Agenda item

The Chairman will introduce the announcements and invite any questions.

·         Update on the incident in Amesbury and Salisbury

·         UK Youth Parliament Elections and Activity

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         CCG

·         Housing Site Allocations

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         UK Youth Parliament Elections and Activity

The Chair noted the agenda report on the UK Youth Parliament Elections and Activity and highlighted the campaigns they had chosen;

o   Votes at 16 in all public elections and

o   A curriculum for life.

It was noted that there were 3 divisions, North, East and West. Although there is no South division, Amesbury is part of the East division.

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

The Chair highlighted the written report in the agenda.

·         CCG

The Chair highlighted the written report in the agenda.

·         Housing Site Allocations

At the Chair’s invitation Cllr Darren Henry gave a verbal update on housing site allocations. It was stated that the draft Wiltshire Housing Sites Plan along with a Schedule of Proposed Changes were endorsed and approved by Cabinet and full Council on 3rd and 10th July respectively. These would now be submitted to the Secretary of State in order to commence the independent examination process. These documents and associated details would be published on the Wiltshire Council website. The Secretary of State would appoint an inspector to consider the plan as well as all the submitted evidence, including the representations received through the formal consultation undertaken in 2017. These would be independently and robustly examined in terms of legal compliance and soundness.  Once adopted, the draft plan would form part of the development plan for Wiltshire.

In response to questions regarding Durrington being considered a large village, rather than part of Amesbury, Cllr Henry stated that there will be a consultation in the autumn on the local plan and that would be the proper medium for the people of Durrington to express their views on this.

·         Update on the incident in Amesbury And Salisbury

The Chair read a brief update on the incident in Amesbury and Salisbury, drawing attention  to two community update meetings that were due to be held in Salisbury on 24 July and Amesbury on 25 July. A book of condolence for Dawn Sturgess was available at the Board meeting for people who wished to sign it. The Chair then introduced Salisbury Area Inspector Pete Sparrow to give an update.

Inspector Sparrow stated that this incident had seen the largest mobilisation of police resources since the Olympics. Due to the incident, the World Cup, President Trumps visit and various other events the force had been extremely busy and working very long hours in order to keep everyone safe. It was confirmed that Public Health England still said the risk to the public was low, this was backed up by the fact that only 5 people in total had been affected throughout the whole situation. The Inspector had been very impressed by the resilience of the community and their kindness to the officers working on cordons.

Questions were received regarding pharmacies in Amesbury. One had been cordoned off as a result of the incident and this left just one functioning pharmacy in Amesbury which was struggling to cope with demand, resulting in queues and long waits for medication. The option of ordering medications online was highlighted to the meeting as a possible way to reduce the problems.   

In response to questions regarding the Speedwatch campaign the Inspector stated that the Police do support the campaign and would try to get enforcement out into areas conducting Speedwatch when they could.

The Chair thanked Inspector Sparrow and highlighted leaflets from Public Health, Police and Wiltshire Council regarding the incident that were available for people to take.