Agenda item

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c.     Healthwatch Wiltshire

d.    Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

e.    Riverside Community Centre

f.      Health & Wellbeing Champion

g.    Town and Parish Councils

The Chairman drew the attention of members to the written updates in the agenda pack and invited members to speak to their reports.

Wiltshire Police

Sgt Don Pocock introduced Mike Davidson, the chair of the Neighbourhood Watch Association (NWA), who provided an overview of the work of the NWA including support for groups setting up Neighbourhood Watch schemes and providing signage for existing groups. He extended an invitation to anyone interested in community policing and the role of Neighbour Watch schemes, to attend an open forum in Chippenham Town Hall on 30 September. It was agreed that promotional material for the event would be circulated electronically through the Area Board distribution network.

Sgt Pocock then referred the meeting to his written update and highlighted that demands on police time continued to increase but that focus would continue to be put on frontline services, and that the community policing model continued to be evaluated and modified accordingly. In response to a question, it was explained that drivers who used their mobile phones could only be penalised if they were caught by the police, but that if reports were received of areas where it was prevalent, patrols could be arranged to monitor this.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Ade Hurren tabled his report (appended). Recent work had included the continuation of the Safe Drive Stay Alive roadshows about responsible driving, aimed at older teenagers through schools, and an Emergency Services day which had attracted around 6000 visitors despite poor weather. He reported that Malmesbury Fire Crew had been very active in this. Response times to incidents were averaged at 12 minutes with the aim of reducing this further, and there was an ongoing drive to recruit new firefighters. In response to a question it was explained that the greatest cause of false alarms was faulty equipment and the service were working with repeat offenders to tackle this.

The Chairman thanked the officer for his report and extended his thanks to the team for providing a tour of tower blocks in Swindon and providing reassurance to the council following national events.

Riverside Community Centre

Kim Power, chair of the management committee, provided a verbal update. The centre now had 32 regular users holding public classes or regular meetings, and work was underway to encourage use of the smaller rooms. A monthly session was run for older people and plans were in place to provide transport to this for those who needed it. A repair café was due to be held in September in which volunteers with particular skills would be on hand to perform simple repairs on items people brought in (for example mending a jumper, fixing a computer etc.) in return for donations. Future events included a band night on 28 October 2017 and a Health and Wellbeing day in January.

Health & Wellbeing Champion

Ellen Blacker gave a verbal update. There had been a number of bereavements over the summer but clients had passed away in their own homes as they had wished which provided some comfort. The LINK service continued to provide valuable support in the community area, along with the Driving Miss Daisy service. Conversations were ongoing with AgeUK around their befriending service. In response to a question it was explained that application forms and criteria for blue badges were nationalised and not designed by Wiltshire Council but that anyone applying for a blue badge could get in touch for support.

Town and Parish Councils

Ashton Keynes Parish Council wished to thank Wiltshire Council for the recent work done to improve road surfaces in their village.

The Chairman thanked all partners for their updates.