To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Paul Lion and Julian Sharpe.

To receive any Declarations of Interest.

Cllr Hunt – Declared a personal interest as she owns a property in Maidenhead; Cllr Hunt stated it was not a prejudicial interest and she had attended Panel with an open mind.

To comment on the report being submitted to the Cabinet Regeneration Sub Committee on 5 September 2017

Russel O’Keefe, Executive Director stated the report was an update on the improvements to the forecourt of Maidenhead train station. The Council had secured subject to demonstrating a business case  £6.5m  funding for the project and a lot of work had been carried out on the project in order to get the right option to support the business case. A number of options had been looked at including a bus interchange but, there had been no appetite with the adjacent landowners to join a scheme  and the costs associated with acquiring the land  prohibited the bus interchange option. However, it was an option that could be looked at again in the future in a few years if circumstances changed.

The Executive Director explained there were three main elements to the scheme which were:

i)             Improved connections between journeys made on foot, bicycle, bus, train, taxi and car.

ii)            Improved linkages between the rail station and the town centre, with environmental enhancements for the station forecourt that will transform the area and create a high-quality gateway to the town centre.

iii)           Construction of replacement parking for any spaces that are displaced from the forecourt in order to create the interchange.

He added that any parking lost would be replaced elsewhere and it would encourage a gateway into the regenerated Town Centre. He directed Members to 2.6 of the report that showed more detail of the scheme with improved pedestrian routing, a cycle hub, drop off and revised pick up zone and a taxi rank. The appendix showed an indicative sketch drawing of the area and gave an indication of how the key elements  could look like once completed. The new station forecourt would also include improved access to the Town Centre by way of either a footbridge or better surface crossing.

The next steps would be a further consultation and once the final design was produced, discussions with Network Rail and other stakeholders would begin. The Executive Director  assured Members that other partners and stakeholders were very supportive of the scheme.

The Executive Director said he should have some draft designs in the next week and further work was being undertaken to check that they meet the business case; the bar for the business case was set quite high but the scope of the benefits to be taken into consideration had been widened so it was not purely based on the transport  benefits alone. Sign off on the project would be in October 2017 by the Cabinet Regeneration Sub Committee; if all approved, the scheme would to progress the project from the LEP who will decide on the final funding.

The Chairman stated the estimated contribution from the Borough was 20% of the final costs and the rest of the funding of £6.75m would be received from the LEP Growth Fund. He stated it was a good deal but the development would put pressure on the infrastructure of the area. He added a similar sized plot in Perth City in Australia  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.