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 1 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 2 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. 3 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 4 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 5 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 6 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. 7 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 8 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. 9 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. 10 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 11 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 12 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 13 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: 14 • 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 15