Chairman to welcome all to the meeting and conduct introductions around the room.

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting and introductions were carried out around the room.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Ken Elvin (Bray Parish Council), Anne Catherine Buxton and Ruth Davies (Sunningdale Parish Council).

To Agree the Minutes from the 13 June 2017 Conference.

The Minutes of the last meeting on 13 June 2017 were Unanimously Agreed after the following changes:

Add attendees from Cox Green Parish Council – Stephen Hedges and Ian Harvey and correct spelling for David Burfitt.

Andy Jeffs, Executive Director to provide a summary of the items raised by parishes and some proposed solutions.

Andy Jeffs, Executive Director provided a summary of the items raised by parishes and some proposed solutions. Presentation Attached.

The most recent structure charts were distributed to all attendees. Attendees were reminded the current versions are available on the RBWM web site. Attached.

The Parish Charter had been discussed and was later on the Agenda.

Andy Jeffs informed the Conference that he was the Executive Director with the responsibility for Parishes. Andy Jeffs offered to have further local meetings and suggested that Officers could attend Parish meetings as required to review and discuss specific issues. There was a clear contact process directly through Officers, the numbers and emails were all on the structure charts.

The borough was happy and committed to support Parishes more on things such as GDPR or S106 to CIL.

A workshop session facilitated by the council’s senior officers.

Andy Jeffs, Executive Director provided the Conference with guideline of what to consider during the half hour workshop. The outcomes would all be considered when drafting the refreshed Parish Charter. Each group would have a council officer facilitating the workshop. Presentation Attached.

At the end of the half hour workshop, each table reported on some key points they had considered and recorded, as below:

The refreshed Parish Charter would need to include:

·         Clear themes from the visits.

·         Partnership working.

·         Building mutual trust.

·         Language in the Charter, communications of how and when.

·         Timely feedback.

·         Parish Councils very unique, recognition that they work differently.

The way forward would now include a working group to draft a refreshed Parish Charter, ready to have on the Agenda for the next Conference. The working Group would consist of volunteers  from Bray, Cookham, Old Windsor, Datchet, Cox Green, Bisham and south of the borough (TBC).

The Conference to receive an update from Susanne Martin, Electoral Services Manager and Michael Llewelyn, Policy Officer, to explain the RBWM process, the revised Ward proposals and explain where we are in the process.

Suzanne Martin, Electoral Services Manager, gave a presentation to the Conference on the Electoral Review. Presentation Attached.

Points raised after the presentation included:

·         57 councillors reduced to 43 councillors has been agreed by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England during Stage 1 of the review– This agreed recommendation was 43 councillors plus or minus one.

·         Changes to RBWM Wards will not change the existing Parish areas.

·         The current working proposals subject to the final Working Group views later this week will be a pattern of 19 wards, 8 in Windsor and 11 in Maidenhead, some would be represented by two Members and some by three Members to give the total of 43 overall.

·         to the review had been triggered to enable the  number of councillors for 2019 onwards to be considered.

The Conference to be updated on the relaunched website by Louisa Dean, Head of Communications.

Louisa Dean, Head of Communications, gave the Conference a quick run through the new refreshed website. Louisa Dean showed a few examples of what and how information could be found on the new website.

Points raised by the Conference included:

·         No tab for Residents, residents may feel that they have not been thought about.

·         Train link missing from website

·         Wifi issue on container library

·         Search issues

·         Flood info missing from website

·         Planning portal issues

The Conference to receive an update on our process and the timeline going forward from Jenifer Jackson, Head of Planning.

Councillor David Coppinger introduced himself to the Conference as the new Lead Member for Planning. Councillor Coppinger informed the Conference of where the borough is with the draft Borough Local Plan. Councillor Coppinger then introduced Jenifer Jackson, Head of Planning, who gave a presentation on the update on the Borough Local Plan and Neighbourhood Planning. Presentation Attached.

Jenifer Jackson went through the next steps in the borough local plan process and what will take place by 31 January 2018.

Jenifer Jackson went through each Parish Council and updated the Conference on where each were at present with regard to their local Neighbourhood Plans.

Finally, Jenifer Jackson updated the Conference on planning issues, such as the stakeholder meeting, the service improvement plan, recruitment in planning, the ongoing gypsy traveller accommodation assessment evidence work, the joint minerals and waste plan, the authority monitoring report and the borough design guide.

To address any actions from the last Conference.

The Actions from the last Conference were discussed and agreed.

The Conference to receive an update from the Managing Director, Alison Alexander on what the review identified and the way forward.

The Conference received an update from the Managing Director, Alison Alexander on what the review identified and the way forward. Presentation Attached.

Alison Alexander provided information on the team that conducted the peer review, how they conducted it, who they approached, the scope of the peer challenge, the five core components and the recommendations.

The peer review team had detailed three main recommendations, to Pause on making change, to Embed all changes made and Explain to the organisation, partners and residents so they all understand the changes and why they had happened. Further recommendations were made and these covered areas such as structural and constitutional governance, accountability, scrutiny, financial planning viability, capacity to deliver and leadership of place.

The Parishes asked why they were invited to the LGA review meeting and on arriving, turned away. Alison Alexander explained that the Review was a Borough request and the decision had been taken not to include the Parishes directly as a number of other local residents representatives had been involved.

Chris Graham, Bray Parish Council highlighted that it was unsatisfactory that they were turned away. Alison Alexander responded that the peer review had now finished and that could not be changed, however going forward, we would want to continue to work with the Parishes.

To be confirmed.

The Conference noted that the date of the next Parish Conference would be

Ø  Thursday 15 February 2018