The area board will facilitate discussion on the latest ‘joint strategic needs assessment’ for the Southern Wiltshire Community Area, and explain how you can get involved in helping to refresh and re-set our local priorities based on this data and in the light of issues that have been brought to bear by the pandemic.
Minutes:
The Chairman noted that when Covid struck, the Board had not received the JSNA data, which set out the statistics for the community area.
Karen explained how the Board would facilitate discussion on the latest ‘joint strategic needs assessment’ for the Southern Wiltshire Community Area, and how people could get involved in helping to refresh and re-set the local priorities based on the data and in the light of issues that had been brought to bear by the pandemic.
Covid 19 had highlighted areas for consideration:
· Strong neighbourhood support for the vulnerable and more/new people stepping forward to lend a hand during the crisis - How to keep that going for the long term?
· Greater dependence upon online communication, e.g. for home schooling/working, shopping, accessing GP appointments, parish council meetings, area board meetings, etc. - Was this community area’s broadband capacity fit for that purpose? How digitally inclusive are we?
· A period where vehicle use was less, and more sustainable modes of transport prevailed - How can we take forward these benefits?
· The impact upon our physical and mental wellbeing - Who amongst us need help?
· The impact upon village and community groups and organisations - Which groups need help and support to re-start?
New data was available to inform the local priorities:
https://www.wiltshireintelligence.org.uk/community-area/southern-wiltshire/
A series of notable findings were presented by Karen under the headings of Health & Wellbeing, Environment, Housing, Transport & Highways, Children & Young People, Deprivation and Community Safety. The slides from the presentation are attached to the minutes.
The next steps:
• Begin to shortlist priorities (based on discussions at the meeting, and a subsequent online survey) by the end of October
• Organise a series of virtual mini events i.e. ‘working with our parish councils’; health and wellbeing, young people, housing, environment, between November 2020 and March 2021 to facilitate detailed discussion around these priorities
• Prepare findings and proposals from these events for the new Area Board in May 2021, offering a clear rationale for which priorities should be taken forward, how and by whom.
The Chairman explained that the objective was to formulate some proposals and project ideas to present to the new Area Board in May, to give them a running start.
It was suggested and agreed that the presentation slides be circulated to parish councils prior to the mini events, to allow them to prepare points to feedback.
A number of villages also had Facebook pages which could be another method of inclusion, circulating the data and asking for feedback.
The board was asked whether it could request a map of the Wiltshire Council owned land which could be developed for affordable housing.
Cllr Clewer noted that in terms of council housing, the council was looking at it with Stone Circle its housing company. There could be a number of reasons why rural sites could be unsuitable.
The Chairman agreed to look into obtaining a land map for the area, which indicated the sites for considered by Stone Circle.
Steve Bennett was in attendance from a croquet club, he asked that Karen include them in discussion around older people.