To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor G Jones, Councillor Targowski and Councillor McWilliams. Councillor Haseler was attending the meeting as a subsitute.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th January 2022.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th January 2022 were approved as a true and accurate record.

Jeff Pick, Thames Valley Police, had produced and circulated the latest crime stats for Maidenhead, the Chairman allowed an opportunity for Forum Members to ask any relevant questions before moving on to considering the items on the agenda.

Councillor Haseler asked how keyless vehicle thefts were recorded in the stats.

Jeff Pick explained that cars used to be stolen by copying the signal, now thieves were using relay boosters. Car trackers would work for about 10 minutes, but professional car thieves knew were these were located and could remove them quickly. Apple Air Tags were a useful tool as they could be operated anywhere in the world and therefore allowed the police to track stolen vehicles for longer. The best way to protect against this was to keep the key fob in a faraday cage.

Councillor Bhangra said that Range Rovers were the most common type of car to be stolen in the UK, steering locks were a good way to deter thieves. Councillor Bhangra noted that there had been a significant number of bike thefts and asked why this figure was so high.

Jeff Pick said that the police did not know what happened with stolen bikes, they encouraged cyclists to mark their bikes with the bike register. The Windsor Cycle Hub was one organisation which could offer this service. The combination lock was one of the easiest to crack as thieves could just pull it apart.

Councillor Singh joined the meeting.

Robyn Bunyan, Maidenhead Town Manager, suggested that it would be good to have a stall or event on the high street on bike safety and security.

Councillor Singh said that there was an issue with bikes being stolen at the train station, a lot of residents were now reluctant to leave their bike here.

Jeff Pick responded by saying that the bike racks were good but the issue was that thieves were stealing bikes in sight of the public. Many people often did not realise that a bike was being stolen, as thieves made it look smooth and unsuspicious.

Councillor Singh asked what advice the police had for any residents who witnessed a bike being stolen.

Jeff Pick advised that witnesses should try to take photos or video the incident, should it be safe to do so. The crime could then be reported to the police either by calling 101 or using the website. This would help the police to understand which areas had a significant problem and would enable them to focus resources on these areas.

Councillor Singh said that some residents had faced issues with getting through on the 101 service, he asked if there could be a presence at Maidenhead Police Station where residents could report crimes.

Jeff Pick said that this is something that he could raise internally. All crimes could be reported online, it was the same as reporting via  ...  view the full minutes text for item 152.

To receive an update on the progress of the site from Victoria Manston.

Victoria Manston, Senior Development Manager at Hub Residential, gave the Forum a presentation on the latest developments at the Landings site in Maidenhead. Initial works on phase 1 had started in October 2021, with the main contract work starting in December 2021. The main contractor was JJ Rhatigan, phase 1 consisted of the residential element which was 420 homes across 4 blocks, which included 4 ground floor commercial units. The garden square was in the centre of the scheme, all of the homes would be for rent and would be managed by Get Living. The scheme was due to be delivered in four phases, with the target delivery date being between February and October 2024. The contractor was doing a lot of work in the local community, taking part in the recent pancake day race in the town centre and also sponsoring one of Maidenhead United’s recent matches, against Boreham Wood in the National League. Work was also being done with local charities and there would be opportunities to work with local schools too.

Councillor Singh said that he had originally seen plans to link the site with the development which would soon be commencing at the Nicholsons Quarter, he asked if the contractors would be working in partnership with Areli.

Victoria Manston said that there would be connections through the site, from the train station into the town centre. There were not any plans currently to link with the Nicholsons site.

Councillor Singh asked if there were any plans to create artwork on the hoardings surrounding the site, to build on the mural which was currently already there and had been created by local artist James Maddison.

Victoria Manston said that local schools had been approached for interest in an arts project to decorate the hoardings. Information on the ‘Make Maidenhead’ campaign would also be displayed.

Councillor Singh asked about the commercial units and what this retail offering might be.

Victoria Manston said that the current vision was for two restaurants or light refreshment venues and two retails units. Get Living would be considering appropriate tenants and this would be confirmed in due course.

Councillor Baldwin asked about the Nicholsons development and said that Areli had promised to involve local stakeholders on sustainability, however there had been little communication on this so far.

The Chairman said that Areli would be able to answer this question, he would be happy to invite the developers to a future meeting.

ACTION – Invite Areli to the next meeting of Maidenhead Town Forum.

Councillor Singh asked when the first phase of the development would be completed. He asked if works were progressing as planned.

He was informed that it was planned for completion by February 2024 and would involve a large proportion of the garden square being completed. Works had been progressing on schedule, so far.

Councillor Singh mentioned the 278 works, he asked if there was anything the council could do to assist.

Victoria Manston said that the designs for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153.

To receive an update from Robyn Bunyan.

Robyn Bunyan, Maidenhead Town Manager, said that footfall across the town centre had been recovering. 2019 was the last ‘normal’ trading year and when compared to the data, Maidenhead was recovering faster than other similar sized places. There was more to do, but generally the town was in a good place. There had been a lot of regeneration of the town planned and as Victoria Manston had mentioned as part of the update on the Landings site, the developers had joined in with the recent pancake day race which was held on the high street. Lots of scaffolding was coming down around the Chapel Arches development too. The Countryside development near the Town Hall would shortly see the community square completed and there would be a launch event. Across the town, car parking usage was down and this was still largely attributed to the lack of office workers.

Considering highlights of the previous month, Robyn Bunyan said that Anytime Fitness had been running free bootcamps. Spring hanging baskets had been placed around the town centre and the recent Chinese New Year celebrations and events had been a success, particularly linking in well with the countries hosting of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Activities over the period had been attended by over 1,500 and had therefore been well received. The street clean team had been out cleaning streets and the council had recently purchased two professional graffiti cleaning kits, along with 20 community graffiti removal kits. This would allow community groups to help clean their communities. Grilled Grub, one of the market street traders, had recently taken over the old Subway unit and there was hope that this would be open in the next couple of months. The craft fair would be taking place in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre, while a vegan market would be taking place at the weekend in the high street.

Robyn Bunyan said that Maidenhead was preparing events to celebrate the Jubilee. There would be bunting and flags, which would be in place before the Queen’s birthday on 21^st April 2022. There would be a package put together that would allow businesses to sponsor special Jubilee hanging baskets.

The Chairman announced that social distancing barriers around the town centre would be removed, on Queen Street, Broadway and York Road. The cycle parking in King Street and the high street, and the cycle lanes in the high street would be retained.

Councillor Bhangra said it was great to see pop up stalls and bars in the town centre. He commented on the vacancy rates and asked how the council could encourage businesses to open up in the town.

Robyn Bunyan said that there was lot of activity on the high street and a significant proportion of the areas which were currently covered in hoardings were due to work which was ongoing.

Councillor Baldwin expressed concern about the parking, the budget had been based on the pre-Covid level of parking. The numbers were still down and Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 154.

To hear from Neil Walter on the details of the discount parking scheme for residents in the borough.

Neil Walter said that residents who signed up to the scheme would have access to one hour of free parking at a select number of RBWM car parks. The system would work by using the RingGo app, with both Maidenhead and Windsor having two eligible car parks included in the scheme. Applications for the scheme opened on 14^th February, with over 1,000 applications being received in the first day. The council had so far received around 4,500 applications, with around 2,000 new RingGo accounts created and 2,000 new vehicles registered. The prediction from officers was approximately 8,000 – 10,000 applications from residents. Five drop-in sessions had been offered by the council to help those residents who needed assistance signing up for the scheme, these had been well attended with the next one due to take place in Ascot. Officers were continuing to test the live system to ensure that the tariff was correct. Each car park would have different sections, one for general use and one to enable residents to benefit from the discount.

Councillor Taylor said that she had noticed on the RingGo app that when she tried to pay and it was free, for example on a Sunday, residents were unable to pay. She asked if this would also be the case in the permit section of the app.

Neil Walter said that the charging would be the same for those with the discount permit as well as those without the discount.

Councillor Taylor asked if the app would automatically display the correct zone for the resident to park in or would these need to be manually selected through the app.

Neil Walter confirmed that the zones that were applicable for the permit would be displayed. The discounted parking would only be available for those that had the valid permit.

Councillor Taylor asked if there were plans for a video walk through to be created, showing residents how to park and what they needed to do on the RingGo app to get the discount, this could be published on the council’s social media channels.

Neil Walter responded by saying that there were videos on the website which showed how residents could sign up. Once the system was live, some additional videos could be added to the website and shared on RBWM social media channels.

Councillor Bhangra asked how many of the applications for a discount had been approved and if any other businesses, other than the council, were advertising the scheme. Councillor Bhangra agreed with Neil Walter’s comments on the scheme not being needed in car parks like the Broadway, which was due to be knocked down.

Neil Walter said that around 4,500 discount permits had been issued, he was not aware of any other businesses that were advertising the discount scheme.

Councillor Singh said that the scheme would not be live whilst the car park would be demolished. Out of the 4,500 permits, how many residents had used the scheme so far and been able to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 155.

The Forum is invited to make suggestions for future meetings.

Councillor Taylor suggested that it would be beneficial to invite ShopMobility to the next meeting, to run through the services that they offered.

Councillor Baldwin added that ShopMobility had recently done a presentation to the Disability and Inclusion Forum.

All future meetings to be held on the following dates (at 6.30pm):

·       Thursday 12^th May 2022

·       Monday 11^th July 2022

·       Monday 5^th September 2022

·       Thursday 10^th November 2022

·       Thursday 12^th January 2022

·       Thursday 16^th March 2023

The next meeting would be held on Thursday 12^th May 2022, starting at 6.30pm.