Agenda item

To note the written updates attached to the agenda and to receive any verbal updates from representatives present.

 

a)    Salisbury City Council (SCC)

b)    Laverstock and Ford Parish Council

c)     Police

d)    Fire

e)    Salisbury BID

f)      Community Engagement Manager

g)    Dementia Action Alliance

 

 

Note: Speakers are reminded that they each have a 3 minutes slot, unless they have previously discussed alternative arrangements with the Chairman.

The Board noted the written updates attached to the agenda and received

The following verbal updates from representatives:

 

Salisbury City Council (SCC), Cllr Matt Dean

 

·       The Council was due to produce its annual report. Which would focus on business delivery.

·       Cllr Dean had produced a more strategic plan for the next 4 years, this would be presented at the next Full Council meeting

·       The contractors awarded the grounds maintenance contract had received their first tranche of payment. SCC was broadly satisfied with the work carried out.

·       A Play-day event in Churchill gardens was planned, as well as other events such as Street food Sundays.

·       The increased litter in the city caused by retail outlets, was actively being looked at. A litter action plan would be produced.

 

Laverstock and Ford Parish Council – David Burton

·       The Old Sarum  play park at Norman Drive which is modelled on the Old Sarum Ancient Monument during the Norman Period had been completed on time and to budget.

·       A second play park at Old Sarum by the Community Centre was now under construction, it was a much larger project and aimed at all ages, particularly teenagers. The central play park included a play tower, trampoline, 30 metre zipwire, rope swing, easy access nest swing, natural play elements (boulders, grassy banks and stilt course) and an interactive gamenetic feature. There is also a solar powered DJ mixing desk, a multi-use games area for teens and trim trail to encourage intergenerational play.

·       We have successfully negotiated, with help from Wiltshire Council planning 13 new play parks at Riverdown Park, Old Sarum and Longhedge to be built in next 2 years.

• We are engaging with Wiltshire Council over the 6 play parks they own and manage in our Parish over the lack of maintenance leading to closure of three of them.
• Negotiations with Barratts and Wiltshire Council Planning over The Country park at Riverdown Park were now progressing well.
• Project work was taking place with the older community, delivered by Laverstock Memory group and the Circle Dancing CIC.
• Work with Parish Planning (either a  Neighbourhood plan or a Parish Plan review) was progressing and we  intend to liaise with neighbouring Parishes including Salisbury City Council as work on this front gathers momentum.

 

Questions:

 

• Who was leading the work on Parish Plan? Answer: Parish Councillors leading this work are David Burton, Hilary Davidson and Dick Buttigieg.
• Have you a doctors at Old Sarum? Answer: There is a GP surgery in the parish at Bishopdown Farm. We are putting pressure on the developers to include one at Old Sarum/Longhedge also.
• Had there been any progress with linkage between Longhedge and Old Sarum? Answer: The Parish is lobbing Persimmon Homes to hand land to us so we can sort this issue and get facilities put on this greenspace (play park etc).

 

 

Crime and Community Safety Group – Cllr Atiqul Hoque

The second meeting was held yesterday with partners from around the city, where the issues of street drinking were discussed.

 

Police – Inspector Pete Sparrow

In addition to the written report circulated at the meeting, Pete made the following updates:

 

·       Over the last year the Community Policing model had been implemented. A key measurement of that came from response times. By reducing demand, they had managed to reduce response times to immediate action response.

 

·       The co-location with council officers at Bourne Hill had been a positive step forward, as having the different services in one building was very beneficial.

 

·       Figures showed that over a 10-month period, from July to April, there had been a rise in crime of 7.8% in the City Centre. CCTV several elements. It helped with investigations, and acted as a deterrent with some types of crime. Across the county there had been a rise in crime of 8.9% and nationally it was 11.2%. So despite having no CCTV, Salisbury had seen less of a rise than had been found nationally. The system would be tuned on in the next few weeks.

 

·       The 2 main areas to focus on resources, were the need to recruit for PCs and PCSOs and special constables and the control strategy, which was the way we prioritise the areas we should be focusing on.

 

·       Street drinking was being tackled by multi agency collaboration.

 

Questions:

·       In Bishopdown there was an issue with people parking their vehicles on the pavements. Sometimes blocking the view for residents manoeuvring their own vehicles and causing a danger. Answer: The Chairman asked that this matter be taken up with the local Cllr Derek Brown.

 

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service (DWFRS) – Jason Moncrieff

 

Since the last meeting there had been the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in London.

 

Jason noted that a building with 6 floors and above was considered to be a high-rise building, however DWFRS worked to 5 floors and above as an added precaution. As far as Salisbury was concerned there were only a couple of buildings of that height which were being looked at.

 

There were no hospitals in Salisbury or Wiltshire which were at risk.

 

Questions:

·       What were the timescales to check the buildings in Salisbury? Answer: The Station Manager, Mike Bagnall would be handling this. Jason agreed to find out and feed back to the CEM.

 

Note: Further information provided after the meeting

Within Salisbury, 7 premises had been identified as high-rise residential. These had received an initial visit from the Technical Fire Safety team. They had all been assessed as ‘low risk’ as they did not have cladding and were not over 8 floors high. A full re-inspection of each premises was being programmed in conjunction with the management company. If visits could be accommodated quickly then it was estimated that all premises would be fully re-inspected in 3 weeks.

 

·       Mr Duller who lived in a 3 storey block of flats noted his concerns over the window size, as he would not be able to squeeze through if needed. He added that in his block, the fire doors were often propped open with a brick to allow air flow y other residents. He asked if this could be stopped by the police and the fire service? Answer: Jason recommend that he register for a Safe and Well visit, where someone would come out to give bespoke advice for that flat. Communal areas were subject to the regulatory reform order. Jason offered to liaise with Mr Duller after the meeting.

 

a)    Salisbury BID – Steve Godwin

 

The BID was an organisation funded by the businesses in the city centre. In July, figures showed that for 6 consistent months the levels of footfall had increased, despite issues of safety and disasters around the world.

 

The BID carried out a lot of work to establish where visitors were coming from and the areas that they did not come from. Working with retailers and businesses to promote the city was ongoing. Working with the 200 independent businesses around the city.

 

Some of the recognised issues facing the city included that of street drinking, and the lack of CCTV. With ongoing partnership working these areas of work were coming together nicely. The businesses seemed happier that they were being listened to.

 

Visitors were coming in from Basingstoke, Southampton and Reading. One of the initiatives for the summer was to have some large Stonehenge furniture appearing around the city during the holidays, to bring Stonehenge to Salisbury city.

 

The BID had produced a shopping bag for promotional purposes, which they presented to the Chairman.

 

The Chairman noted that further information on Rough Sleepers has been circulated.

 

Community Engagement Manager – Karen Linaker

 

Karen explained that the Council was proposing to deliver a legacy to mark the centenary of the end of the first world war, which ended on 11 November 1918.

 

Local communities were invited to plant 10,000 trees across the county, with each tree representing a soldier that lost their life.

 

Some suggested options for planting included:

 

·       An area/areas in your local community

·       A memorial wood in Wiltshire

·       A combination of a wood and local planting

 

The Woodland trust was supporting this project, working alongside Wiltshire Council. The aim was to plant the trees in November 2018. These projects would need planning and aimed to bring the community together.

 

Karen would be working with the community to form a proposal for Salisbury. This may be in the form of a combination, one large wood or something smaller  locally.

 

Liaising with Salisbury City Council, and other partners, to move this initiative forward. Riverdown park had street names named after fallen soldiers and Green Trees school had also been quite open to projects such as this.

 

There would be commemorative community events around the tree planting.

 

Questions and comments included:

 

·       Cllr Dean noted that the SCC main commemorative activity would be crochet and knitted poppies, led by Cllr Caroline Corbin. SCC has an in-house watering facility, and would support this initiative by watering the trees.

 

·       Laverstock & Ford parish council was also keen to be involved with this project and would contact Karen after the meeting.

 

·       The Post Office Riffles was the oldest badge you can find. The Old Sarum flying started up before the wars, we should preserve it.

 

·       Is there an allocated space or are you open to ideas? Answer: We would be consulting with key partners and the public.

 

Dementia Action Alliance

 

Karen was at the launch on 17 June in the playhouse, the mayor spoke of his personal experience of caring for a parent with dementia. The steering group would meet towards the end of July. Looking to see how we get around to more businesses and locations to convince them to become dementia aware. The Cathedral were leading the way. Hoping to have discussions with the hospital. This work was ongoing, but had started very well.