a)    Question submitted by Councillor Shelim to Councillor Dudley, Leader of the Council:

Will the Leader of the Council write to Network Rail to request that they remove the litter on their land adjacent to the track at Windsor Central train station? Further there is graffiti in this area and would they also remove that as appropriate.

b)   Question submitted by Councillor Shelim to Councillor Bicknell, Lead Member for Highways and Transport:

Will the Lead Member please write to Great Western Railways and request the frequency of trains from Windsor Central train station to Slough are increased in frequency? At peak times and seasons, the trains are very full and extra capacity and frequency would be appreciated by all residents and visitors alike and must make commercial sense.

c)    Question submitted by Councillor E . Wilson to Councillor Rankin, Lead Member for Economic Development, Property and Deputy Finance:

Will the Lead Member advise how the ‘investwindsorandmaidenhead’ website has helped businesses to relocate to Dedworth & Clewer?

(The Member responding has up to 5 minutes to address Council. The Member asking the question has up to 1 minute to submit a supplementary question. The Member responding then has a further 2 minutes to respond.)

Question submitted by Councillor Shelim to Councillor Dudley, Leader of the Council:

Will the Leader of the Council write to Network Rail to request that they remove the litter on their land adjacent to the track at Windsor Central train station? Further there is graffiti in this area and would they also remove that as appropriate.

Councillor Dudley responded that he used the station and was aware of the rubbish, he would be very happy to write to Network Rail and encourage them to create an improved ambience.

Councillor Shelim confirmed that he did not have a supplementary question.

Question submitted by Councillor Shelim to Councillor Bicknell, Lead Member for Highways and Transport:

Will the Lead Member please write to Great Western Railways and request the frequency of trains from Windsor Central train station to Slough are increased in frequency? At peak times and seasons, the trains are very full and extra capacity and frequency would be appreciated by all residents and visitors alike and must make commercial sense.

Councillor Bicknell responded that he would be very happy to write to Great Western Railways requesting an increased frequency of trains between Windsor Central Station and Slough. He fully appreciated the overcrowding issues at peak times and would work with Great Western Railways to identify opportunities to increase capacity and / or frequency. Whilst there were infrastructure constraints, for example platform lengths and single track, he had asked officers to continue to pursue a number of issues with Great Western Railways  and would also raise the issues in his capacity as a member of the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP – Transport Board.

Additionally, the Department for Transport hosted a meeting today to begin development of the specification for the next rail franchise, which included this line, which would commence in 2020. Officers attended and raised this issue. It was also worth noting that the council was in discussion with the rail operators to improve services from Windsor & Eton Riverside as part of the new franchise.

Councillor Shelim confirmed that he did not have a supplementary question

a)    Question submitted by Councillor E . Wilson to Councillor Rankin, Lead Member for Economic Development, Property and Deputy Finance:

Will the Lead Member advise how the ‘investwindsorandmaidenhead’ website has helped businesses to relocate to Dedworth & Clewer?

Councillor D Evans responded on behalf of Councillor Rankin. He explained that the website was principally established as an economic development and investment site to promote the opportunities earmarked for developed and regeneration within the borough. These were predominantly within Maidenhead, but with other opportunities in Windsor and Ascot areas of the Borough as well.

From January to June 2017, there had been 2000 hits on the website with the percentage split of these searches on the website reflecting the scale of these opportunity areas.  The website was monitored daily however there had not been any searches made on the website or queries raised on the generic business@rbwm.gov.uk inbox that specifically related to the Dedworth and Clewer area.

A feature of the website offered a property search function with links to key commercial property agents. Commercial buildings available within the area

were likely to be registered with one or more of these agents who would be widely promoting them. 

There is an opportunity  to amend the website and Councillor Rankin would be happy to work with relevant officers to progress this directly if Councillor Wilson had any specific concerns or indeed an understanding of specific details or individual opportunities for businesses to relocate into the Dedworth or Clewer areas and /r to include investment opportunities within these areas that may have been identified.

Councillor E Wilson commented that he had a number of detailed specific changes to the website. He asked the Lead Member to work with him and Councillor Bhatti to discuss the way forward.

Councillor D. Evans said commented that he was sure Councillor Rankin and officers would be in touch to progress this.