To receive any apologies for absence

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2015.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting of the Sub

Committee held on 21 October 2015 be approved.

To consider the above report

Members considered the results of the Neighbourhood Participatory Budget (PB) scheme for projects voted for by the public during October, November and early December 2015.

The project with highest votes was Windsor Horse Rangers, Equestrian Mirrors, with a total of 361 votes. The second highest was Volunteer Reading Mentors (ABC to read), with a total of 81 votes and the third highest was the Maidenhead Festival 2016 with 80 votes.

It was noted that 4 new projects had  been submitted to the voting round and 10 projects had been carried forward from the previous voting round.

Members noted the voting figures as detailed in Appendix A, and discussed

appropriate awarding of funds, including match funding.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That:

i) Windsor Horse Rangers – equestrian mirrors be awarded £1,800.

ii) Volunteer Reading Mentors – Assisting Berkshire Children to Read (ABC to read) be awarded £1047.56.

iii) Maidenhead Festival 2016 be awarded £2,000.

iv) No Match Funding was allocated.

To consider the above report

It was noted that half of the Members had not allocated their funds to date. In addition to the details in the appendix, it was noted that Cllr Collins had now committed all his budget.

Local Uniformed Youth Groups were discussed and it was noted that these had generally not been successful at securing funds through the Community Grants Panel, and it might therefore be helpful if those groups who had applied for Community Grants if unsuccessful be highlighted to the relevant local ward member. Ward Members could then consider supporting  such groups. It was agreed that it would be useful for Members to be advised if uniformed youth groups had submitted applications to the Grants Panel and been unsuccessful.

In response to a suggestion at the Big Society Panel details of  unsuccessful applicants for community grant funding would be forwarded to Members for them to consider supporting them from their Member Budget allocation.

The Chairman agreed that it would be good for the Sub Committee to know if Ward Members were saving their member budget for the following financial year and what they were saving for.

Officers were requested to write to Members reminding them of the funds after Christmas and Councillor Mrs Bateson was requested to write to Members after the Grants Panel in January 2016 reminding them again.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Cabinet Participatory Budget Sub Committee notes the progress to date in implementing the Member budgets programme

for 2015/16.

To consider the above report

The Sub Committee noted that an initial consultation with Ward Councillors and Parish Councils had been completed. Unfortunately there had not been a high response rate. All responses received have been included in the report. Some further work was carried out and many ideas had now been identified.

The report proposes of eight borough wide topics and five for the area wide schemes in Maidenhead, Windsor, Ascot and the Sunnings.

The officer’s recommendation suggested that a list be put together and then circulated to the Sub Committee. Once agreed, the survey  would be sent with the Around the Royal Borough newspaper and included in the  Council Tax bills to residents for them to decide where they would like their monies spent. This was the method used the previous year and had worked very well. The cost of inclusion in the council tax bills was approximately £2000.

The Chairman requested that the Committee be kept involved reaching the decision of the final list that would be sent to residents.

Councillor Stretton explained that once all votes had been received, the monies could be spread across all the selected events if events in each of the three areas were included.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: Approve the suggested content for the borough-wide and geographic area consultation in 2016, and delegate responsibility to the Principal Member for Culture and Communities in consultation with the Members of the Cabinet Participatory Budget Sub Committee to finalise the 2016 PB consultation document with the Communications and Marketing Manager.

17 February 2016

20 April 2016

The following meeting dates were noted:

·         17 February 2016

·         20 April 2016