Agenda item

To receive updates from the following partners:

·       Wiltshire Police

·       Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

·       MOD/Military Civilian Integration

·       A303 – Highways England

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire CCG

·       Town and Parish Councils

Updates were received from the following partners:

·       Wiltshire Police

Inspector Dean Knight gave an update to the meeting. He detailed some crime figures and explained that when talking about the figures he was comparing the figures from February 2021 to February 2020. Crime was down almost 22% and burglaries in the area were at an 8 month low. It was possible that the pandemic was pushing crime levels down. COVID patrols were ongoing and the police were being proactive around this. Community Speed Watch would be starting again on 29 March 2021. It was explained that PSCO’s could now issue parking tickets at schools, Inspector Knight would look into further details as to how wide ranging their powers would be. Two people had been arrested in the local area for poaching. Travellers at Woodhenge were raised as an issue and the Police confirmed they would look into this.

Cllr Mike Hewitt joined the meeting.

·       Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Matthew Maggs of the DWFRS was unable to attend so the Chairman referred attendees to the written report in the agenda.

·       MOD/Military Civilian Integration

Lt Col Nick Turner gave an update to the meeting. It was stated that there was a training operation going on in the USA called Warfighter that a fair few personnel from the 3^rd Division were deployed to. There were also still personnel in Estonia helping the country with the pandemic. The census was being actively promoted within the camps and personnel were being encouraged to register to vote. Speed awareness was also an issue that was being promoted. The issue regarding evictions in Netheravon was brought up by Councillors and Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling (Collingbournes and Netheravon Division) stated that the tenants tenure had been extended to March 2022 and there were reasons to hope that Wiltshire Council may be able to take on the quarters, however this was unconfirmed at the present time. The military had some grants later in the agenda that would help with youth and Military Civilian Integration.

·       A303 Highways England

Marcia Daniels of Highways England gave a presentation to the meeting. Highways England were continuing to plan and make preparations for undertaking preliminary archaeology and ecology in the Summer and procurement was also ongoing. A pumping test was currently underway to monitor ground levels and flow. Successful talks were underway with the local business community in order to get them involved in the supply chain for the project. The Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site organisation had submitted a legal challenge to the project in December. It was not yet decided if there would be a Judicial Review. Between 23-25 June there would be a three day hearing to decide whether the Judicial review would proceed and on what grounds. It was hoped a decision from that would be available in late July. The defendant in the case was the Department of Transport and Highways England were an interested party. There had been protests against the project and Highways England were working collaboratively to coordinate an appropriate response. In response to a question regarding how Highways England would minimise carbon emissions during the project, it was stated that Marcia would find out more and update at a future meeting.    

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

The Chairman referred attendees to written update in the agenda.

·       B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire CCG

The Chairman referred attendees to written update in the agenda.

·       Town and Parish Councils

Cllr Mike Hewitt reported with sadness the loss of Allington Parish Council Chairman, Michael Brunton, who would be greatly missed. There were no other updates from town and parish councils.