Before the meeting started the Mayor lead a minute's silence to mark the anniversary of the passing of HM the Queen, Elizabeth II.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Buckley, Gosling and Majeed.

Councillor Wisdom Da Costa was in attendance virtually and took no part in the vote on any item.

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 25 July 2023.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2023 be approved, subject to the following amendment:

the final sentence of Councillor Bermange’s comments at minute 22 re. Motion a) to read:  

He stated that since the change the proportion of paper-based signatures had increased significantly and up to 86% of one example. He would be exploring the process with Democratic Services.

To receive any declarations of interest

Councillor Bermange declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 8b) Motions on Notice relating to carbon zero concerns stating that although he was closely affiliated to the Climate Emergency Coalition he would approach the debate with an open mind.

To receive such communications as the Mayor may desire to place before the Council

The Mayor shared a series of images with the meeting to highlight activities he had attended since the previous Council meeting including:

·       attending the Royal East Berkshire Ploughing Match and Country Show

·       visiting four different venues along the Cookham and Maidenhead Art Trail with 51 local artists displaying their craft and artwork

·       presenting prizes at the Windsor and Maidenhead Community Forum (WAMCF) Cricket tournament

·       watching the competition at Hurley Regatta and presenting prizes

·       visiting Queens Court Care Home in Windsor for their summer fair and BBQ with a one-hundred-year-old resident who was part of the campaign group for the original outdoor swimming pool in Windsor

·       visiting the Alma Road Centre which is now the long-term home of Windsor Homeless Project and the Churches Together Charities as they found out the extremely good news that they had achieved the national lottery funding

·       watching some of the races at Maidenhead Regatta

·       visiting the Guards Polo Club

·       visiting the Sea Cadets in Stairwell Road in Windsor which was one of the oldest Sea Cadet units in Britain

·       meeting a Gardens in Bloom competition winner in Dedworth

·       joining Aktiveyes, a charity based in Maidenhead for the visually impaired, in a game of crazy golf blindfolded

·       attending the opening of the Platinum Jubilee Fountain on Castle Hill, Windsor which enabled visitors to fill up their water bottles

·       receiving a gift from former Mayor Christine Bateson as she presented the Council with a ‘quaich’ which is the Gaelic name for Scottish friendship bowl

·       being photobombed at Legoland whilst visiting to understand their future plans and

·       along with Deputy Mayor, Councillor Simon Bond attending the Ascot Relay for Life event

He concluded that he was pleased to be able to promote local charities and hoped that his colleagues had taken the opportunity to meet with Dingley's Promise who had been present in the foyer of Town Hall before the meeting started.

a)    David Hilton of Ascot and Sunninghill ward will ask the following question of Councillor Bermange, Lead member for Planning, Legal and Asset Management

Would the Cabinet Member explain the relevance of climate change when deciding the number of parking spaces to be provided in new developments?

b)    Andrew Hill of Boyn Hill ward will ask the following question of Councillor Werner, Leader of the Council and Lead member for Community Partnerships, Public Protection and Maidenhead

It's been a mandatory statutory duty since 2021 for councils to protect licenced mobile park home residents by conducting fit and proper person assessment tests of their management, and by publishing a register.  

When did RBWM first become aware of these mandatory statutory duties, and why has RBWM chosen not to comply with these two duties?

c)    Andrew Hill of Boyn Hill ward will ask the following question of Councillor Bermange, Lead member for Planning, Legal and Asset Management

Last December the Government introduced binding 2040 air quality targets for PM_2.5 micro-particulates which DEFRA states are “the air pollutant that causes most harm to human health”. 

Why is RBWM treating planning applications that demonstrate local breach of this 2040 target during their operational phase as being policy compliant, and by what practical mechanism will you meet the target?

The Council will set aside a period of 30 minutes to deal with public questions, which may be extended at the discretion of the Mayor in exceptional circumstances. The Councillor who provides the initial response will do so in writing. The written response will be published as a supplement to the agenda by 5pm one working day before the meeting. The questioner shall be allowed up to one minute to put a supplementary question at the meeting. The supplementary question must arise directly out of the reply provided and shall not have the effect of introducing any new subject matter. A Councillor responding to a supplementary question will have two minutes to respond.

a)    David Hilton of Ascot and Sunninghill ward asked the following question of Councillor Bermange, Lead member for Planning, Legal and Asset Management

Would the Cabinet Member explain the relevance of climate change when deciding the number of parking spaces to be provided in new developments?

Written response: Climate change is cause by Greenhouse Gas (GHG)Emissions. Transport is the source of about a third of the country’s GHG emissions and different modes of transport give rise to varying levels of emissions.

It is well recognised that ensuring modal shift away from the use of the private car is important for climate change mitigation, and there are a number of factors which impact on people’s travel choices. These include the availability of public transport, provision of active transport infrastructure, provision of shared mobility options such as car clubs and the accessibility of local facilities. It is also well established that lower levels of readily accessible car parking (including physical availability, cost and convenience) are a push factor which can encourage more sustainable travel choices, particularly as part of a balanced approach where viable alternatives are provided.

The recent establishment of Active Travel England as a statutory consultee on planning matters, demonstrates the importance of planning decisions to enabling modal shift. Travel plans, submitted alongside planning applications, are an important way of communicating and facilitating alternative travel options.

Moreover, car parking has a significant impact on the urban environment. Avoiding overprovision of car parking enables greater allocation of space for other beneficial purposes such as increased leisure/recreational spaces, increased green spaces or sustainable transport infrastructure. This can lead to significantly better quality of the public realm and improved amenity for the public, including improved experience of walking and cycling, improved perceptions of safety, reduced noise, and improved air quality. Further many of these alternative uses provide greater opportunities for adaptation to the impacts of climate change, providing for additional urban greening, sustainable drainage and biodiversity opportunities.

Planning decisions must balance many different considerations, which are often unique to a site or location, however, ensuring that there isn’t an overprovision of parking within developments, providing for the communication of alternative options and maximising the space available for other beneficial use serves an important role in both reducing GHG emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

Mr Hilton asked by way of a supplementary question whether the emerging Parking Strategy would consider those who live in areas with poor public transport, who rely upon their cars and also on the vitality of visited destinations such as Ascot Centre where parking was crucially important.

Councillor Bermange replied that part of the Borough Local Plan includes a policy on active sustainable travel and talked about parking in the round with other areas including public transport. In his written response he had referred to the need to have

both pull and push factors in changing and getting that modal shift to more active and low carbon forms of travel. He disagreed with the comment that climate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To receive any petitions presented by Members on behalf of residents.

(Notice of the petition must be given to the Head of Governance not later than noon on the last working day prior to the meeting. A Member submitting a Petition may speak for no more than 2 minutes to summarise the contents of the Petition).

There were no petitions submitted.

a)    Councillor Larcombe will ask the following question of Councillor Coe, Lead member for Environmental Services

Please explain why the Wraysbury Drain is still blocked at Hythe End having been reported over four years ago?

b)    Councillor Larcombe will ask the following question of Councillor Jones, Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead member for Finance

With the ever-increasing probability of flooding, how much RBWM money has been allocated over future years towards flood defence and land drainage infrastructure maintenance and improvements please?

c)    Councillor Story will ask the following question of Councillor Bermange, Lead member for Planning, Legal and Asset Management

Planning permission for a new health centre to replace two GP surgeries in Sunninghill and Sunningdale was granted 18 months ago and residents are concerned that work has not yet started. Would the cabinet member advise Council on the reasons for the delay, when the work is likely to start and the likely opening date of the new health centre.

d)    Councillor Sharpe will ask the following question of Councillor Reynolds, Lead member for Communities and Leisure

The Novello Theatre, one of the original cinemas in the country, is a highly valued gem in Sunninghill High Street. The community in Sunninghill wish to use this, now abandoned, facility for drama, dancing, singing and for cinema, to provide additional vitality to the area. What action is now being taken to return this facility to community use?

The Council will set aside a period of 30 minutes to deal with Councillor questions, which may be extended at the discretion of the Mayor in exceptional circumstances. The Councillor who provides the initial response will do so in writing. The written response will be published as a supplement to the agenda by 5pm one working day before the meeting. The questioner shall be allowed up to one minute to put a supplementary question at the meeting. The supplementary question must arise directly out of the reply provided and shall not have the effect of introducing any new subject matter. A Councillor responding to a supplementary question will have two minutes to respond.

a)    Councillor Larcombe asked the following question of Councillor Coe, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services

Please explain why the Wraysbury Drain is still blocked at Hythe End having been reported over four years ago?

Written response: The Wraysbury Drain has been blocked for many years, in particular at Hythe End where homes and an industrial yard have been built across its path.

Sadly, in 16 years the former Conservative administration made extremely limited progress in restoring the channel as a whole and no progress at all in reinstating the channel in the vicinity of Hythe End.

The Council did undertake clearance of part of the channel at the Dive Centre in March 2022 and engagement and enforcement work is currently underway along another section where riparian owners have recently taken action to further clear the channel.

How planning consent has been acquired for property to be built across the course of a drainage channel is a question we are exploring with officers, with a view to seeing if there are any lessons to be learnt. We will also look at options for reinstatement of this section of channel such as diversion or culverting.

Further updates on work to reinstate and maintain the Wraysbury Drain are given by the council at the bi-monthly Flood Liaison Group.

Councillor Larcombe stated that he was horrified by the answer but not surprised. He considered the Council needed to do something as allowing someone to build on top of a watercourse 2.4m wide, a couple of meters deep that perhaps did not exist. A Flood Liaison meeting was scheduled for 11 October and he requested that Councillor Coe arranged for a report detailing what went wrong and offered options to put it right could be shared.

Councillor Coe answered that he did not know whether this could be achieved in that timescale, would ask and reply to him directly. Councillor Coe stated that he had similarly been surprised to discover about the properties as he’d assumed they had been there unlawfully but that was not the case.

b)    Councillor Larcombe asked the following question of Councillor Jones, Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead member for Finance

With the ever-increasing probability of flooding, how much RBWM money has been allocated over future years towards flood defence and land drainage infrastructure maintenance and improvements please?

Written response: The following items are currently identified as ‘spend’ in the capital budget in relation to flood defence and land drainage infrastructure maintenance and improvements.

2023/4CD54   River Thames Scheme Infrastructure Project            £400k

            CI93    Highway Drainage Schemes                                      £300k

2024/5CD54   River Thames Scheme Infrastructure Project            £450k

Councillor Larcombe commented that Councillor Jones’ succinct reply appeared to be short of money. By way of a supplementary question he asked about the £10m that had been talked about repeatedly over the years and more specifically the £53m that should have gone into the partnership funding for the River Thames scheme Channel One which was removed from the scheme.

In response Councillor Jones  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

a)    By Councillor Carpenter

That with immediate effect this Council recognises the wishes of the Windsor Town Forum’s current membership to be known as ‘Windsor Forum’.

A maximum period of 30 minutes will be allowed for each Motion to be moved, seconded and debated, including dealing with any amendments.  At the expiry of the 30-minute period debate will cease immediately, the mover of the Motion or amendment will have the right of reply before the Motion or amendment is put to the vote.

Motions a) relating to the name for the Forum relating to issues in Windsor

Councillor Carpenter introduced her motion which asked Council to consider amending the name of the Forum based in Windsor as it represented five wards in Windsor which were either fully or partly unparished with most residents living outside of the Town Centre. She explained that the feeling from the residents involved in the Forum was that ‘Windsor Forum’ sounded more inclusive than ‘Windsor Town Forum’. She asked her colleagues to show that they were listening to their residents and support the motion.

Councillor Price seconded the motion but reserved her right to speak.

Councillor Sharp proposed a closure motion to move directly to the vote. 

Councillor Carpenter summed up by saying that she had moved the motion in order to amend the Constitution to reflect residents’ wishes.

Proposed by Councillor Carpenter, seconded by Councillor Price it was

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that

with immediate effect this Council recognises the wishes of the Windsor Town Forum’s current membership to be known as ‘Windsor Forum’.

Motion b) regarding writing to the Prime Minister about the impact of national changes on the local ability to meet Carbon Zero targets

The Mayor advised the meeting that the motion had been accepted under rule C6.2 and was therefore treated as a Motion without Notice under C13(s).

Councillor Karen Davies introduced her motion thanking the Mayor for allowing it to be added to the agenda as it was an important issue that could not wait. She explained that the previous week the Prime Minister had announced significant delays to the planned phasing out of diesel and petrol cars and gas boilers, and also scrapped commitments to make homeowners and landlords upgrade the insulation on their properties. Given that, in 2020, gas and other heating fuels in domestic use had contributed 29% of the borough’s carbon emissions and vehicle usage contributed 33% of the borough’s total carbon emissions, she was asking the Leader of the Council to write to the Prime Minister to express their concerns at how this national delay would impact on the ability of local authorities to reach net zero carbon, and asking for an urgent renewed commitment to funding the improvements to electricity infrastructure necessary to enable to enable residents, businesses and local authorities to make the necessary transitions to reach net zero.

She said that the national issue but directly impacted on the borough’s residents, on businesses in the borough and on the Council’s ability to reach its target of net zero carbon by 2050. Delaying the phased climate pledges was ‘kicking the can down the road’ for someone else to pick up. She stated that the administration was fully committed to the Council reaching net zero by 2050 at the latest they could only achieve this by working in partnership with communities, businesses and Government, and any watering down of the commitment from Government made it harder for them to achieve this. 

She explained that the Social Market Foundation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Before closing the meeting, the Mayor asked the meeting to join him in welcoming Councillor Walters back to the Council Chamber.