The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Gilmore, Lenton, Shelim and Werner. Councillor Sharpe was substituting.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the part I minutes of the 11 August 2016 meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were Unanimously Agreed.

A presentation from Kevin McGarry, Twining Committee.

Kevin McGarry, Twining Committee and his colleagues, David Maskell and Vivien Williams, gave a presentation. Kevin McGarry discussed the partnership history, the aims and benefits of international partnerships, the twinning activities, the funding and the future programme.

The Chairman asked if it was clearly stated in the proposal, where the Twining Committee were and where they wanted to get to, including the financial shortfall.

Kevin McGarry and David Maskell explained that this was an ideal time for the borough to decide which partnerships to agree on and to learn from best practice from the twin towns. The borough could now decide on what and where the budget was spent. The budget for the Twining Committee was £10K in 1994 and was the same today, whereas costs had gone up significantly. The committee members suggested using other budgets for some costs leaving more funds for the actual twin towns projects.

The Chairman confirmed that the borough would consider the Twining Committee request for the RBWM to take back oversight and management of the Twining Activity with the support from the experts.

Councillor Grey expressed his gratitude and thanks to the committee members. Councillor Grey explained that he was exposed to the work of the Twining Committee when he was Mayor. These were important functions for the Royal borough and the Mayor’s function was a large one. Councillor Grey asked if current members were happy to carry on providing their services and expertise.

Councillor Diment expressed that the value for this work was very high, especially in the current times. However she was concerned that as a resident she had never heard or seen anything to do with twinning and had never seen a newsletter. Councillor Diment suggested that going forward it would be worthwhile seeking to work with each and every resident. Councillor Diment also asked if reports were written by the young people who went to the Twin Towns games and was advised that they did and these were published in the newsletters.

Councillor McWilliams asked about the income, other than the funding from RBWM, was there any other funding. The Committee members advised that in line with the constitution, they were totally reliant on RBWM. Any adult going on a trip would finance themselves and any youngsters would pay up to £100.

Councillor Mrs Rayner thanked the Twining Committee Members and Helen Preedy. Many children had benefited. Councillor Mrs Rayner was supporting Kevin McGarry in the motion that the Twinning Committee request for the responsibility for Twining Activity to come back to the borough.

Councillor Grey highlighted that it was essential to have a transition period where the knowledge and experience, assistance and expertise was on hand. The Twining Committee members confirmed they were happy to assist in a restructuring and rebranding exercise. The new ‘brand’ would need to have a higher profile, be proactive, recruit residents, have an outward facing focus, target clubs and continue to work with the Mayor.

Members unanimously supported the dialogue to build  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

An update from Kevin Mist, Head of Communities & Economic Development on the Sis Nicolas Winton Garden.

The Panel received an update from Kevin Mist, Head of Communities & Economic Development. Kevin Mist informed the Panel that Sir Nicolas Winton was a Maidenhead resident. He had died in July 2015. The borough wanted to have a suitable and appropriate memorial in the borough. Oaken Grove park was selected as a suitable place to situate the memorial. The borough had consulted with the family and designed a memorial. The work had commenced and was progressing well and the paths and pond work would be completed by Christmas and all planting would be done in April 2017. The path would have Sir Nicolas Winton sayings along it, carved in stone.

Councillor Diment commented that it was a wonderful project and was a huge asset for RBWM.

Councillor Mrs Rayner highlighted that this was a project that had been initiated from the Culture and Communities O and S Panel, through a task and finish group and was a positive development.

A report on the Indoor Sports Strategy and the Playing Pitch Strategy by Kevin Mist, Head of Communities & Economic Development and Helen Preedy, Sports Development Officer.

Kevin Mist, Head of Communities and Economic Development, introduced the Indoor Sports Strategy and the Playing Pitch Strategy. KKP Leisure Consultancy were commissioned to take the work forward. The Sport England guide package was followed to replace the existing strategies. It had taken nine months to undertake the work. The Borough Local Plan, CIL, S106 and the Sport England Capital had all been given consideration in the developments of these strategies. The external partners involved included Sport England, National Governing Bodies of Sport, Get Berkshire Active, sports clubs, Legacy Leisure, schools and other education establishments. Kevin Mist continued and went through the main recommendations of the strategies.

Helen Preedy, Sports Development Officer, informed the Panel of the facility projects completed with the previous strategies. These included:

•          Upgraded Gym and Changing Room at Charters

•          Furze Platt and Cox Green Leisure Centres and Astro-Turfs

•          Upgrade of the flumes at the Magnet

•          The Maidenhead Rugby Club 4G Astro pitch

•          Ascot United FC-Clubhouse

•          Windsor Archers- Clubhouse

•          Clewer Recreation Ground MUPA

•          Grenfell Park MUPA

•          Desborough Skate Park

•          Windsor LC Gym Extension

The new strategies should see the following projects supported:

•          New Sports Development Programmes meeting the needs of the community and able to access new and upgraded facilities

•          More Partnership working to develop and open up venue spaces

•          Accessing funding to meet the current and future demand for sports facilities

•          New/Upgraded Sports Facilities that are fit for purpose

•          Existing and new sports clubs increasing membership 

Helen Preedy continued to explain the impacts on residents which included the health impacts, economic impacts and the social and cultural impacts.

The Chairman asked how the progress would be monitored and reviewed and was advised that a steering group would be put together to commit to and monitor and keep alive.

Councillor Grey highlighted an issue that had been expressed to him by a number of residents. A coach for the under 9’s athletics coach at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre gave up their position and ended the athletics club. This was very deflating for the children.

ACTION: Kevin Mist to investigate the issue and report back to Councillor Grey.

Councillor McWilliams asked who maintained the quality of the school local pitches, was it the local authority or the schools. Kevin Mist informed the Panel that there were different plans set up for different schools. The local authority maintained schools were funded and supported by the Dedicated Schools Grant funding. The academies had very different set ups in place which reflected the individual funding operations. Charters School had a joint proposal where the local authority undertook the cutting of the grass and Legacy Leisure maintained all of the all-weather pitches. At Cox Green School, all the grass pitches were maintained by Legacy Leisure. The Furze Platt grass pitches were maintained by the local authority. The drainage needed some improvement when the funding was available. This was going to be a significant investment.

Councillor Edward  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

David Scott, Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy, to report to Members on the Council Performance Management Framework Quarter 2 2016/17.

Councillor McWilliams introduced the report, informing Members that the revised Performance Management Framework (PMF) was the result of collaborative work between Lead Members and Officers. The benefits of the new approach were a more resident-friendly view of how the council was delivering and an enhanced ability for the council to understand its progress towards its strategic priorities.

The new PMF has 69 KPIs. This was an increase on the former IPMR’s 24 KPIs. There were however an additional 43 ‘secondary indicators’ in the former IPMR as well as six HR indicators. The new PMF therefore is a similarly comprehensive view of the council’s performance (slightly reduced in overall size) but with a streamlined focus and increased relevance for each indicator’s inclusion in relation to the Council Strategic Priorities.

The new framework demonstrates that when overall performance of the council’s objectives were considered for each of the council’s strategic priorities (Residents First, Value for Money, Delivering Together, Equipping Ourselves for the Future) three of the priorities were on target and one of the priorities was off target (Equipping ourselves for the Future).

The Panel discussed benchmarking with other councils and the production of the report.

The Chairman summed up the discussion, saying that it was a very useful document. The numbers and colour were very helpful. There was a quick focus on concerns and the commentary was very helpful. This allowed communication to be much more effective for the residents. The infographics were also very useful. The Panel unanimously endorsed the approach to performance management and the continued evolution of the new performance management framework.

Simon Fletcher, Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services to report to the Panel.

Councillor Samantha Rayner introduced the report and informed the Panel that the borough was reacting to the residents needs. The capital investment of £150K was going to be a one off payment to enable the new merged service to be developed.

The Chairman supported the extended hours and the multi services at single points. He was however concerned that the project may not be delivered in the budget and on time.

Simon Fletcher, Strategic Director of Operations, informed the Panel that many areas were being considered in the delivering differently project. Best Practice from other parts of the country had been considered and existing examples had been revised to suit the RBWM needs.

The risks had been considered and the three main risks were:

·         Technology, have talked to IT to improve the digital access.

·         Training, bringing together two streams of staff, investing time and resource to ensure staff trained.

·         Ensuring transformation, the traditional library service maintained through the transition period.

A risk blog was completed where more staff were trained on the digital services and a dedicated, experienced member of staff  was working on training.

The library volunteers were discussed and they would be supporting the library staff.

The Chairman endorsed all recommendations, this was seconded by Councillor Sharpe. Unanimously agreed by all Members.

The clerk to update Members on the work programme.

The Chairman informed the Panel of a task and finish group being created for The Brocket, a Victorian family home in Maidenhead. The Task and Finish Group would review the future use of The Brocket and make any recommendations, that if supported by the Culture and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee, could be provided to the Cabinet Regeneration Sub-Committee when they considered the feasibility study in February 2017. A Task and Finish Group on The Brocket was requested at the Audit and Performance Review Panel on the 26 October 2016 following consideration of the detailed feasibility study that has been carried out. The Panel felt a Task and Finish Group was necessary to examine the future use of The Brocket and that Members of the Audit and Performance Review Panel be invited to attend. Members of the public should either be invited to be on the Panel or called to contribute as needed.

The Chairman aimed that a report would be prepared by mid January. The Chairman asked Members if they would be interested to join the task and finish group. Councillor Diment was interested.

The Chairman also informed Members that discussions were taking place on the Maidenhead Riverside amenities and visitor attractions. Local groups would be canvassed to see what Maidenhead Riverside has and doesn’t have and then bridging the gap.

Members to note the date of the next meeting is Tuesday 24 January 2017.

Members noted the date of the next meeting, 24 January 2017.