News from South West Wiltshire Area Board Alvediston • Ansty • Barford St Martin • Berwick St John • Berwick St Leonard • Bishopstone • Bowerchalke Broad Chalke • Burcombe Without • Chicklade • Chilmark • Compton Chamberlayne • Dinton Donhead St Andrew • Donhead St Mary • East Knoyle • Ebbesbourne Wake • Fonthill Bishop • Fonthill Gifford Fovant • Hindon • Kilmington • Mere • Netherhampton • Quidhampton • Sedgehill & Semley • South Newton Stourton with Gasper • Stratford Tony • Sutton Mandeville • Swallowcliffe • Teffont • Tisbury • Tollard Royal West Knoyle • West Tisbury • Wilton • Zeals This newsletter, sent to the South West Wiltshire Community Area Network, enables you to keep in touch with things that are happening locally. With regular news from the Area Board, Council, Police, NHS and many other local community groups and organisations, you can be the first to know what is happening. If you have received this from a friend or colleague you can join the South West Wiltshire CAN by clicking here. PLEASE PASS THIS EMAIL ON! What’s been happening? - Celebrations for the diamond Jubilee were held throughout the Community Areas between 2-5 June. South West Wiltshire Area Board supported 29 Parish Councils to carry out a variety of events including street parties, displays, sports events and commemorative items. - Priorities have now been set by the Area Board as a result of the Community Planning Event held in March 2012. More information is provided later in the newsletter. - The Olympic Torch will be coming through 4 parishes in South West Wiltshire on 12 July; Wilton, Barford St Martin, Fovant and Ludwell. Read on for more details. *Next Area Board Meeting* 15 August 2012 – The Grove Building, Mere, 7pm Area Board meetings are a fantastic opportunity to engage in what is happening in your local community. We want to hear from you if you have any topics or issues that you want to raise at a few Area Board meeting; please contact Stephen Harris, Community Area Manager (contact details given at the end of this newsletter) At our next meeting we are due to have a focus on tackling financial exclusion, which will include the work of Wiltshire Community Bank; they will also have a display before the meeting so come along from 6.30pm to enjoy refreshments and find out more. There will also be information from our partners, updates on the Community Area Future meetings - start 7pm Transport Group and the Tisbury campus, and decisions made on any funding 17 Oct 12 – Nadder Hall, applications. Tisbury 5 Dec 12 – Wilton DON’T FORGET: Community Centre - if you wish to report a new issue in the area then please click here. You can use this process if you have any concerns about something happening in your local community. - Are you a community enthusiast, community or voluntary group, a town or parish council who is looking to fund a community project in South West Wiltshire, during 2012/2013? Find out more about Area Board Grants. Wiltshire 2012 – Festival of Celebration Having only just recovered from the excitement of the Queen’s visit to Salisbury and all of the local Jubilee celebrations, South West Wiltshire is privileged to have the Olympic Torch relay coming through on Thursday 12th July. The Torch will be leaving Salisbury at 7.49am and then passing through Wilton, Barford St Martin, Fovant and Ludwell. There will be various things happening along the route so please turn out to support the Torch Bearers and enjoy another great occasion for local communities. The previous day (Wednesday 11th July) will see a free celebration event held in Hudsons Field, Salisbury to mark the arrival of the Olympic Torch. The event will kick off at 1.00pm, with entertainment from local bands and groups performing on the main stages. There will also be a business breakfast event involving more than 300 businesses, which will provide them with a fantastic opportunity to promote their businesses to the thousands of people expected to attend, as well as a workshop for schools, a sports programme, street performers, a farmers and craft market and a fun fair. To find out more please click here. Funding opportunities You can find the June edition of Wiltshire Council’s funding bulletin for businesses and more support on sources of funding by clicking here. Paths for Communities is a funding scheme set up to develop and enhance the network of Public Rights of Way (PROW) in England in order to deliver benefits to rural areas. The aim of P4C is to encourage and support local communities to work with land owners to make improvements to the network of Public Rights of Way. For more information please visit their website. The Community Learning Innovation Fund (CLIF), a new £4million grants fund from the Skills Funding Agency, administered by NIACE, is now open for applications. The CLIF will provide grants of between £10,000 and £65,000, to organisations from across England for new and imaginative community learning opportunities to encourage adults to take up, succeed and progress in learning. More information available here. An event aimed at the Voluntary sector is being hosted by Wiltshire & Swindon Funding Network on Tuesday 3rd July at 9.30am until 1pm at Devizes Town Hall. The theme of the event is Better Funding Applications and there will be a speaker from the BIG Lottery who will help you unravel the do’s and don’ts of writing applications. Book your place by going to http://betterapplicationsdevizes.eventbrite.com Community Areas Transport Group - ***NEW SCHEMES REQUIRED FOR 2012/13*** The next Community Areas Transport Group (CATG) meeting will be held at 2.00pm on Tuesday 24th July 2012 in Dinton Village Hall. This meeting will review the progress of agreed projects so far and to discuss future minor highways works that could be supported by the Area Board from their annual fund. At the meeting in May the group proposed funding for: £800 towards changes to signage and road markings at the Walnut Pub Junction in Mere. £800 towards Dropped kerbs in Spracklands, Dinton. These schemes were then agreed by the Area Board in June. We are still looking to hear from you about new ideas to put on the list for 2012/13, thank you to those who have already responded. Schemes could be new crossings, dropped curbs, cycle routes – the sort of things that, though small, will improve the local infrastructure. Remember, the more detailed the proposal (especially with regard to its justification) the better chance it will have. For more information please contact Stephen Harris, Community Area Manager (contact details at the end of this newsletter). Council ‘tops up’ National insulation scheme funding The Warm and Well insulation scheme is open to all Wiltshire residents who own their own home or who rent privately. A survey will be done of the home’s existing insulation and if below the scheme’s maximum level the insulation will be free. If the existing insulation exceeds the nationally set limits customers are asked to make a contribution. However, Wiltshire Council now offers a further top-up grant of up to £200 to cover these extra costs (depending on circumstances) which means in most cases insulation will be free. For more information visit the website www.warmandwell.co.uk or call 0800 500 3076. Wessex Water supply grid Recent weather aside, a major concern in the South West Wiltshire area has been the levels of local rivers at certain times of the year, and also the quality of the water supply. Wessex Water is currently undertaking their largest ever project with the aim of dealing with some of these issues and meeting water supply in the area until 2035. You can find out more by accessing this video link. This issue has also been identified as a priority for the Area Board in the next year, to ensure pressure continues to be exerted in order to see an improvement. Community Planning Event – Next Steps At the Area Board meeting in June Wiltshire Councillors set out the priorities for the Area Board in 2012/13, as a result of the Community Planning Event held earlier this year. These areas are: - Economy, Jobs and Skills, including; supporting existing small/medium sized businesses and encouraging new businesses to start, measures to tackle youth unemployment, cost of heating oil, faster broadband speeds. - Health and the Environment, including; tackling water supply/demand issues in the area, sustainable living, health issues relating to an aging population. - Housing, including; affordable housing for local people, tackling fuel poverty. A period of consultation and research is now underway to agree future actions. A specific update on progress will be reported at future Area Board meetings, and an action log sheet will be kept on the South West Wiltshire Area Board webpage. Find out more about the work of the Area Board The Area Board recognises that not everybody is able to attend Area Board meetings, and many people may not realise how they can both benefit from and contribute to the local community through the work that the Area Board does. I am more than happy to arrange times to meet with individuals or groups, formally or informally in a location that suits you, to talk about the work of the Area Board and how it is relevant to you. Please contact Stephen Harris, Community Area Manager, to explore this further. Anything to add? If you are aware of anything happening in the South West Wiltshire area that you would like to be included in the next edition of Just a Minute please contact Stephen Harris; details are given below. Stephen Harris South West Wiltshire Community Area Manager Email. [email protected] or call 01722 434211 ©Wiltshire Council 2012 Follow South West Wiltshire Area Board on Twitter! Go to www.twitter.com to sign up if you have not done so already, and follow @SW_Wiltshire by clicking here.