To receive apologies for absence.

None.

To declare any Declarations of Interest.

Although no formal declarations of interest were declared, it was noted that Councillors Shelim Cannon, Knowles and Davies were Members of the Community Governance Review (CGR) Working Group. Councillor Story was a Member of the working group but was not present at the meeting.

The Vice Chairman was also commented that as the relevant Lead Member, she would likely present the Community Governance Review reports to the Council.

To approve the minutes of the 22 July 2020 meeting.

Councillor Cannon said the minutes were a true and accurate record of the meeting dated 22 July 2020 and was seconded by the Vice Chairman.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 July 2020 be approved.

To receive information on the process for the Stage 1 consultation.

COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE REVIEW: WINDSOR TOWN COUNCIL

Suzanne Martin, Electoral & Information Governance Services Manager, introduced the item to the Forum. She gave a procedural overview of the Stage 1 consultation rather than details such as the financial implications for a Windsor Town Council (WTC), that would come during the second stage of the consultation. The Terms of Reference was endorsed by Full Council in July 2020, which provided background information and the expected timeframe of the review. The Working Group was set up to examine if there was a need for WTC following significant interest raised by Windsor residents through an e-petition in early 2020. While the threshold was not met by the e-petition to require the council to run a review, in May 2020, the Leader of the Council announced a review would be undertaken given the resident interest. The review commenced in July 2020 and would conclude in July 2021.

The Working Group covered the whole procedure, including examining the existing parish governance arrangements, new matters, existing ward boundaries for parishes and the number of Councillors elected to parished areas. The scope of the review was the unparished areas of Windsor, which covered five wards and 12 polling districts. The first consultation was conducted from August 2020 and would close on 28 October 2020. Public consultation was being undertaken to receive feedback to help the Working Group in formulating draft recommendations, to be published in early 2021. The consultation included members of public, local electors, businesses, community groups and other organisations with interest.

The overall consultation would address the following questions:

• What was the appetite for creating a new town council for Windsor? Was a parish council needed or desired?
• Was there a sense of community identity in the review area and should this community be represented by its own parish council?
• How could a new parish council take shape?
• Should a new parish council be warded to reflect the communities that exist in the review area? If so, how should these boundaries be drawn?

The second phase of the consultation would run for 3 months in early 2021 and would ask for the public’s view on the draft recommendations. The working group would aim to scope the details of WTC, which would include the area boundary for WTC, the number of wards proposed for WTC and the number of parish Councillors needed. Final recommendations would be published at the end of the second consultation and reviewed by full Council in July 2021. If the outcome of the review was to create a WTC, the first election would take place in May 2023 as this was the date of the next scheduled election for parish elections in four-yearly cycles.

John Webb, Windsor resident and representing the WTC steering group, said he polled residents on his street and asked residents if they knew RBWM was unable to tell how and where the unparished precept was spent. Almost all residents were unaware of this and almost 90% of them signed the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 156.

To consider the Forum’s work programme.

Councillor Tisi requested for an item on Windsor Yards, to be reported by the management company. The Chairman said he would contact Forum Members offline regarding confidential information regarding this.

Councillor Davies said an update on the air pollution statistics would be useful. The Chairman said it was likely the pollution levels would be low, due to the lack of vehicle use due to COVID-19.

Councillor Price asked to go through the items suggested but not yet programmed. It was agreed that:

·         Royal British Legion to be removed as it was out of date. Councillor Knowles said the legion guidance was ever-changing, the poppy appeal was to be brought online with contactless options rather than face-to-face to reduce risk of the spread of COVID-19. To avoid mass attendance, no comment was made on the borough’s plans for Remembrance Day.

·         Councillor Knowles to update on the Army covenant in the next meeting.

·         Windsor & Eton Town Partnership item to be added to the Work Programme.

·         It was noted that Radian had been renamed as Abri. The Vice Chairman requested to invite Abri to the forum to share the work they were doing for a future Forum.

·         COVID-19 Update to be added to all upcoming meetings.

·         The Chairman said there was commercial confidentiality regarding the Royal Windsor Station.

·         Councillor Cannon and Paul Roach, Windsor Town Manager, to update on the CCTV item. Councillor Davey said the item could also discuss the District Environmental Crime Officers enforcement. The Chairman said this may be a question to put forward to Full Council.

·         Claire Milne requested for the WNP to be added to the Work Programme, and this was agreed for the January 2021 meeting. Susy Shearer said she was given permission to relay a question on behalf of Claire Milne at the previous Forum meeting on 23 September 2020. The report related to progressing the WNP prior to referendum and to what amount of planning "weight" it could be, given it had successfully passed its examination by an officer in Planning Policy, to be considered by Cabinet at the end of October 2020. The question was raised again today as the date was fast approaching.

ACTION: Councillor Knowles to invite Windsor Chamber of Commerce representative.

John Holland asked to have written reports before the meeting so that questions could be prepared in advance of the meeting, rather than verbal updates. The Forum was informed this was dependent on officer workload and resource availability.

The Chairman thanked all officers, Members and residents.