Minutes of the Meeting held in the Phoenix Hall On Thursday, 14 November 2024 at 7p.m.

REPORT BY WILTSHIRE COUNCILLOR

Cllr Blair-Pilling wanted to congratulate the village for their efforts for Remembrance. He stated it was a very good event all round.

He confirmed the Planning application for Highview Farm Buildings was turned down.

He provided the following report:

 

Ask the Leader’ in Amesbury

The leader of Wiltshire Council, Richard Clewer, is holding a Q & A session in each of Wiltshire’s 18 community areas. The 17th takes place at Antrobus House in Amesbury on Monday 2 December from 6pm to 7.30pm.

Come and put any questions about the council, its objectives and priorities, and the challenges ahead directly to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Richard Clewer, and hear his thoughts and plans for the future.

If you can’t make the event but would still like to ask a question, you can submit it in advance to communications@wiltshire.gov.uk.”

 

Household Support Fund 6.

The Household Support Fund (HSF) was put in place by the government to help households that would otherwise struggle to buy food, pay essential utility bills, or meet other essential living costs during the current cost-of-living challenges.

The Department of Work and Pensions has allocated Wiltshire Council approximately £2.7M for the period 1 Oct 24 to 31 Mar 25.

Over the 3 years that Wiltshire Council has been operating the first 5 tranches of this fund it has worked with many charitable agencies across a wide range of schemes and helped many thousands of residents, old and young, in difficulties. We continue to refine the evidence and develop the schemes and introduce new measures such targeting funds to those hit hardest by the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel allowance.

Information about the Fund operates and who and how those in need can benefit is available at Household Support Fund 6

Wiltshire Council also provides cost-of-living advice and support, which can be found at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/cost-of-living.

 

Thermal Imaging Cameras

Thermal imaging cameras to check for house heat loss to inform home upgrades and save money on energy bills are available to borrow free of charge from Wiltshire Council libraries.

The cameras use infrared technology to detect where heat is escaping from the home, highlighting areas like gaps around doors, windows, letterboxes, and plumbing fixtures connected to the outside. These issues can potentially be remedied for a low outlay cost while delivering significant savings on energy bills.

There are 11 thermal cameras available. They can be reserved by Wiltshire library members and collected from any Wiltshire library for a loan period of one week. The camera connects to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth and used with the FLIR ONE app.

See the full comms item at Thermal imaging cameras available to borrow from libraries to check for house heat loss.pdf

 

Local Elections May 2025

The WIltshire Council Director Legal and Governance, Perry Holmes, recently wrote to all parish Council clerks regarding the elections to be held on 1 May 2025 and highlighted the parish liabilities for Recharge costs for Parish elections. Please make sure you have taken account of this in your precept setting.

Items from Wiltshire Council Cabinet meeting - 19 Nov 24

 

Local Transport Plan 4

Cabinet agreed to move forward with consultation on the emerging Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4). The consultation on LPT4 will be from Thur 28 Nov 24 to Fri 24 Jan 25. Find out more and ask questions at webinars on: Tues 3 Dec at 6pm and Mon 13 Jan at 6pm.

There will also be an online survey available from Thur 28 Nov.

LTP4 sets out the council’s objectives and plans for transport in Wiltshire during the period 2025-2038. It covers all areas of transport, including road safety, highway network
management and enhancement, car parking, buses, rail, walking and wheeling, freight, electric vehicles and more. It also provides the framework for all other organisations with involvement in transport in the county.

As Wiltshire is a large rural county, the transport needs vary, because what is required in a large town or city is different what is needed in rural areas. To ensure the plan is effective for all residents of Wiltshire, the plan is place-led and aligned to the Wiltshire Local Plan, with a focus on three different place types: principal settlements, which covers Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham; market towns; and rural areas.

This approach will help to unlock more funding to improve transport throughout the county.

Physical copies of LTP4 are available in Wiltshire Council hub and libraries, and people can respond to the consultation online in any library with computer access.

To find out more about the Local Transport Plan, to sign up for the online events, to take part in the consultation when it launches or to read the documents, go to: Wiltshire Local Transport Plan - Wiltshire Council

Recycling collection changes from 2027

Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet agreed its future approach to collecting recycling when its current contracts to carry out this service come to an end in 2026. When the changes are introduced in 2027 it should result in a significant reduction in annual revenue expenditure, increased income from commodity sales, improved recycling rate, simplification of the recycling sorting process and significant reduction in carbon emissions.

The Council has carried out extensive research and options assessment to identify the future recycling collection method that presented the best opportunity for successful implementation and allow residents to recycle as much as possible from the kerbside.

Cabinet agreed to adopt ‘Three Stream’ recycling collections and It is anticipated that from 2027 residents would be asked to present recycling in one wheeled bin or weighted reusable sack for paper and cardboard, a second wheeled bin or weighted reusable sack for mixed plastics, cans, cartons, and bagged flexible plastics, and a box for glass. Currently, most Wiltshire residents already use a blue-lidded wheeled bin for mixed recycling and have a box for the collection of glass.

The changes are necessary as all local authorities have to comply with new statutory requirements under the Environment Act 2021, which require councils to offer households a regular collection of:

• Glass
• Metal
• Plastic (including flexible plastics from 2027)
• Paper and card
• Food waste (from 2027)
• Garden waste (charges for collection may be applied)

all of which, Wiltshire Council already collects aside from food waste and flexible plastics.

The Council has agreed with Defra to collect food waste by August 2027 and flexible plastics must be collected from households by April 2027.

The alternative option was to retain the current ‘Twin Stream’ approach, with some amendments in order to collect flexible plastics and to enhance recycling sorting facility performance, but this set-up is not currently maximising the council’s recycling capabilities, due to less materials being successfully captured for recycling during the sorting process than expected, and technical modelling showed that this option would also be more expensive overall than the proposed three stream recycling collection.

The full cabinet report that was presented on 19 November can be found at Agenda and decisions - Democratic Services - Wiltshire Council.

More information about the council’s current recycling services can be found at Kerbside recycling - Wiltshire Council

Wiltshire Council 2nd Quarter Financial Position

The Council’s second formal update of the 2024/25 financial year, shows its previous forecasted overspend has reduced significantly. At the end of the 1st quarter the forecast overspend for the year was around £8.2m. The 2nd quarter forecasted position, is now around £861k.

This continues to be a challenging and somewhat unpredictable time for local authority finances; however, our preventative way of working puts us in a stronger position than most and we are well equipped to mitigate any problems. We are confident that we will be on budget at the end of the financial year without the need to use any of our reserves.

Like councils across the country, areas such as adult social care continue to put pressures on finances, but we are focussed as ever on being a self-sustaining authority that lives within its means, and we’ve put measures in place that have already seen our forecast significantly improve.

We remain ambitious, and continue to invest in other key services such as our roads, with our capital programme focussed on improving the infrastructure of our county i.e. investment in schools, highways, council house building and our leisure services – including a brand-new leisure centre for our county town.”

At the end of the 2nd quarter, the council has already achieved almost 43% of its £19.6m saving targets of the year.

We take a long-term strategic approach to the budget, effectively setting the next three years’ budgets in February, which means we are in a stronger position to respond positively to any unexpected issues

And finally

 

Get fit for less this Black Friday!

Looking to get fit for less this November? Why not join our healthy community this Black Friday and enjoy 10% off an annual membership or nothing to pay on direct debit memberships until December!

Wiltshire Council leisure centres will again be offering exciting membership deals this Black Friday aimed at helping people meet their fitness goals and save in the process.

The membership deals run from Friday 22 November to Sunday 1 December, and includes:

• 10% off annual memberships (including Life Zone, Fitness Zone, Swim Zone, Young Adult and Junior Zone). This equates to more than an extra month free when buying an annual leisure membership (normal price already includes one month free).
• Join for free on direct debit memberships, with nothing to pay until 5 December. Offer available on new 12 month contract direct debit Life Zone, Fitness Zone and Swim Zone memberships, as well as new Young Adult and Junior Zone flexible memberships

These deals are on sale for a limited time only and must be purchased by Sunday 1 December.

We are committed to helping the people of Wiltshire to increase their activity levels and improve their health, and we’ve invested heavily in leisure centre refurbishment and improvement projects this year to support that aim. There is something for everyone in our centres, regardless of fitness levels, experience or personal goals and we’re here to help you achieve a happier, healthier lifestyle.

As a Life Zone, Fitness Zone, Swim Zone, Young Adult or Junior Zone member, people can access all of our 20 leisure centres. All member types benefit from a 10-day book in advance policy.

Details on memberships can be found at Leisure memberships - Wiltshire Council www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisure-memberships.

Terms and conditions apply - full details are available at Leisure promotions - Wiltshire Council www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisure-promotions.