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Agenda item

Partner Updates

To note the attached Partner updates and receive any further information partners wish to share:

 

  • Wiltshire Police
  • Wiltshire Fire and Rescue
  • Health Services (Healthwatch Wiltshire and Wiltshire CCG)
  • Transition Marlborough
  • Town / Parish Councils

 

Minutes:

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

 

·       Wiltshire Police

Sgt Pete Foster was in attendance and summarised the report in the agenda. There had been some arrests for drugs in Marlborough with one individual being caught with 50 wraps of cocaine, they were now in prison. This person was from out of town but was not part of a county lines gang. Operation Spruce had taken place over the Christmas period to tackle crimes that historically increase at Christmas, such as shop lifting or drink and drug drive offences. Rural crime was increasing so patrols would be increased to try to increase visibility and tackle the problems.

 

In response to a question regarding CCTV in Priory Gardens it was stated that Priory Gardens would always be patrolled as there was the risk of anti-social behaviour there. Although it was not felt it was a hot bed of crime. CCTV may help to identify perpetrators but did not necessarily prevent crimes. The police were working with Marlborough Town Council to get remote access to the CCTV system so that they could view images more easily and quickly without having to go to the council offices.

 

·       Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

Station Manager Dave Adamson was in attendance and highlighted the report in the agenda. One of the main issues for the fire service was recruitment of on call firefighters. As a paid position, on-call firefighters committed anywhere between 40 to 120 hours per week, during which time they had to be able to respond to the station immediately. Many had ‘normal’ jobs during the day, then upon their return home made themselves available overnight or during the weekends. Some of their crew would respond from their workplaces during the day, and the fire service were very grateful to their employers for releasing them to perform their vital duties. A one-week recruitment drive was to be held, hopefully in early March. Anyone interested in becoming an on-call fire fighter could find out more online at: www.dwfire.org.uk/working-for-us/on-call-firefighters/.

Flooding had also been relevant of late and the fire service had issued guidance and advice. They would also be attending the Marlborough Town Council Community Resilience Meeting that was being held at the Town Hall in the near future.

 

·       Health Services (Healthwatch Wiltshire and Wiltshire CCG)

The Chairman referred the meeting to the written reports in the agenda. Audience members stated that they would like to see the CCG in attendance at some Marlborough Area Board meetings.

 

·       Transition Marlborough

Milly Carmichael of Transition Marlborough gave an update to the meeting. Their theme for the year was to “Do Less – Better”, rather than engaging all the problems of the Climate Emergency, (which could feel overwhelming) they wanted to show how everyone could contribute by focusing on two areas.

There would be a major re-launch of their website soon (https://www.transitionmarlborough.org/HomePage) and much work had been undertaken on the Bee Roadzz Project. This was about connectivity in the landscape for wildlife and pollinators. They had joined forces with Buglife (https://www.buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/), Transition Swindon and Transition Salisbury. There would soon be green corridors between the areas, which was great news and meant Marlborough was part of a much bigger network.

Transition Marlborough would soon be running some practical permaculture courses. For more information or to sign up email: permaculture@transitionmarlborough.org.

The next meeting would be on 13 February at the Green Dragon. For more information email: info@transitionmarlborough.org. 

The Chairman stated that the May meeting was to be a themed meeting dedicated to the climate emergency and green issues and invited Transition Marlborough to attend.

The Mayor of Marlborough said that there were still problems with air quality in the town. The Chairman advised that he had asked officers from Wiltshire Council to attend the May meeting regarding air quality. For information regarding air quality people could see http://www.wiltshireairquality.org.uk/.

 

·       Town / Parish Councils

Cllr Mervyn Hall, Mayor of Marlborough Town Council (MTC) gave an update to the meeting. Marlborough was to take part in the national finals of Britain in Bloom. So MTC was working hard with volunteers to impress the judges.

Keep Britain Tidy was taking place between 20 March 2020 and 13 April 2020.

A Community Resilience Event to discuss situations such as flooding and severe weather was taking place on Wednesday 29 January 2020 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

A Civic Dinner was taking place on 20 March 2020, more information and tickets were available at the MTC office.

It was hoped that Marlborough would soon be gaining Visit Wiltshire Coach Friendly status. Marlborough had recently undergone a ‘Way finder’ review. This consisted of a non-local person coming to the town and seeing how easy it was to find their way around the town and points of interest. This had been very worthwhile and had given the town ideas on how to improve signage.

As mentioned by the police earlier it was hoped they would soon be able to share information and give the police remote access to CCTV.

MTC had recently approved the council tax precept for 2020/2021, this would rise by 5.76%.

The Marlborough Neighbourhood Plan could now be found on the town council website here: https://www.marlborough-tc.gov.uk/neighbourhood-plan. Possible sites for affordable housing and other community facilities had been identified and were being assessed for suitability. It was hoped that the plan would be out for consultation fairly soon, followed by a referendum later in the year. MTC had secured grant funding of approximately £15,000, so costs were being covered.

In response to a question it was stated that the timescale was as follows: the draft plan should be ready in around 2 or 3 months; this would then be subject to a 6-week consultation; the plan would then be finalised; which would also be subject to a 6-week consultation period; this would be followed by a referendum.

 

There were no other parish council updates. The Chairman stated that all parishes were welcome to come and give updates at the area board. The Chairman thanked all the partners for their updates.

 

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