HR Partner) and Jason Underwood (Station Manager) to give an update on recruitment.

 

            Since their last presentation to the Board, a recruitment evening had taken place on 24 March resulting in 8 applications being added to the system.  The total number of applicants on the system at present was 98 with one expected to undertake training in June.

 

            Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service were working with Dorset Fire Service on best practice and hoped to work with an outside agency to develop online testing.

 

            The Service hoped to hold another recruitment evening in late Summer.  The fire and rescue service website was expected to be relaunched from mid May and would hopefully attract more candidates.

 

            Travel times were looked at as part of the selection process with boundaries stretched as far as possible to accommodate most requests.

 

(b)       Wiltshire Police

 

The updated on pages 21 and 22 of the agenda were noted.

 

(c)        Parish Councils

 

The updates provided by North Newnton, Wilcot & Huish and Woodborough Parish Councils were noted.

 

(d)       Youth Advisory Group (YAG)

 

            A verbal update was provided at the meeting which included a question about what facilities would be available for young people in between the SHAK closing in September and the opening of the new Campus.  The Chairman of the Campus Group confirmed that this was being considered and was at the top of the agenda at the last meeting. Although no solution had yet been found the Group would continue to work towards finding a solution.

 

The ‘Have a Go at Carnival’ would not take place this year over a 3 week period (rather than 2) with a different activity taking place on each day to allow people to enjoy more than one activity.

 

The Value of Churches Youth Group announced their recent move to the Scout Hut where they met once a fortnight and confirmed that all youths were welcome to attend.

 

(e)       Campus Development Team

 

            The Chairman of the Area Board announced that Bob Woodward would be standing down as Chairman of the Campus Team but wished to remain a member.  Curly Haskell provided further details on the next stages for the Campus which were:

              

Stage 1 – detailed scheme design

Stage 2 – final design planning submission/approval

Stage 3 – tender, evaluation and appointment of contractor

Stage 4 – construction period

 

In addition to the above the Team had also begun formulating the basis/foundations for the future governance of the Campus. 

 

A presentation had been made to the Pewsey Parish Council AGM and a further presentation will be made at the Burbage Parish Council AGM later this month.

 

Representatives of the Team also attended the Connect2 Transport Consultation held last Wednesday and expressed their concerns with the potential withdrawal of services particularly that of the night bus.

 

Thanks were also given to the Community Area Manager, Caroline Brailey, who attended the last meeting of the Team.  The Team acknowledged Caroline’s strong communication skills and ability which they recognised as being a significant asset to the Team in the future.

 

(f)        Good Neighbours Scheme

 

            The update provided on pages 29 and 30 was noted.

 

(g)       Army Rebasing

 

            A written report was circulated at the meeting and can be found online with the minutes.

 

(h)       Pewsey Community Area Partnership (PCAP)

 

Patrick Wilson confirmed that since the last meeting Bob King had now formally retired as Chairman of PCAP.  Patrick would be acting Chair until July when a new Chairman would be elected.

 

At the last meeting of PCAP the latest constitution was adopted and the Community Area Plan updated which would be presented to the Board this evening.

 

In addition a very good presentation had been received from the East Grafton team and General Michael Walsh regarding the WW1 commemoration event of which PCAP was in full support.

 

Patrick announced that he was aware of conversations relating to the future arrangements of community area partnerships and confirmed that PCAP would welcome the opportunity of working closely with the Campus team.

 

Colin Gale was given the opportunity to provide an update from PCAP relating to the consultation meeting on the Connect2 services.  Colin confirmed that the meeting had included representation from Devizes CAP and Devizes Transport Group.

 

A press release had been issued expressing PCAPs concerns which included that it was understood that an ITT had already been issued.  Further details of comments could be found under Item 7 – Review of Local Bus Services.

 

Colin requested that those who had not already done so should contribute to the consultation which was due to end on 14 May.

 

Susie Brew gave further details on the recent review of PCAP which met on a quarterly basis.  In undertaking the review it was noted that there was a lot of duplication between the Board and the Partnership and that PCAP wanted to identify what useful work it could undertake.

 

As a result of the review, PCAP agreed to the following 3 priorities:

·         Help Parishes identify issues

·         Help Parishes resolve issues

·         Progress the Pewsey Community Area Plan

 

The Pewsey Community Area Plan was out of date and had now been completely revised in line with the Joint Strategic Assessment and the Board would be asked to approve the revised Plan accordingly.

 

A new PCAP logo had been developed and a website was in the process of being created.  Once this was up and running the above information, including the Plan, would be made available within it.

 

The Issues report had been created and sent already this quarter.  An e-mail to each clerk had been sent with the spreadsheet requesting identification of up to 3 issues.  An issue with the canal had arisen out of this and a meeting with all interested parties was being held already demonstrating the effectiveness of PCAPs issues reporting.

 

The Chairman welcomed the work of PCAP and was fully supportive of the work it was undertaking, noting the positive discussions already taking place as detailed above. 

 

The Board upon vote was fully supportive of the revised Plan.

 

Decision:

The Board supported the revised Pewsey Community Area Plan.