Area Boards are making a difference

Area boards have been shown to make a difference to democracy in Wiltshire following a review by the council.

Since they were launched in June 2009, 86 area board meetings have taken place throughout Wiltshire.

More than 5,500 local people have attended meetings and a further 10,000 residents have signed up to their local community area network.

At the recent 2010/11 budget consultation events, 1,161 people had their say about how the budget should be spent.

In autumn 2009 around 1,800 people took part in the Local Development Framework consultations and so far 1,020 people have taken part in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Health and Wellbeing Fairs, workshops and presentations.

Area boards have so far committed £549,000 to support 253 community projects through the Community Area Grants Scheme. This has generated an additional £3.1m of external funding, delivering a total community benefit to Wiltshire of £3.6m in the year so far.

The boards had 715 issues referred to them, that is more than 100 every month. By bringing together council services, partners including the Police and NHS Wiltshire and the public, more than 50 percent of these issues have been resolved so far.

When setting up the area boards Jane Scott, leader of the council, committed to review progress after six months. A review was launched in December 2009 involving all councillors, parish councils, officers, partners and the public. More than 1,100 responses were received to a survey conducted between January and March 2010 and 120 delegates attended a workshop in Devizes in March to consider how area boards may be further improved.

Overall the findings of the review have been positive. There is broad satisfaction with public participation, accessibility of meetings, the ability to raise issues, the newsletter style version of the minutes, e-communications, the focus on local issues, the community issue system and the involvement of councillors.

Public awareness of area boards, press coverage, the lack of a broad cross section of the community at meetings and awareness of the role of community area partnerships were highlighted as needing some improvement.

On Tuesday (March 23), Cabinet will be asked to consider 24 recommendations aimed at further strengthening Wiltshire's area boards.

A copy of the full report can be found on Wiltshire Council's website www.wiltshire.gov.uk