Agenda item

Partner Updates

To note the following written updates attached to the agenda and to receive a verbal update from the Police.

 

a.    Police

b.    Youth - LYN

 

Area Board Updates

To note the following information:

 

c.    Business Chambers 18-month reports: from the three Chambers as part of the ‘Chamber of Commerce Support’ project funded by the Area Board on 6.2.13

Partner Updates

The Board noted the written updates included in the agenda pack and received the following verbal updates:

 

Police – Inspector Alan Webb

Current work included a cross border operation to target rural crime, with high visibility patrols.

 

On 17 September teams worked with Officers from HRMC and the Council to target vehicles along the A303 and A36, to issue a series of prohibition orders.

 

Questions:

 

·       What was the main bulk of the work in this area? Answer: In Tisbury and Mere, there was quite a lot of work to do with the estates, involving the theft of farming equipment and tools. The advice to residents was to mark their property with bright paint to make it appear unsellable.

 

Fire – Mike Franklin and Station Manager Mike Bagnall

The Fire Authority was in the middle of a public consultation running from 21 July 2014 to 21 October 2014. Mike Franklin circulated booklets for people to feed back in to the consultation.

 

The three options which would be considered were:

1.     Wiltshire & Swindon Fire Authority to stay independent and increase collaboration with Wiltshire Council & Swindon Borough Council.

2.     Wiltshire & Swindon Fire Authority to stay independent and increase collaboration with Dorset Fire Authority while also collaborating with Wiltshire Council & Swindon Borough Council.

3.     Wiltshire & Swindon Fire Authority to merge with Dorset Fire Authority to create a single Combined Fire Authority while also collaborating with Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council, Dorset County Council, Bournemouth Borough Council and the Borough of Poole.

Further information could be found online at: www.wiltsfire.gov.uk by following the consultation portal to the documentation.

 

This would also be debated at the Full Council meeting on 21 October.

 

Mike Bagnall, Station Manager at Mere, Tisbury and Warminster fire stations urged people to spread the word and encourage anyone interested in becoming a retained Fire Fighter for the area. These stations were all reliant on a retained crew.

 

In Tisbury they were currently achieving a well maintained availability with 9 Fire Fighters for the station, all with additional full time jobs. However it was getting to the situation that a few of those would be leaving in the coming months. Both Mere and Tisbury required additional people to be trained as retained Fire Fighters.

 

A series of open days would be organised and people interested were able to attend one of the training sessions which took place at all stations on a Monday evening 7.00 – 9.00pm.

 

Further information was available on the website, under the recruitment section: http://www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/workingforus

 

Questions:

 

·       The demographics in this area are different to other areas, there was a high level of elderly people in the population, and there was not an abundance of jobs in the area with fit middle aged people. Answer: The criteria had become more flexible over the years, it used to be the case that only employed people would be considered, but the remit has relaxed to allow other models to be tried.

·       In some areas there was no mobile phone reception, would this limit some people being able to receive an alert. Answer: No, we use a pager service which has coverage across the whole of Wiltshire.

·       There were younger people in the community areas that could be employable as retained Fire Fighters. There had been a reduction in the number of real fires, which was down to the preventative work of the Fire Service. It was important to keep on top of training.

 

Great Western Hospital Foundation Trust – Maddy Ferrari

Maddy introduced herself to the Board and offered to attend future meetings to provide an update.

 

Youth – Kevin Sweeney, Area Manager for Integrated Youth Services

 

Staffing:

Interviews had taken place the previous week for the Community Youth Officer for the South West Wiltshire community area. An offer had been made to one of the candidates and if all the checks are completed in time that person should be in post in four weeks time.

 

Buildings:

In Wilton, there had been discussions with local providers to take the building on. In Mere there had been a discussion with Mere Parish Council to hand back the building. The building in Tisbury would be staying as part of the Campus decant and would remain available

 

Resources:

An itinerary of all of the equipment currently in the buildings would be made and local voluntary organisations would then be able to make bids for it. Ownership would then be transferred; this would be dependent on their needs.

 

There would be a review of the fleet services in January. The MPV’s would all remain where they were and anyone wishing to use them could contact Debbie Lymer on Debbie.lymer@wiltshire.gov.uk to book the vehicles. Drivers would need to have received the correct training.

 

Funding:

Locally Held Accounts money would be transferred to the Area Board along with the core Positive Activities funding. There may be a delay in transferring the Locally Held funds as we are still processing the bills for the previous youth work offer which ended on 30^th Sept but all remaining funds will be transferred. It had been agreed that any unspent money could be rolled over to 2015/16, so there was no hurry to spend the funds, giving the Board space to make sensible spending decisions.

 

The Board noted that it was committed to trying to keep as much of the previously available service as they could.

 

The Board asked Kevin to find out why the level of funding for next year was reduced. Funding awarded for the remaining 6 months of 2014/15 was £14,000, but the funding allowance for 2015/16 was £24,000.

 

The Board vowed to fight hard against any reduction in funding for next year.

 

Action: Kevin to look into the funding for next year and feedback to the Board.

 

Local Youth Network (LYN)

In May 2014 Cabinet made the decision to adopt a community-led model for the provision of positive activities for young people. By delegating responsibility and resources to Community Area Boards for youth activities, Wiltshire Council was committed to supporting young people and their communities to come together to develop a responsive and locally driven positive activities offer for young people.

 

The new model would mean that the positive activities offer could be developed differently in each of the 18 Community Area Board areas to reflect local needs, as detailed in the information attached to the agenda.

 

The Board would need to set up a LYN for the community areas. The next step was to form a wider LYN Coordinating Group, which would be responsible for delivering direct engagement with young people.

 

Anyone interested in taking part should contact the Community Area Manager stephen.harris@wiltshire.gov.uk

 

Decision
The South West Wiltshire Area Board agreed the LYN Terms of Reference and nominated Chairman; Cllr Bridget Wayman as the representative on the Wider LYN Group for 2014/15.

 

Business Chambers Updates

The Board noted the updates attached to the agenda from each of the thre Business Chambers.

 

Cllr Green praised Wilton Business Chambers as they had started a Credit Union, from the church room on a Thursday morning.

 

Phil Matthews, Chairman of Wilton Town Council added that it was a good service which helped to replace payday lenders; it was not just for people who needed a loan, but could also be used to save money.