Forum members to introduce themselves.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, and Forum members introduced themselves.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies received from Colin Rayner, Paul Rinder and Mark Hemmings.

To receive any declarations of interest from Elected Members.

Relating to the Biodiversity Paper item, the Chairman raised that her husband, Colin Rayner, was a farmer who owned land in the stewardship scheme.

To confirm the non-Councillor members of Rural Forum from the organisations as listed in the Terms of Reference.

Membership was noted during introductions and would be checked after the meeting.

To approve the minutes from previous meeting held on 31^st May 2022

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 31^st May 2022 were a true and accurate record.

To receive an update on the Biodiversity Paper.

James Thorpe, Sustainability and Climate Service Lead, gave a verbal update regarding the draft Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). Based on the last meeting where the BAP was presented, he stated that it was clear that improvements were necessary, and he took the feedback from the last meeting to make some changes to the BAP. He accepted that there was a lack of engagement from the farming community.

James Thorpe then went through the changes to the BAP. One substantial change to the BAP in the Farmland Habitat Action Plan was that all actions in the plan were removed and replaced with one new action: to work jointly and in partnership with the Rural Forum and other key stakeholders in the Borough to develop a Farmland Habitat Action Plan that was suitable and fit for purpose as well as ambitious, deliverable and exciting.

(Councillor Cannon had entered the meeting at 5:43pm; Councillor Brar also entered the meeting virtually)

Regarding criticism by the Forum in which the data throughout the original draft BAP was scattered, the new draft BAP had an appendix at the end where the data was consolidated.

The language in the new draft BAP was altered to make it more inclusive and inspiring. Case studies were also added under each habitat action plan to provide examples of results.

James Thorpe also mentioned that he and Jason Mills, Natural Environment Manager, had made a commitment for either one or both of them to attend future Rural Forum meetings to update the Forum on the BAP.

James Thorpe also informed that the formatting had been improved to make it clearer and engaging. Further changes to the format and design would be made to the BAP if approved by Cabinet in the following month.

Geoffrey Copas made some comments regarding the new draft BAP. He criticised the document as not being public friendly due to its length. He also criticised that the draft BAP appeared to be created in collaboration with conservation groups, stating that most of the land was owned and managed by farmers. Geoffrey Copas also criticised the statistics on the land, such as the objective for 30% of the Borough land to be reserved for nature while the draft BAP stated that woodland represented 33% of the land. He also criticised that the document did not include any mention of DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) funding to farmers. Geoffrey Copas concluded that the new draft BAP was disappointing.

The Chairman suggested that Geoffrey Copas could forward his comments on the draft BAP so that a more substantial response could be given.

James Thorpe responded to some of Geoffrey Copas’s comments. He stated that page numbers could be added to the BAP. Regarding DEFRA funding, he stated that the farms in stewardship schemes were included in the ‘30 by 30’ section of the draft BAP; and if this and the DEFRA policy changed, he would update the Forum. He stated he could answer the comments further after  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

To receive a verbal update from the Farming Community.

Daniel Bennett, Geographical Neighbourhood Inspector for Windsor and Maidenhead from Thames Valley Police (TVP), gave a verbal update on rural crime. He stated rural crime was embedded into the strategic plan of TVP, which lead to the creation of the Rural Crime Taskforce. In terms of structure, this taskforce had a superintendent, chief inspector, inspector, 2 sergeants and 10 police constables divided into 2 teams. The Taskforce also included dedicated detective resource in order to conduct investigations alongside dealing with responsive crimes.

Daniel Bennett then gave an overview on the situation with rural crime:

·       51 recorded crimes between September 2021 to August 2022, the fifth lowest within Thames Valley (behind Slough, Oxford and Milton Keynes).

·       Since 2019, there had been an increase of rural crimes being reported to TVP.

·       In the last 11 months, there had been a 6% increase in formal action being taken to crime reporting. However, it was acknowledged that there was a decrease or lack of formal action being taken in the last 4 months, in which TVP were looking in to.

·       Local analysis (attached to the Neighbourhood Team and Rural Crime Taskforce) identified that Maidenhead West was a crime hotspot, prominently criminal damage (i.e., damage to gates, fences and vehicles) linked to hare coursing. Specific areas identified were Cookham and Shurlock Row.

·       TVP had undertaken some self-assessment regarding its performance. It had been acknowledged that there had been an increase in reported crimes year-on-year and that there had been a lack of formal action in the last 4 months. In addition, there had been a lack of community confidence on occasion which Daniel Bennett believed may had been partially caused by a relevant individual, who was in charge of TV alerts, leaving as well as Mike Darren stepping down as the Geographical Neighbourhood Inspector in August 2022.

·       TVP were also working on how to improve its response to the rural crime WhatsApp group.

·       The neighbourhood teams had been working closely with the Rural Crime Taskforce to look into hare coursing and motor policing.

·       In the past 11 months, the Rural Crime Taskforce had recovered stolen property assets which totalled at over £800,000.

·       There were 4 ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) vehicles attached to the Taskforce, and they had received funding to acquire 4 additional ANPR vehicles.

·       There had been a decline in reported hare coursing incidents: in 2021, there had been 300 incidents, while there had been 100 incidents so far in 2022.

·       20 ANPR cameras had been purchased, dedicated to rural crime.

Nick Philp stated that he was impressed with the organisation and responses of the Rural Crime Taskforce.

Councillor Hunt asked about TVP’s Facebook posts on rural crime, stating she had not seen them. Daniel Bennett replied that TVP posted mostly on Twitter, but also had a Facebook page. He added that TV alerts – a local social media output – were used. The Chairman informed Councillor Hunt that the Facebook page was the Rural Crimes TVP Facebook page.

Vice-Chairman William Emmett highlighted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

To receive an update on the Open Space Strategy impacting farmers.

Jason Mills explained developments which occurred in Battlemead and Thriftwood. Both sites, he explained, were acquired by the Borough within the last 10 years, were 100 acres in size and had a mix of habitats (e.g., woodland, grasslands, streams, wetlands etc.).

Jason Mills explained that as the newly acquired land was to be used for public open space and access, the land had to be brought up to a standard for public open space. With Ockwells, for example, approximately 38 acres of the land was already local nature reserve, with 86 acres being acquired from Thriftwood farm. This provided an opportunity to start afresh with the new piece of land to balance public access with protection of wildlife and the enhancement of biodiversity. The initial stage for assessing land was to conduct habitat assessments by professional ecologists to analyse the area. From this, a management plan for the land would be formulated. He also highlighted that some of these lands acquired and managed by RBWM were former farmland.

Jason Mills then explained that managing the sites, particularly maintaining the balance of public access and wildlife conservation, required ongoing assessments, such as bird surveys in Battlemead.

Jason Mills then stated that the management plans focused on the annually collected data which were then used to adapt the plans to maintain the balance for biodiversity protection and public access.

Jason Mills then explained that 2 interesting developments which occurred. One development was an opportunity to plant some new woodlands in Ocwells and Thriftwood, with some funding from Network Rail. As of November 2022, and over the last 3 years, 20,000 trees were planted with plans to plant another 4,000 trees on the Thriftwood site for 2022. The other development was the introduction of conservation grazing in Battlemead. After the Borough acquired the land in 2018, a management plan was developed whereby the grass would be grazed annually as this considered best for the biodiversity of the grassland. This was done through the use of cows and sheep.

The Forum noted the update.

Vice-Chairman William Emmett to outline concerns from the farming community on the impact of HGV traffic.

Vice-Chairman William Emmett raised the issue of some long-term permitted development works on land razing near the Drift Road causing continuous HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) traffic travelling through B-class roads to access the sites. He believed that this was caused by the thoroughfare restriction from Maidenhead to Bracknell and Ascot being the A330. Consequently, Vice-Chairman William Emmett explained, traffic, including lorries, would travel down the A308, then through either the Drift Road, the road through Oakey Green or the back of Holyport.

Vice-Chairman William Emmett also highlighted that the sites where the development was taking place were under the jurisdiction of the Environment Agency rather than the Borough and did not have limited timeframes. He suggested that the planning sites should be time limited, stating that 10 years open-ended access to the site had created significant problems. He added that he would like the Borough to look more carefully in where it supported permitted development which were not time limited as well as having an impact on local people and local roads.

Andrew Durrant explained that the Borough and Highways Authority would be unable to apply restrictions on roads and localities where vehicles required access to sites. However, if the Borough could demonstrate that there were more suitable routes to access the sites, then restrictions could be applied. In addition, the environmental impact of HGVs could be considered to then apply restrictions. Andrew Durrant also stated that the Borough was looking into moving traffic enforcement which would apply restrictions on moving traffic (including HGVs), but this mostly applied to bridges. Nevertheless, Andrew Durrant reiterated that there were potentially alternative routes and possibilities which could be pursued to relieve rural areas.

Andrew Durrant offered to forward Vice-Chairman William Emmett’s points to the Highways Team to look into, and then provide a written update to the Rural Forum.

Councillor Johnson stated that HGV traffic flow was a pertinent issue. He added that it would be illogical to pursue the enforcement of weight limits without a comprehensive review of the Borough’s current system of weight restricted roads and access as they directed HGV traffic to unsuitable rural roads. He believed in the longer term there had to be alternative solutions to address the issue and get HGV movements back onto arterial roads rather than B- and C-class roads.

Councillor Coppinger agreed with Councillor Johnson, stating that his ward in Holyport (as well as Councillor Johnson’s ward) were affected by heavy HGV traffic. He also agreed that a different solution was required with possibly a bypass in Holyport.

Nick Philp highlighted that some farms were reliant on HGV traffic to transport produce to and from their farms, stating that it was an issue that would not go away.

Vice-Chairman William Emmett stated that he was not seeking to restrict access to farmland for fellow farmers like Nick Philp. He said that he believed that the Borough would need to find road access off the M4 as there was development works in the local area.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

To note the details of the next meeting:

·       7^th March 2023

The Forum noted that the next meeting was to be held on 7^th March 2023.