HULLAVINGTON ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Minutes of the meeting held on 22 April 2014 at 7.30pm
Present: Nine members of the public attended the meeting including the Chairman of the Parish
Council, Cllr Maggie Bawden Rawsthorne who chaired this meeting.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Annual Parish Meeting.
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Wiltshire Police, Mr Robert Fenner (Village Hall), Alison
Reed (Hullavington PCC), Sarah Harmer (WI).
2. The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 23 April 2014 at 7.30pm
The Minutes of the previous APM had been agreed and signed as a true and correct
record at the following Parish Council meeting in May 2014.
3. Hullavington Parish Council
The Chairman of the Parish Council gave a report, copied below.
Chairman’s Report – APM – 22.4.2015
Another interesting and busy year for the Parish Council and again, I have had the
unfailing support of the Clerk and each of the Councillors. My sincere thanks to all of
you for what you are doing for the village that we all love and particularly to the Clerk,
who keeps us all in order and makes sure that we are doing things properly; also for the
many hours that Sharon puts in attending various meeting so that she is up to speed with
the latest legislation.
Thanks again to Jane Scott, our district councillor, for her help and guidance over the
year, your assistance is very much appreciated.
To those members of the public who have attended our meetings over the last year, we
thank you for your interest and we look forward to seeing you in the future.
We were pleased to welcome Dave Martin as a new councillor last September, Dave has
lived in the Parish for many years and, like all of us, has the best interests of the village at
heart. Dave attended the new Councillors Course recently and, like Patrick, found it
most informative. We are still one Councillor short and live in hope that one day we
shall be up to full strength.
At our budget meeting in November, we considered it expedient to increase the precept
for the coming year. The increase, of 2.4%, equates to 85p per year for a Band D
property and gives us a budget of £17,700. Since the Precept was set, we have been
informed by Wiltshire Council that the Parish Council now has to start paying for any
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elections it may have to hold, this cost would be in the region of approx. £1000, so the
increase was a wise precaution for unexpected eventualities such as this.
The Parish Council has been consulted on 16 planning applications between 1st April
2014 and 31st March 2015. Fortunately, this year there has been nothing too
controversial.
It was hoped that the Community Benefit to the village would be the installation of Solar
Panels on the roof of the village hall, with the hall benefitting from free electricity whilst
it was being generated, and the Parish Council benefitting from the Feed in Tariff which
would have been used for the benefit of the village as a whole. However, after lengthy
negotiations with the Solar Panel suppliers and a full survey it was concluded that the
roof of the village hall was not strong enough to take the weight of the panels. The only
other option was to take the lump sum of £22,500 which was the best offer on the table
from Wessex Solar Energy. This was finally received in December and is now held in a
separate account to be used for the benefit of the whole community. Certain conditions
attached to the original planning consent have not yet been fulfilled, namely the reinstatement of the road and the sowing of meadow grass on the site.
The traveller’s site at Rosefield has still not been completed, but recent works at the
entrance to the site have been carried out to the satisfaction of Highways. Meanwhile it
is still an eyesore.
There have been several highway inspections over the last year with Richard Dobson, the
Highways Community Co-ordinator but sadly BBLP have not been co-operating very
well, if at all! Still outstanding are the flooding issues at Cemetery Corner and
Brookside and the erection of the new street name signs for The Parklands and Royal
Field Close. However, the spare litter bin that was next to The Parklands bus shelter has
finally been moved to near the stile on Willane, which is the far entrance to The
Parklands. Only took a year!!!
Willane has also been totally resurfaced to a high standard and questions are now being
asked about Hill Hayes Lane. Recently various markings have appeared on the road so
we live in hope that some substantial work will also be carried out in that area.
Following comments from a parishioner regarding the difficulty of exiting Frog Lane due
to vehicles being parked too near the junction, the police placed no parking signs at the
junction and requested that residents park on the opposite side of the road so that vision
was not impaired. This seems to have worked and in addition, all the white lining in the
village has been repainted. This hopefully will encourage people not to park near a
junction and to reduce their speed whilst travelling through the village.
We were rather surprised in March to observe that the highway verges in the village were
being cut by BBLP and WC! On talking to the team, we were told that they would be
cutting the verges on a fortnightly basis throughout the summer. When I questioned
Richard Dobson about this, I was informed that they should have been doing it all last
year. I informed him that the Parish Council had been responsible for these areas for at
least the last 20 years, that we had just negotiated a new contract, and felt that we should
receive some payment from WC for this work that was being done on their behalf. It
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was discovered that another parish had entered into a Service Level Agreement and were
being paid £300 per year because it was doing its own grass cutting. The response from
Richard Dobson was “Although we are looking at service delegation such as this, there is
no financial capacity to develop a service level agreement. The ways in which this can
be taken forward is either the parish council can discontinue their cutting and BBLP will
do so as per their schedule, or we can instruct BBLP to not cut this area and have it
removed from our maps.” From our experience of BBLP over the last year, we shall
continue with our contractor, but try to negotiate some sort of reimbursement from WC in
the future.
The Initial Response Plan which the village had many years ago, has been resurrected
with the new designation of Community Resilience Plan. This is being taken forward by
Councillor Patrick Sobers so please contact him if you have any skills or items of
equipment that could be used in case of an emergency situation.
The village continues to enjoy - and benefit from - the proximity of Buckley Barracks.
Once again, the Army has supplied and rigged tents for the School Spring Fayre and the
Church Fete and erected the Christmas tree, selected by Sheila Greenman, in the
churchyard. Thanks to the work carried out by Hank Slater and Dave Martin, the tree
remained upright this year, although when the lads came back after Christmas to take it
down, they also managed to re-arrange the work carried out by Hank and Dave, so
modifications have been made and its fingers crossed for the next Christmas tree.
A diseased tree was discovered on The Green, and this was removed by Councillor Slater
in September at no cost to the village. Thank you Hank.
The rubbish bin at the bus stop in Wellington Place is now being emptied on a regular
basis and, wonder of wonders - the lights on Frog Lane leading to Wellington Place are
now working following nearly three months of negotiations. Long may they shine!
Efforts are continuing to get Footpath 29 reopened for the benefit of the village and the
footpath across the MOD land from Hullavington to Stanton is going to be being signed,
thanks to Don Queen who has offered to undertake this work.
The unused bus library stop at Buckley Barracks has been replaced with a stop at The
Parklands from January 2015. An advert was placed in Hullavington News to publicise
this facility.
Thanks to a very generous donation of £200 from Wiltshire Rural Housing Association,
who is the developer of the houses on what used to be Lawn Farm, the parish council will
be developing a wildlife meadow on the remaining third of the cemetery. Councillor
Pete Gash has offered to do all the preparatory work of ploughing, weed killing,
harrowing and seed sowing. A new memorial seat that has been placed in the cemetery
for the benefit of all who wish to sit and remember will now have a pleasant outlook over
this and of the village.
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Members of the W.I. once again planted up the tubs sited at the Parklands end of the
village - and the ladies also carried out maintenance to the garden behind the bus shelter.
Their efforts are greatly appreciated by the Parish Council.
The village is once again entering the Best Kept Village competition and, having suffered
the ignominy of being placed last out of three last year, we are hoping that this year we
can repeat our win in 1999. The judges are not looking for the prettiest village, just the
best kept village, so it is up to everyone to do their bit, tidy up around their properties and
perhaps help any elderly neighbours with this task. Judging takes place in May and June
so the optimum time to start the tidy up is the beginning of May.
So, that is what the Parish Council has been up to over the last year.
Thank you.
It is now time to hear reports from other organisations in the village.
4. Wiltshire Council
Jane Scott OBE gave an outline of her report, the full report is below.
Annual Parish Report: 2015
Jane Scott OBE: Leader of the Council
I have great pleasure in presenting the Cabinet reports for this year. For 2015/16, we have
faced another reduction in our government grant, which, combined with inflationary and
populationary pressures, resulted in us needing to make £30 million of savings. Many of
you may have attended our public budget consultations, where we reaffirmed our 3
priorities, to protect the vulnerable: elderly and young people, to support the economy
and create jobs, and to empower communities to become strong and resilient.
The administration of the Council has worked very hard to ensure we are a council that
protects the majority of our frontline services despite the budgetary pressures. We have
chosen not to raise council tax to help families across Wiltshire. A Council Tax rise at
this time would be an additional pressure on many households - particularly those on low
or fixed incomes. We have therefore prioritised keeping taxes low, and offering choice
for those who can afford it.
Following on from the setting of the budget by full council in February, in March we
realigned the Cabinet responsibilities by bringing in Philip Whitehead as Cabinet
Member for Highways and Transport; which enabled John Thomson, Deputy Leader, to
focus on communities, campuses and area boards in addition to his work with broadband
and for Jonathan Seed to concentrate on the housing portfolio.
In presenting this report, I wish to thank council staff for working so hard in difficult
financial times to deliver our priorities, and the communities of Wiltshire who have
matched our reduced funding with community initiatives, volunteer hours, and innovative
ideas, helping us to provide the services that the communities value.
John Thomson: Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communities, Campuses, Area
Boards and Broadband
Having taken on a new area of responsibility, updates on this portfolio are contained
within the reports of my colleagues. Work continues on the seven approved campuses in
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phase 1, and meetings are taking place with other towns and communities who are
looking to bring their campuses forward. Area Boards have had funding without
reduction confirmed for the next year which will enable them to continue to support
communities.
44,000 premises in the County now have access to fibre broadband through the Wiltshire
Online programme, and we expect 91 percent of premises in Wiltshire to have access to
broadband speeds of 24 mps and above by the end of March next year. We have also
secured funding to roll out a second phase, focusing around areas that have yet to benefit.
Cllr Keith Humphries: Cabinet Member for Health (including Public Health) and Adult
Social Care
Public Health
Following the transfer of responsibility for public health to local authorities in 2013,
Public Health has fully integrated and is now truly at the heart of Wiltshire’s public
services. The following outlines just part of the work over the last year.
For new-borns and their families, we have trained 80 volunteers to support breastfeeding
mothers, launched initiatives to help vulnerable families with new children, and worked
with the Lullaby Trust to promote safe sleeping practices to reduce Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome. Working with older children we have developed our SHINE weight
management programme, and expanded the MOTIV8 Substance Misuse scheme to help
Children and Young People.
We have worked to raise awareness of schizophrenia and Autism, and have rolled out
schemes using the Arts to improve health and wellbeing and strengthen communities. We
delivered Mental Health First Aid training courses in locations across the county to
increase knowledge and confidence for people supporting someone experiencing
emotional or mental ill health or distress. The Big Pledge scheme saw Wiltshire's
Community Areas commit to becoming Dementia Friendly and the Before I Forget
campaign helped them to become dementia aware.
Through Slimming on Referral we helped 2,509 people to lose weight. In addition, our
Active Health scheme was delivered in leisure centres to support 3,000 people referred
for cardiac rehabilitation, exercise after stroke, weight management, or falls prevention.
We ran a Diabetes roadshow and assessed 791 people. Our Stop Smoking Service worked
with 4,500 clients helping over half of them to successfully quit, and we launched a new
Community Health Trainers Service, providing 298 clients with health and wellbeing
assessments and support to improve their health. Our outreach domestic abuse support
service received over 500 victim referrals and we developed a new joint Domestic Abuse
Strategy to improve outcomes.
Public Protection
We provided over 3,000 environmental and pollution interventions and dealt with over
1,300 noise complaints, and had a 98% recommendation rate for our pest control service.
Over 917 notifications of infectious disease were investigated and action taken to reduce
the risk of further infections. We launched a new Alcohol Strategy to promote
responsible drinking levels and reduce alcohol related harm, developed a new licensing
policy and dealt with over 3,000 licensing applications. We signed up 200 businesses to
the Eat Out Eat Well Nutrition Award Scheme. 1,400 food businesses were inspected and
we supported over 94% to attain a food hygiene rating of satisfactory or better, and
helped local food businesses comply with new food allergen legislation.
We worked to deter commercial vehicles from breaching weight restrictions through
prosecutions and the introduction of new Lorry Watch schemes locally. We responded, in
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just 6 months, to 4,000 criminal and consumer complaints and set up new ‘No Cold
Calling’ Zones, with Community Area Boards given the ability to implement their own
zones and social care workers trained to identify rogue traders. We worked with local
people and managed public safety at major events including the Tour of Britain and the
Summer Solstice and 1,298 outdoor education events were approved enabling 40,780
participants to engage safely across the county.
Adult Care
The number of customers for whom the Council pays for a service has grown from 6,917
in 2012/13, to 7,568 in 2013/14 whilst those where we have had contact with has also
grown from 13,247 in 2012/13, to 15,521 in 2013/14. A great deal work has been
undertaken with the Clinical Commissioning Group, Acute Trusts and other providers
and our joint Better Care Plan with the CCG was one of five selected nationally to be fast
tracked to enable integrated health and social care in Wiltshire
Two new care homes have opened in partnership with the Council and the Orders of St
John Care Trust in Warminster and Devizes. These care homes offer nursing and
residential care for older people including those with dementia. Work on an information
and advice portal is well underway and by April there will be an up to date service
directory and self-referral form available on the Council’s website. This will detail a wide
range of services available to support people with their health and social care needs.
Further work will take place subsequently to extend this to libraries and various NHS
settings.
The Care Act that comes into effect on April 1st will significantly change the work of our
adult services. There will be a new model of support for carers that will see them being
treated on an equal legal footing to those that they care for. In January 2015 we
introduced a Care and Support Accreditation Scheme - this is a list of specialist providers
that Wiltshire Council has checked to make sure that they can provide good quality
services in Wiltshire for people with disabilities that offer value for money. All Providers
in the scheme have gone through a full accreditation process evidencing their skills,
knowledge and experience.
In the last few months, in response to the Winterbourne View Concordat, we introduced a
new robust care management approach for people with the most complex needs that will
ensure a consistent approach and a focus on keeping people in or returning people to their
local community – training has been provided to all the staff undertaking this.
Laura Mayes: Cabinet Member for Children’s Services
The new Community Youth Service was established in October 2014 and is beginning to
show real results. The Community Youth Officers have been busy meeting all the young
people, forming the Local Youth Network and agreeing the young people’s priorities for
each area. We have been very pleased by the response from many voluntary organisations
and local people who want to be involved. The flexibility of the new service is leading to
many innovative ideas that are making a real difference to young people’s lives.
Improving School Standards
We are pleased to say that more children than ever are being educated in schools that
have been rated Outstanding or Good by Ofsted. Overall our score is 85.1% of
Outstanding and Good schools. This is broken down into 88.2% for Secondary Schools,
82.2% for Primary Schools and 100% for Special Schools.
Child Sexual Exploitation
Many of you will be aware of the terrible cases of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham,
Oxford and Rochdale. We are taking the issue very seriously in Wiltshire and have a
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clear strategy to tackle perpetrators of this terrible crime. A play called “Chelsea’s
Choice” will be performed in our secondary schools to make our young people aware of
the dangers of being exploited, and give them strategies to avoid it.
Fleur de Rhe-Philipe: Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Skills and Strategic
Transport
The council has worked with the SWLEP to secure £38.67 million Local Growth Funding
for Wiltshire, and to deliver the ESIF Strategy 2014-20 which will guide investment of
over £70 million. Projects for which funding has been confirmed include:
• City Deal – ‘Growth Through Knowledge’ skills brokerage to secure higher education
qualifications for Army leavers - £1.4 million government investment backed by £1
million total local authority contribution
• Porton Science Park, which will create 2,000 jobs in the long term: £4 million, backed
by £2.6 million council funding and a further £2 million via the ESIF
• We facilitated Dyson’s plans for expansion, which will create 3,000 jobs in the long
term, and as part of the Growth Deal secured £1.4 million which will be supported by
local contributions of £0.6 million
• We are bringing forward Digital and Innovation Incubation Space in Corsham – with
£2.5 million funding backed by £1.5 million council resources
The Wiltshire Business Hub has supported over 1,000 businesses, of which around 300 at
start-up stage. We have supported 1,200 individuals with training and skills development,
and the council endorsed the new Education, Employment and Skills Strategy in
November.
Through this activity other initiatives attracting employers and investment into the county
including the Wiltshire 100 and Enterprise Network, and providing a comprehensive and
efficient planning service, the Directorate has supported the delivery of over 6,000 jobs in
the pipeline since April 2014.
The service supported Hill Brush’s plans to relocate its factory, retaining the company in
the county and bringing a further 40 jobs to the area in the future, and facilitating the
delivery of 138 new homes at the old site, as well as Dyson and others in bringing
forward development.
In partnership with neighbouring authorities, we have been successful in achieving
Government funding for improvements to the A303, particularly around Stonehenge.
Recent Examples of Supporting Business and Enterprise in Wiltshire
funding of £3.3 million grant and a loan of £3.8 million as part of a £11.2 million project
combining composite technology and process engineering to create up to 263 jobs and
safeguard 14.
funding application to provide Army veteran accommodation and enterprise space at the
former UKLF headquarters in Wilton.
s, manufacturer and supplier of
advanced testing systems and measurement products to the global automotive industry, in
their bid for Regional Growth Funding, and they have now secured up £2.3 million from
Round 6. The grant will facilitate the Group’s expansion to meet increasing global
demand.
Jonathon Seed: Cabinet Member for Housing, Leisure, Libraries and Flooding
We have agreed the funding to develop seven approved campuses: Corsham, Melksham,
Tisbury, Pewsey, Salisbury, and Calne. We also added Malmesbury to the first tranche.
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The campus project remains central to the goals of Cabinet with other communities
aspiring to have their own Campuses or Hubs included in the future programme.
In communities we have reorganised and reviewed the running of Area Boards, and they
continue to thrive and continue to be funded with capital revenue. There has been no
reduction in funding to Area Boards in spite of difficult financial circumstances for the
Council.
Libraries continue to be valued by our communities with increases in usage and particular
successes with our newer libraries. We have continued our ground breaking success of
opening our libraries for longer and with less staff and more volunteers as well as
opening Springfield for lengthy periods without staff.
Leisure continues to be a county success story and the leisure team have been reorganised
and further integrated into Health over the past year. The contract extension with People
for Places has now been implemented to the financial advantage of the Council. Leisure
services continue to narrow the gap between cost and revenue with the eventual aim of
leisure provision becoming cost neutral to the Council.
Finally flooding has had a thankfully quieter year than the previous year. Many dwellings
did suffer desperately sad flash flooding in September of last year and we fought hard,
without success, to get central government to include these incidents in grant provisions.
We have continued to invest heavily in our flood alleviation projects and Wiltshire
continues to be highly regarded for its flood alleviation work.
Toby Sturgis: Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning (Strategic and Development
Management) Property, Waste and Strategic Housing
Strategic Planning and Development Management
In January the council formally adopted its Core Strategy, providing the blueprint for
major planning applications coming forward in the county over the next 12 years. We are
also enabling 30 Neighbourhood Plans to come forward with more expressions of interest
in the pipeline.
The number of planning applications has increased year on year, with the number of
Major, Minor and Other classified applications increasing as follows:
• 2012-13 = 5183
• 2013-14 = 5875
• 2014-15 = 6090
There has been a 221% increase in large majors since 2012. The service determines
77.8% of major applications on time, surpassing the national guideline target of 60%.
Environment
Wiltshire Council has set a challenging target to reduce its carbon footprint by 11,823
tonnes of CO2 by 2016/2017 as set out in the latest Carbon Management Plan 2014-17.
Energy and transport costs for the council totalled £13.6 million in 2013-14 and the latest
energy consumption figures from its corporate estate are generally showing a downward
trend.
Waste
The council recycled over 51% of household rubbish at the end of 2014 and continues to
reduce the amount of waste going into landfill. Tenders for the delivery of the waste
services will be considered in May. From the 15th June a charge of £40 will be made for
the collection of green waste bins.
Property
The rationalisation of the councils operating properties continues following the
refurbishment of the three hubs at Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham with over half
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of the original properties either sold or under offer and a number awaiting planning
permission for changes of use, making substantial savings.
Dick Tonge: Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance, risk, systems thinking,
procurement and welfare reform
2014/15 was dominated by the need to make savings due to the combination of a lower
government grant, increased demand for services in adult care and looked after children
and inflation. An added pressure occurred due to increased volumes of waste compared
with the previous year attributed to increased consumer spending. Up to the end of
2014/15 we have made cumulative savings of £123 million whilst at the same time
investing in the economy, creating jobs and apprenticeships.
2015/16 will be no different with the need to save another £30m. Some of the savings
have been controversial and have resulted in adverse publicity, but this is rarely
accompanied by suggestions of where alternative savings might be made. Most residents
realise that these huge savings have to be made and the reasons why; but pressure groups
never want the savings to made in their area of interest.
We did not increase Council Tax in 2015/16, which is the fourth year in a row that here
has been no increase. Given the financial pressure the Council some have suggested a tax
increase might be appropriate. The reason we have chosen not to do so, is that we are
acutely aware of the financial pressure many families have been under, and by having no
increase over this period the average household has saved around £382, giving some
relief to those on lower incomes.
Some of the savings have been and will be made by reconfiguring services to drive out
cost without changing the service that is being provided, in other words doing things
differently. There has been some inevitable resistance to change by users, but looking
ahead the pace of change will accelerate and will have to be applied to many more
services. We just can’t stand still.
There will be no respite. With an election looming the rumours of the level of grant we
might get from government in 2016/17 ebbs and flows. We do know that the demands for
services of an ageing population and increased numbers of looked after children will
grow, inflation will also have its impact. The best estimate is that we will have to save
another £30m.
On a positive note the collection of Council Tax is as expected, as is the collection of
Non Domestic Rates, of which we retain a percentage with the remainder being
transferred to government. The fact that collection is in good shape reflects the financial
state of Wiltshire.
In summary, we have to change the way we deliver services given the financial reality in
which we live, and strive to look at everything we do to reduce the costs. We have to
ensure that every brass farthing we spend is spent wisely.
Stuart Wheeler: Cabinet member for Internal Transformation, Culture and Arts.
The Electoral team have made an effective start on coordinating and organising the
complex exercise of reviewing town and parish boundaries across the County.
Preliminary meetings have now been held with all areas requesting changes and the
consultation papers will be circulated immediately following the General Election. We
have introduced the new Individual Electoral registration regime on behalf of the Central
Government Cabinet Office. Many questions and comments answered quickly and
effectively with the whole operation not being helped by the failure of the Cabinet Office
to draft its contribution to the process accurately.
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Our HR department conducted a biennial survey of staff attitudes getting a very high
response rate of 60%. This showed that staff morale had improved since the previous
survey. HR are also preparing an innovative and effective exercise to widen and improve
Wiltshire Council’s ability to identify and attract recruits in the areas of social work and
those responsible for children’s welfare where recruitment nationally is challenging.
There has been a great effort across all areas to continue to build on and improve our
working with partners, especially Wiltshire Police, with IT support in particular proving
innovative and flexible.
Across the Council, progress has been made on paperless working. In particular,
Democratic Services introduced paperless working across all council committees with
good humour in the face of, in particular, some technically challenged councillors, saving
not only serious amounts of money, but also serious numbers of trees.
Swindon and Chippenham History centre continued to supply an excellent service,
promoting, in particular First World War research in schools and attracting substantial
grants for various projects. The Centenary of the start of the First World War was
commemorated across the county, with numerous events, and children across the county
researched individual soldiers for our Wall of Remembrance.
Although grant funding had to be reduced due to falling support from Central
Government support we continued to significant arts organisations and museums across
the county.
Philip Whitehead: Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport
The impact of the additional investment that was agreed for Highways Asset
Management at the end of 2013 has shown for the first time this year with a considerable
amount of additional roads being repaired. This is despite the destructive flooding for the
first 3 months of the year which resulted in considerable amount of damage in the
county's roads and a number of project delays.
Grass cutting once again raised its ugly head with poor performance by BBLP at the start
of the 2014/15 season which resulted in many complaints and negative publicity. BBLP
employed additional resource and eventually caught up with the work, but of course by
then the damage was done. As we are entering a new grass cutting season of 15/16,
BBLP have sub-contracted the grass cutting, providing additional resource and the
quality of the service is much higher.
We started a pilot street lighting project where a number of lights in Trowbridge were
turned off in the late evening and overnight. The project has gone well with officers
making a number of adjustments to the scheme to reassure and support specific
communities. Equipment is being installed to enable the scheme to be introduced in the
other towns.
Litter has increased, with a 20% increase in reports nationally, which has been reflected
in Wiltshire. We have been working with communities to support community clear- up
initiatives, including the National Community Clear Up day on 21st March, where many
communities set up their own operations. We will be supporting community actions
throughout the summer.
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5. Village School
Sue Tudge, Headteacher of Hullavington Primary School gave a report, copy below.
Hullavington CE Primary School
Report to the Parish Council
22nd April 2015.
As always we continue, at Hullavington CE Primary School, to work incredibly hard to
maintain and raise standards across the school. We were delighted with our results in
July 2014 which were the best results in the history of our school. The hard work
continues in all classrooms, ensuring that our expectations are high of all our pupils. I
must mention the dedication of all the staff and Governors to the school: they are
exemplary role models, exceptional hard workers who are enthusiastic and determined to
secure the best results they can for all pupils. In July 2015 David Metcalf (Assistant
Headteacher) will be leaving the school due to him being successful in gaining his first
Headship at Birdlip Primary School in Gloucestershire. He will be greatly missed and
has been a key member of staff over the last five years. We are now recruiting a new
Assistant Headteacher and interviews will be taking place in a couple of weeks.
In December 2014 all stakeholders at Hullavington CE Primary School were successful
in gaining the NACE (National Association for Able Children in Education) Challenge
Award and subsequently in March 2015 we have been successful in gaining the Artsmark
Gold award for excellence in the arts (including creative writing, poetry, drama, dance
and music). The assessor commented, `The commitment to excellence and quality of
experience is first rate. Its curriculum is integrated through the arts and the extracurricular offer is oversubscribed …The fact that it manages to achieve such high quality
work with a transient school population and a very diverse demographic is all the more
commendable. Hullavington is clearly an Artsmark Gold school.’
Our fabulous school council worked with a Governor, Ben Bartlett and with Peter and
Phil from Buckley Barracks to organise a Bikeathon to raise money for Clic Sargent
Cancer charity. The money raised was over £1900 and the Speaker of the House of
Commons gave them a ` Highly Commended’ Award in his annual School Council
Awards initiative which our pupils are thrilled about.
We have had the Royal Horticultural Society into school to help our pupils with
gardening skills. We became the first school in the south-west to get this support and the
pupils enjoy being outdoors and developing their gardening skills.
We continue to have strong links with our local Church and Buckley Barracks and we
pass on our thanks to all involved. We appreciate everything both the Church and Army
do. We have continued to run a competition this academic year with the village poetry
club which the pupils really loved. Ideally we would like more local groups to become
involved in school life, especially more volunteers to listen to readers for example.
This Saturday (11 – 1) we hold our Spring Fayre which is our main fundraiser for the
year with the money raised helping every pupil at school. We extend a warm welcome to
everyone.
Sue Tudge
Headteacher
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6. Wiltshire Police
No report received at the time of the meeting.
Village Hall
Mr Robert Fenner, chairman of the Village Hall Committee had submitted a report which
was read out to those present.
Hullavington Village Hall – Report to 2015 Annual Parish Meeting
1.
During the last year the Hullavington Village Hall Management Committee has
managed the activities and operations of the village hall. During the last year the number
of hall committee meetings was reduced from six to four, and still all that had to be done
was achieved as much important work was carried out by committee members outside of
hall meetings. The committee has again ensured that the hall has operated within the
terms of the Lease and Trust Deed in the last year. The membership of the hall
committee remains stable with its 17 members – both elected at the AGM or attending as
representatives of core user group. However, it will still be necessary to attract
representatives from user groups who do not have a presence on the committee in order to
ensure that the task of running the hall is shared out fairly by those who use it.
2.
Finance
a.
The hall’s business plan continues to generate a moderate financial surplus each
year – although the level of this surplus diminishes year on year. This is largely due to
the fact that, despite high levels of hall bookings, the level of hall rental is probably to
low to maintain surpluses into the future
b.
The hall committee is committed to repay to the Parish Council, on a year-by-year
basis and where its own finances permit, the two annual repayments to the Public Works
Loan Board, generated by the initial loan taken out by the Parish Council in 2006, to partfinance the rebuilding of the new village hall.
3.
Hall bookings: Whilst the pattern of bookings varies across the year there is a
very substantial core of regular users – who provide the bulk of rental income. Even
those sessions (such as Saturday afternoons) that were previously hard-to-let are now
regularly used. The hall continues to have one of the highest occupancy rates of all
villages halls in Wiltshire – at over 70%
4.
Projects and maintenance
a.
High levels of hall maintenance have been organised throughout the last year
b.
On-demand water heaters in the three toilets: These have now been installed and
are in operation
c.
Regular hall maintenance: The hall will be closed to all regular hall users during
the period 24th – 26th August 2015 so that a programme of regular internal hall
maintenance and renovation can take place.
R Fenner
Chair, Hullavington Village Hall Management Committee
18th April 2015
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7. Parochial Church Council
Mrs Alison Reed had submitted a report for the Parochial Church Council, which was
read out to those present.
Report from St Mary Magdalene Hullavington to Annual Parish Meeting
Wednesday 22nd April 2015
The past year has been busy with various events and services. Some regular attenders
have moved on and new families have arrived and become active members. Notably our
treasurer Mike Tunstall and family have moved to the Falkland Islands for a year and his
post has been filled by Caroline Bance who moved here with her family in September.
The members of the ministry team continue to cope well with the 8 different churches in
the group but Phil Daniels is coming to the end of his curacy and will be moving to
Crudwell soon. Phil will be missed by many, he has been great asset but he’s not going
far.
Little Lights continue to meet for an hour every Thursday morning from 10.30 and
regularly have about 12 pre-schoolers and their parent or carer, making a mid-week
congregation of about 24. TOAST (Teenagers Of All Sorts Together) meet every Sunday
evening in church or in Court House and Junior Church continues to meet every 1st
Sunday in Court House before they join the church congregation for the last part of the
service. A new regular service began last year -- Messy Church. This is a joint venture
between Mount Zion and St Mary’s and meets once a month on a Sunday afternoon in the
Village Hall. Families come together to enjoy making things, singing and worshipping
together and sharing a meal. Messy Church is proving to be popular and last Sunday there
were 19 adults and 19 children, this is a great collaboration between the 2 churches and
the “team” members love working together.
Coffee mornings continue every Friday in Serendipity, not as busy as they used to be but
still a good meeting point for people in the village and still raising money for locally
connected charities. Goldenthreads meets on the last Wednesday afternoon of every
month with about 16 regular attendees.
Unfortunately the Reordering Project hit a snag when despite Diocese approval the
Planners rejected the planning application. There was a meeting last week at the Council
Offices between Planners, Historic England, members of the Diocesan Advisory
Committee, Conservation Architect, Jeremy Chadburn and members of the Project Group
and we hope we have found a way forward. Now we wait for Jeremy to revise the plans
yet again and then to hear the reaction of the “powers that be”. It is very frustrating but
there is nothing more we can do at present. The plans will now be for a single storey
extension on the north west corner with a vestry, 2 meeting rooms and 2 toilets. The
kitchen area will be in the north west corner of the main body of the church and the tower
will house the boiler and storage. When the plans are approved they will be displayed in
church and available for anyone to see.
I hope that by next year we will have lots of progress to report.
Alison Reed - Churchwarden
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8. Women’s Institute
Mrs Sarah Harmer, chairman of the Hullavington Women’s Institute, had submitted a
report which was read out to those present.
HULLAVINGTON W.I.
ANNUAL REPORT
Hullavington W.I. have had another interesting year with a variety of talks and
workshops. We have had talks about kites, buttons and security on the internet. A
fascinating insight into the working of the magistrates court was given by a local
magistrate and it was decided that a visit to the courts would be very rewarding. We had a
talk about life on a nuclear submarine, the workings of a Mercy Ship which was a real
eye opener; we had another visit from a local auctioneer which we all much enjoyed and
learnt more about hallmarks. In February this year we had a wonderful talk about pearls
and were able to purchase some after the talk.
During the year we had two outings – the first to Poole in Dorset where we enjoyed a day
by the sea and a visit to the Poole pottery shop and had lunch overlooking the harbour.
Our second visit was to The House of Commons where we had wonderful guided tour of
the Houses of Parliament and a look at the actual Lords and Commons Chambers.
We had a Christmas party which was held in the village hall for the first time as we had
outgrown previous venues.
The coming year will be a busy one for the W.I. and it is our centenary year and there
will be various activities for us to participate in. In the summer there will be a garden
party at Buckingham Palace which will be attended by one of our members. This year
Hullavington are hosts group for the John Aubrey Group of W.I.s and we will be having
two meetings in our village hall – the first is on April 9th with a talk by Air Marshal Sir
Ian Macfadyen on his time as Governor of Windsor Castle.
We look forward to another interesting and eventful year.
9. Public Paths and Rights of Way
Peter Murton stated that the rights of way points had been covered under other reports.
10. Buckley Barracks
Peter Murton, Station Staff Officer, gave a report on Buckley Barracks, copy below.
Hullavington Annual Parish Meeting 2015 Buckley Barracks Report
Hullavington station and its resident unit, 9 Regiment RLC goes from strength to strength
and over the past year we have seen some substantial changes:
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•
The end of operations in Afghanistan, the regiment has had a constant presence of
at least a Squadron strength on operations for the past 10 years and in the words of the
Princess Royal was probably one of the operationally committed units in the British
Army.
•
The restructuring of the regiment during the year to take it from a theatre based
regiment to one that can operate in a more conventional role, this has seen changes in
personnel and structure within the regiment.
•
The regiment has gone through a change of command and has recently said
goodbye to Lt Col Suzi Donoghue and command has been taken over by Lt Col Timothy
Symonds.
•
The regiment has been very much involved within the community and has
supported events ranging from Parish and School fetes to being key in delivering the
Commonwealth day celebrations in Chippenham.
•
The military presence at Buckley barracks seems more secure than ever and a
result of the Army pulling out of Germany the station will see further investment into the
Barracks infrastructure and a second army unit moving in over the next couple of years.
•
Flying has resumed on Hullavington airfield (after nearly a year of inactivity) for
both the resident RAF glider squadron and visiting helicopter sorties and operations. This
has been brought about by the station achieving Military Aviation Authority aerodrome
operator compliance, the airfield has also been re-licensed for Heavy Drops so the
general public should once again see Hercules aircraft dropping large loads by parachute
onto the airfield.
11. Public Question Time
It was noted on a New Councillor training course that Hullavington school children had
attended a Parish Council meeting, other councils thought this was a good idea to involve
the children. Cllr Scott offered an invitation to the children to attend a Wiltshire Council
meeting in Trowbridge.
The meeting closed at 8.45pm
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