Agenda item

To receive updates from the Town and Parish Council Representatives, and from other partner organisations.

·       Police

·       Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

·       Fire and Rescue Service

·       Town and Parish Councils

·       A303 update

·       NHS Wiltshire CCG

·       HealthWatch Wiltshire

The Chairman referred to the updates set out in the agenda and invited further updates from Town/Parish Councils and other Partners.

·       Police

Sergeant Thorne gave an update and referred the meeting to the written report in agenda supplement 1. In particular to the award for excellence in partnership working that PC Lucy Wileman won. Withshire Police had been through a restructure and reintroduced the neighbourhood structure. This meant there would be a dedicated officer for where you live and a slight increase in staff for the team. PC Lucy Wileman covered Amesbury Town and PC Juliet Cox covered Amesbury Rural, Bulford and Larkhill. There would be the same PCSO’s across the area. These changes should mean that people had a better point of contact.

Amesbury Police had been busy with proactive operations, including some successful rural crime operations, including preventing hare coursing. If residents saw any hare coursing they were encouraged to inform the police.

There had been a drink drive campaign over the festive period with an increase is arrests from previous years. It was thought this was due to the police being more proactive. Again, residents were encouraged to report drink drivers.

As reported by Spire FM a drugs warrant had been served in Amesbury the day before and a quantity of drugs were found. Enquiries were ongoing. This formed part of their continuous, robust action on anyone dealing drugs. If residents suspected drug activity they could call 101 to report it.

In response to questions it was stated that the police work with the Military Defence Police to prevent people abusing Salisbury Plain and protected byways.

·       Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

A video was shown to the meeting regarding the OPCC precept consultation. The increase for a band D property would be £1 a month, taking the annual cost to £218 per year for an average property. There was a you tube video you could watch here: https://youtu.be/SnokAmvcZo8 and people could comment on the proposals here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8NQQJFW. The deadline to comment was midday on 31 January 2020.

·       Fire and Rescue Service

Matthew Maggs (Station Manager South East Wiltshire) was in attendance, he referred the meeting to the written report and invited questions.

Cllr Mike Hewitt thanked the Fire and Rescue service for a successful event that had taken place recently. This was a flooding exercise in Salisbury to rehearse actions to take in the event of a flood and how to put the flood barriers up. The Fire Service, Police, Highways Agency, Environment Agency and Army had all worked together and it was a good event.  

In response to a question from the Chairman it was stated that “Other Emergencies” attended by the Fire Service consisted of activities such as assisting the ambulance service, forced entry and bariatrics.

There was a recruitment drive on for all Wiltshire stations, looking for on call fire fighters. It was particularly difficult to find people during the day. It was hoped that companies that would let their employees by on call fire fighters during the day would also get in touch. Amesbury Town Council stated that they could advertise the recruitment drive in Amesbury.

·       Town and Parish Councils

The written update from Shrewton Parish Council was highlighted.

·       A303 update

Marcia Daniels of Highways England to give a brief update on the A303. Marcia referred to the Stonehenge A303 project which was almost at the end of an 18-month planning process. The Planning Inspectorate had completed their report and presented it to the Secretary of State who would announce their decision on the project by the 2 April 2020.  The contents of the report were not known.

Some ground investigation works at the Countess Roundabout in Amesbury were underway which would help them to inform contractors if they got the hoped-for decision. There was also some more minor survey work to complete. Surveys were going out to businesses as well, so any business owners were urged to keep an eye out for these and to return completed surveys. There was community forum on the project which met every couple of months. The next meeting was on 12 February, 7.00pm at Anrotbus House in Amesbury. People were welcome to attend.  

The Chairman requested that Marcia and her colleagues provide a written report for each area board and to attend when there was significant news to provide an update.

·       NHS Wiltshire CCG

The Chairman referred the meeting to the written report in the agenda.

·       HealthWatch Wiltshire

The Chairman referred the meeting to the written report in the agenda.