Present:  Mr Lemon, Mrs Dudney, Mrs Brew, Mrs Comyn, Mr Garman, Mr Evans, Mr Pearson, Brigadier Hall and Mrs Evans – Clerk.

1.                Apologies:  Mrs Zweck, Mr Wheeler, Mr Beese and Mr Hatfield.

2.      The objective of the meeting was to discuss whether Grafton Parish Council wishes to put forward a representation to Wiltshire Council requesting reallocation from the Marlborough Area to the Pewsey Area.

3.      Mrs Brew and Mr Garman chaired the meeting.  Mrs Brew thanked everyone for attending in spite of the snow and confirmed that the reason the meeting had been called and could not wait until the next scheduled meeting was due to the closure date for requests for reallocation being 6^th February 2009.

4.      The background to Area Boards and Area Partnerships was provided by Mrs Brew.  Information on the Parish and Area boundaries was provided to the meeting, together with information on the headcount and unitary councillor representation for each Area. 

5.      Mrs Brew confirmed that funding for Area Boards consisted of two elements – a fixed amount applicable to all Areas regardless of size and an amount per head of population in each area.  It was confirmed that if a parish wished to be reallocated to another Area, it could only be done if the whole of that electoral division was reallocated – Grafton belongs to the Burbage & the Bedwyns division (Grafton, Burbage, Ham, Shalbourne, Buttermere, Little Bedwyn, Great Bedwyn).  Making a request for reallocation would be considered, but would not guarantee that the reallocation would take place.  Reallocation would apply once the council elections take place in June 2009.

6.      Mr Garman provided a summary of the meeting that was called by Burbage Parish Council on 29^th January 2009 in which the reallocation of the Burbage and the Bedwyns division was discussed.  All parishes were represented at the meeting.  The unanimous view, although each had to be confirmed with their respective parish councils, was that there were benefits from the division moving to the Pewsey Area.

7.      Mr Garman summarised the various discussions that took place at Burbage.  The main point is that Pewsey Area is a very rural area, comprised of many small villages and so is much more likely to have the same priorities, aspirations and issues as our area.  Marlborough is semi-urban and has very different issues as it is a town, rather than a village.  Experiences in the pilot phase of the Marlborough Area Board and MCASP has demonstrated that the rural issues from small parishes can be drowned out by the majority from the town and its close surrounds.

8.      Mr Lemon raised a point regarding the headcount number for the two Areas and pointed out that if Grafton were to move to Pewsey, one of the advantages would be that the headcount across the Areas would be more even and our Unitary Councillor would be 1 of 3 councillors in Pewsey, rather than 1 of 5 councillors on the Marlborough Area Board.  Unitary Councillors are the only people on the Area Board who can vote and so it is important to have strong representation.

9.      Mrs Brew stated that Burbage and the Bedwyns district has important common interests with Pewsey Area, such as the railway, canal, public transport issues.

10.     Current school, Health Service, Police, Fire and Ambulance Services arrangements would not be affected by decisions on Area allocations.  Areas only exist for the purpose of Area Boards and Area Partnerships.

11.     Mrs Dudney asked whether Grafton Parish might be disadvantaged by moving into the Pewsey Area, as there would be less dynamism due to the area not having a larger town involved.

12.    A general vote was taken on whether Grafton Parish Council should make a representation to Wiltshire Council to request reallocation from the Marlborough Area to the Pewsey Area.  6 votes for the motion, 0 against the motion and 1 abstention.

13.     It was therefore decided that a letter of representation would be made to Steve Milton at Wiltshire Council and this  was e mailed to him on 5^th February 2009.