Cabinet received questions from pupils at Cox Green School.

 

Matthew Mundy, joint Head Boy, asked the following question:

 

More than 50,000 teachers left the professionbefore retirement last year, with the government failing to meet its targets for recruitment levels of teachers in the past five years. Maidenhead is an area that struggles with the competition from London schools and the extra pay these schools provide; are there any plans to try and encourage more teachers to the secondary schools in the area?

 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services responded that there were all types of schools in the borough, from Maintained schools to Academies and Faith schools to Independent schools, and there was competition from the London area. Individual schools make local choices to make their roles more attractive, for example some Academies offered support with transport costs for staff who commuted while the council had a manifesto commitment to recognise great teachers which it did through a pay policy which rewarded the top performing teachers each year.

 

The borough was an expensive place to live which made it hard for teachers and other public sector workers to settle into the area.  In response to this the local authority had set up a property company, called RBWM Property Services, which offered affordable rents to public sector workers. Therefore a number of different sectors contributed to help the situation.

 

The Chairman commented on the recent successful recruitment of an A-level Chemistry teacher at Holyport College; however there had only been one applicant. The council was looking to increase the amount of housing available in the borough including more affordable housing.

 

Matthew Munday asked what the council could do to help young people get on the housing ladder?

 

The Chairman commented that house prices in the south east had taken off in the last 15 years. The council’s policy position was to ensure more new houses would be built, to help stop the inexorable rise in house prices.

 

Oliver Clements asked the following question:

 

The local council is providing extra funding for the expansion of secondary schools in the area, including Cox Green. Are there plans in place to help schools deal with the services these extra students will need, e.g. alternative provision, CAHMS, etc?

 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services responded that expanding schools came with additional needs, including infrastructure impacts. The council was providing almost half of the £30m capital investment in secondary school expansions which would create great spaces for young people to learn and grow.  There were different streams of funding. The schools themselves would receive more money each year as the pupils took up places in the school.  In addition the government also provided resources through other sources, such the High Needs grant and funding for the NHS to provide support services for young people in the borough. The local authority worked closely with the Health service to strengthen and grow the specialist support services such as CAMHS.  This year there has been an increase in CCG funding to respond to the increase number of young people needing support. There continued to be a waiting list for CAMHS but the local health service was working hard on reducing this.

 

Jessica Arnold asked the following question:

 

The Government is advocating the expansion of grammar schools, with a particular focus on the Maidenhead area. If this is a good way of supporting the top students, how are lower income students supported, where will all the lowest performers go and how does this support the schools they attend?

 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services responded that it was important to separate the concept of income and academic performance. The local authority had prioritised school improvement resources to help all schools, maintained or Academy, focus on the success of lower income pupils to overcome obstacles, regardless of the school they attended.  The council was really ambitious for the young people of the borough and had clearly set out the expectation that any selective school that wished to open in the borough would have to have a concrete plan to support the success of lower income pupils to get a place at the school and to achieve academically.

 

Pupils of all abilities chose the comprehensive system and these schools were an essential and valued part of the education system. There would be no return to the old grammar/secondary modern split. The council was investing heavily in the expansion of these schools so that every pupil could make the progress they were capable of and have the best chance to secure a successful future.

 

The Chairman commented on the change in tone by the current Prime Minister in relation to grammar schools. The previous Prime Minister had focussed on pupil premium, whereas the focus now was on a broader concept of those ‘just about managing’ (JAMs). It was estimated that 30% of families in the borough could be defined as JAMs.

 

SeranYucel asked the following question:

 

The new housing development on the golf course area means that the town of Maidenhead is going to expand, how does the council plan to deal with the increased number of young people both in terms of facilities and school placements that does not lead to segregation?

 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services responded that the local authority had a duty to ensure that there were sufficient school places for the children and young people that lived in the borough now as well as those that would live in the borough through housing growth. To ensure choice the council was committed to have additional capacity in the school sector of 10% extra in school places so that pupil choice had a reasonable chance of operating effectively.  

 

The golf course development was expected to require both a new primary and secondary school and the council was planning the space needed into the overall development plan.  The Lead Member commented that she would like to hear feedback from young people as to how they would like the borough to look when they were adults.

 

Jed Thirlby asked the following question:

 

The town has undergone some recent development, however a growing concern amongst younger people is the lack of activities for young people to engage with or activities which are affordable. For example, the cost of cinema tickets is extremely high. Are there any plans to provide greater leisure activities for younger people in the town?

 

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities responded that there were a number of activities currently on offer to all young people including:

 

·         The youth centre on Marlow Road was open three evenings a week with a specialist evening dedicated to music production and a range of activities on offer with entry at only 50p.

·         The youth centres located in Larchfield and Pinkneys Green were now providing a range of activities for young people from 8 to 18 years.

·         The vibrant holiday programme on offer.

There were many discounts available to residents through the Advantage card and this would continue to grow, taking into account what had been said.  The Lead Member had visited both the leisure centre and library on the Cox Green site and had been impressed with the student volunteers. The council was investing £29m in a new leisure centre, which was a great opportunity to revamp the sports offer. In addition, the council had purchased Thriftwood Farm in 2016 which would be a fantastic asset. A new cultural and leisure hub was planned as part of the town centre regeneration.

 

The Principal Member for Maidenhead and Maidenhead Regeneration highlighted that for only £2 young people could learn to fly a Spitfire in a simulator at the Maidenhead Heritage Centre. The Lead Member for Highways and Transport commented that the council gave grant funding to numerous organisations in the borough that provided services for young people.

 

Jed Thirlby asked what facilities would be available in the new leisure centre?

 

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities responded that the new leisure centre was expected to open in March 2019 and would be much bigger than the Magnet, with facilities for different sports and a bigger pool.

 

Megan Scott asked the following question:

 

The council has recently discussed the CCTV usage in the town. This led us to discuss issues about safety within Maidenhead. There are several areas of the town which students feel threatened by, in particular by the area around the local McDonalds. Much of this threatening behaviour comes from young people, is there any provision for these young people which could get them ‘off the streets’ aside from the leisure activities previously discussed?

 

The Lead Member for Environmental Services responded that he would ask that the Community Wardens paid particular focus to this area when they were undertaking patrols of the town centre, and talk to the young people to direct them to meaningful activities.  The youth service ran targeted groups such as Esteem and worked with particular young people when referrals come through to the service. 

 

Megan Scott stated that she did not feel CCTV did not make her feel safe or more comfortable.

 

Rayan Akkache asked the following question:

 

Will there be the possibility of an increase in CCTV/Police presence to make young people feel safer in the town? Are there any initiatives to promote further engagement between the police and young people in Maidenhead?

 

The Lead Member for Environmental Services responded that the council was undertaking a full technological review of its entire CCTV estate.   This would explore options for using modern technology including digital and wireless cameras with a view to ensuring CCTV was used in the appropriate places to protect residents. 

 

The council had little control over Thames Valley Police operations, however, it  understood that the Police were actively recruiting Police Cadets at the moment. The borough’s Community Wardens had worked with Police Cadets on a number of occasions to deliver community based projects or initiatives.

 

Previous consultations with young people had not identified this as an area to address, however given safety was a large focus for Youth Services and the council was always looking for ideas that supported better ways of working together it would revisit this with young people.

 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services suggested the issue be discussed with the Youth Ambassadors to consider further consultation.

 

Isaac McCann asked the following question:

 

Council tax is reported in the cabinet papers as increasing in cost. For some families, this will come as a burden and in some cases inhibit their ability to provide for their families. Are there any plans in place now or in the future to help these lower income families as one third were considered ‘JAMs’?

 

The Lead Member for Finance responded that councils had some freedom to set the level of contribution for those on low incomes. The minimum was generally 10%  but could be as high as 25%. The council had chosen to continue to set its level at 10%, which represented a very small pence increase per week. Over the last eight years there had been a real term cut in council tax of 32.6%.  This was a result of consistently delivering efficient services, allowing council tax in the borough to be significantly lower than it’s neighbours.

 

The Chairman explained that council tax was a regressive tax; there was an argument that funding for adult social care should be undertaken at the national level where taxes were progressive.

 

Isaac McCann commented that with Crossrail, there would be great development and an impact on services, along with the ageing population. How could the council guarantee costs would not increase?

 

The Lead Member for Finance responded that the council had to keep an eye on how demographics were likely to evolve and to seek to ensure the dynamics remained in balance so capacity remained to fund ever increasing demands. This would only be possible by building more houses. The Chairman commented that the amount of additional council tax from a new property was on average greater than the cost of council services, therefore a broader range of services could be supported.

 

Vlad Teisanu asked the following question:

 

£170,000 was recently spent on the removal of a travelling community. What plans are there to support young people and their education from these travelling communities now they have been removed, and how can the council combat future costs with such community problems?

 

The Lead Member for Planning responded that over the last seven years the council had spent £160,000 on legal fees to take action in relation to an unauthorised development site. On 18 January 2017 the Cabinet Prioritisation Sub Committee agreed to give the travellers 14 days to leave the site; they had since done so voluntarily therefore the cost of direct action was zero. The council had a responsibility to ensure adequate site provision in the borough.  The current sites were located in Waltham St Lawrence and Datchet. A separate local plan for the gypsy and traveller community would be developed due to changes in legislation.

 

The Lead Member for Children’s Services explained that the council undertook welfare assessments for any traveller group that encamped on public or council owned land.  Checks identified educational and health requirements of individuals.  Many traveller families chose to home educate their children, therefor the local authority had limited involvement unless there was a wellbeing issue.  Traveller children were allowed more time out of school to enable them to travel for cultural development.

 

The Principal Member for Maidenhead and Maidenhead Regeneration commented that he had been impressed with the way colleagues at the Cabinet Prioritisation Sub committee had spent a great deal of time going through the detail of each family on the site and their particular circumstances Members had insisted that if children were moved off the site, they should still be able to attend their current school. The council would therefore have paid for home to school transport. The Lead Member for Environmental Services also commented on the council’s focus on the welfare needs of the travelling community during the 8 years they had been on the site.

 

Matthew Bourner, joint Head Boy, asked the following question:

 

In addition to the rise in council tax fees, does the council provide assurances that there is a sufficient budget to cope with the increased pressure on services and facilities that the planned redevelopment will bring to the town?

 

The Lead Member for Planning responded that discussion had already taken place about the need to replace the leisure centre. A continuous approach would be taken so that the new leisure centre would open before the old one closed. There were a number of ways that facilities could be increased through redevelopment for example a new community centre funded by developers.

 

The Chairman commented that the Eton College Holyport College investment club, which raised real money and invested in the finance markets, would welcome Cox Green pupils from September 2017 when Holyport College opened its 6th form.

 

Matthew Bourner asked Members to explain the recent headline in the Maidenhead Advertiser that related to a £13m ‘black hole’ in core budgets.

 

The Lead Member for Finance commented that he believed he had presented a prudent, balanced budget and would welcome a discussion with the journalist so he could understand why it was thought £13m was missing.