The Forum shall receive any apologies for absence.

The Chair, Councillor Carpenter, welcomed everyone to the meeting. Forum members then introduced themselves.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Knowles. He was substituted by Councillor D. Davies.

The Forum are asked to declare any interests that they may have.

No interests were declared.

The Forum are to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18^th July 2023 as a true and accurate record.

The Chair went through the actions from the last meeting:

Outstanding actions:

·       A motion to be forwarded at Full Council to change the name of Windsor Town Forum to ‘Windsor Forum’.

·       Invite a relevant officer or Councillor to discuss the Council’s economic growth plan to a future Forum meeting.

Councillor W. Da Costa raised that he suggested an item where relevant officers present RBWM’s response to Heathrow Airport’s noise management plan consultation to the Forum. Laurence Ellis, Democratic Services Officer, replied that RBWM had responded to the consultation, but the response was not publicly available yet. Once made publicly available, he suggested that this could be added to a Forum agenda in some shape or form.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meetings held on 18^th July 2023 were a true and accurate record.

To receive an update from Paul Roach, Windsor and Eton Town Centre Manager.

Paul Roach, Windsor and Eton Town Centre Manager, gave the Town Manager Update. Starting with the Footfall Count, he informed that the trend of the footfall decreasing at around August of each year (as a result of the end of summer holidays and return to schools) had remained unchanged in August 2023 and for the last four-to-five years. In spite of this, Windsor had seen a 6.5% increase in footfall in the same period in 2022. Since 31^st July 2023, Windsor Town Centre had over 655,000 visits, which was calculated from a footfall counter on Peascod Street.

Paul Roach informed that the Windsor Town Management Team was looking into a new scheme to monitor footfall across the whole of the Town Centre, which he hoped to present to the Forum in the future once the data going into the scheme had been updated. This would give a more accurate picture of movement around the Town Centre and shopping centres, in contrast to the original practice of a single counter on Peascod Street.

Car and coach parking in July 2023 were fairly static compared to the same period in 2022. Coach parking had seen a 23% increase compared to 2022 with much more tour groups returning.

Town Centre vacancy rates had decreased by 9.4% (compared to 9.8% when last reported). Windsor Town Centre did slightly better than the national average of 13.8%, though there were still areas of concern.

The recently vacated units in the last three months were:

·       Reem Gallery – which had opened up but then closed within three weeks.

·       New Look.

·       Penriver Design Ltd.

·       Top Print.

·       Barclays Bank

·       HSBC

Paul Roach informed that there was a new scheme called Banking Hubs, whereby all the banks came together and shared a space, usually through the post office service. There was consideration on whether this scheme could be applied in Windsor as there was a strict criterion, such as the number of cashpoints in the Town Centre. The Windsor Town Management Team were planning to investigate this further, though Paul Roach speculated that Windsor Town Centre may not fit the criteria due to not having the adequate number of cashpoints. He suggested to possibly relay an update on this to the Forum in the future.

Despite the closures of Barclays and HSBC, Nationwide Building Society were not planning to close their Windsor branch and instead they had made a national commitment to keep and support their local branches.

(Chris Joyce, Assistant Director of Infrastructure Sustainability and Economic Growth, entered the meeting virtually at 6:43pm)

Stores which had opened in the last three months were:

·       Delicious Faux.

·       Banana Tree.

·       Badiani Gelato.

·       Time Watch Repair.

·       Greggs – doing well with two-floor store, potentially their second largest unit in “this part of the world”, according to Paul Roach.

·       Rogue Tattoo.

·       Temptation Gifts.

·       Ti Chicken.

·       The Shambles.

·       YourHolidays.

There were new stores which were under development in the following vacant units:

·       The Halifax unit would be rented out by another provider in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 313.

To receive an update from Chris Joyce, Assistant Director of Infrastructure Sustainability and Economic Growth, on the Vision for Windsor.

Chris Joyce, Assistant Director of Infrastructure Sustainability and Economic Growth, gave a presentation on the progress for the Vision for Windsor.

Starting off with some context, the Vision for Windsor was a development project managed and undertaken by the Council-appointed Prince’s Foundation back in April 2022. From there, a large number of engagement sessions with stakeholders, residents and community groups took place between August and November 2022 which lead to a vision being developed. This was then adopted by Cabinet in February 2023.

The feedback was collated together to develop a vision statement across a number of different areas. The statements, Chris Joyce perceived, referenced discussions around a conflict between the local community and global community, and thus raised questions on how to balance the needs of residents with the desire and the demand which came from the internationally recognised assets in Windsor, particularly Windsor Castle and Windsor Great Park.

Coming out of the workshop sessions, five strategies were formulated alongside a set of actions under each strategy (totalling to around 21 actions) to deliver the Vision. The five strategies were:

·       Gateways and Arrival,

·       Town Centre Movement,

·       Character and Uses,

·       Public Realm,

·       Local Governance and Community Partnerships.

Work on the Vision had begun, though there had been a short pause due to the local elections in May 2023 and the transition to the new administration. A workshop was held on 11^th September 2023 for RBWM officers as a starting point to develop a long list of potential opportunities based on the work undertaken for the Vision. There were three key themes:

·       What the Council was already doing in moving towards the Vision,

·       Any potential quick wins based on the Borough’s knowledge of those areas, and the work that's already in development.

·       Identify some longer-term strategic plans which would take longer and therefore start developing them.

On the back of the feedback from the engagement workshops, RBWM officers would work with the new administration to establish their priorities based upon the Vision. There would be a prioritisation process to develop a shorter list of potential projects, taking into account some funding opportunities, particularly in the quick wins.

As part of the process for the Vision, RBWM officers sought to put key stakeholders, communities and residents at the heart of the development of some of the key projects around the objectives and scope, as much of the strength of the Vision came off the back of much engagement from them.

Chris Joyce mentioned that there was an opportunity to utilise Windsor Town Forum to shape some of these projects. He suggested to bring back the Vision for Windsor item at the next Forum meeting in November 2023, bringing back details and some quick wins for further discussion and to acquire input from residents and Forum members to help shape the work.

The projects which were in progress under each strategy included:

·       Gateways and Arrival

o   Refurbishment works at the coach park bridge and lift.

o   Windsor to Staines Bus route, alongside  ...  view the full minutes text for item 314.

To receive an update from Shasta Parveen, Service Lead for Infrastructure, on digital strategy in Windsor.

Shasta Parveen, Service Lead for Infrastructure and Digital Strategy, gave a presentation on the digital infrastructure in the Borough. She explained that the Borough was part of the Digital Infrastructure Group (DIG), a pan-Berkshire organisation whereby the local authorities in Berkshire (RBWM, Bracknell, Slough, Wokingham and West Berkshire) worked with the Local Enterprise Partnership to deliver and achieve improved digital connectivity to achieve a Connected Berkshire.

The reason that RBWM joined DIG were to:

·       Improve digital connectivity across the borough and support the broader corporate plan goals.

·       Provide opportunity for residents and businesses and look at emerging digital technology and then bring them to the Borough.

·       Have a uniformed approach to make it easier for infrastructure companies to work with the Borough.

The Borough recently had signed the Digital Adoption Strategy on 11^th July 2023 which outlined the goals that DIG sought to achieve, primarily to support economic development and business engagement. Shasta Parveen suggested that she could return to the Forum and give an update to the Digital Adoption Strategy.

The benefits of the Borough being part of DIG were:

·       Achieve broader and faster broadband coverage, ensuring that it was available for everybody.

·       Ensuring mobile coverage and enabling 5G roll out.

·       Enabling opportunities for emerging digital technology (e.g., internet of things, smart cities).

In terms of what was happening, the Digital Infrastructure Team were:

·       Engaging with multiple providers and facilitating the roll out of FTTP (fibre to the premises) in the Borough, which would include an infrastructure roll out of cables.

·       CityFibre had completed the roll out in Maidenhead and mobilisation would commence in Windsor early-2024. Shasta Parveen offered to provide more details in terms of the location of works when the information would become available.

·       Rolled out FTTP to 26 schools within RBWM, allowing them the choice to connect, and thus expanding more opportunities.

·       Engaging with multiple mobile network providers on the roll out of 5G mobile connectivity. Windsor would be one of the first areas in RBWM to have a small cell deployed.

The three main providers were:

•       Gigaclear:

o   5,594 premises were ready for service within the Borough.

•       Openreach:

o   Delivery was completed, 4,600 premises ready for service borough-wide.

•       CityFibre:

o   Have 6,125 properties borough wide ‘ready for service’.

o   350 connected customers on the borough network at present).

o   Run rate of around 20 connections/week.

They would ensure that the Borough would have live connections for local residents and businesses and therefore possess fast broadband speeds.

Regarding the timeframe in Windsor:

•       August 2023 – present

o   Virgin Media/O2 were working to upgrade telecoms cabinets, with a planned 864 cabinet upgrades borough-wide.

•       Early-2024

o   CityFibre to commence roll out of FTTP infrastructure in Windsor – detailed plans were pending.

Jon Davey, a resident, briefly asked if high-speed broadband was 10-to-20 times faster than normal broadband, to which Shasta Parveen confirmed. He then asked whether the new technologies would decrease the likelihood of latencies (delays) in wireless connection, for example, in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 315.

Residents are invited to make suggestions on agenda items for future forum meetings and ask any questions that they may have.

The Chair asked for any questions or item suggestions.

Gareth Jones informed that he was a member of WAMCLT (Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead Community Land Trust), which sought to provide housing for the community, and that they had an interest in the Borough Local Plan (BLP) sites. He asked if there were any updates on the BLP sites AL21 and AL22 in west Windsor. As Chair of the Windsor Development Management Committee, Councillor Tisi stated that the outline permission for the BLP near Aldi in the west of Windsor was approved in early 2023, and the reserve matters (details of the design of the plan) would be forwarded to the Panel shortly (likely in October 2023). The other site had been built.

Raewyn raised concerns regarding the speed (or lack of speed) of planning enforcement in regard to the removal of the signage, fencing and enclosure of the pathway at Alma Road and Vansittart Road. While appreciative of the support from local Councillors, she stated that residents were nevertheless concerned of the lack of speed of enforcement and this being regarded as of medium importance, and therefore little clout in regard to resolving the issue. Rewyn sought to re-emphasis the concerns of this issue and acquire more support that the land was recognised as a green area since the mid-1980s (including the pathway). She reiterated that Planning Enforcement was slow in resolving the issue, which started on 30th May 2023 according to Rewyn, and was a cause of concern for nearby residents. According to Rewyn, yesterday afternoon, the private owners of the land had moved the fencing due to the nearby highways works. She stated that this allowed residents to use the walkway more efficiently. But when it was fenced off again, she described the pathway as “look[ing] ghastly” and not being maintained in anyway.

The Chair stated that she was aware of the issue. Councillor Wilson responded that he shared the concerns about the aforementioned piece of land, mentioning that he regularly cycled down the pathway, and understood the frustration with the pace of planning enforcement. He stated that he was ensuring that Planning Enforcement Officers were aware of this as well as understand their process. He stated that there was a challenge in communicating with the landowners, and that, as far as he was aware, planning enforcement had not contacted the owners, adding that this was a problem. He nevertheless perceived this as a very high-risk site. He informed that he was planning to catch-up with the Planning Enforcement Officer within the week and receive an update from them. He perceived that the actions within the Planning Department moved quite slowly, to which he apologised for, as well as contacted the local PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) in anticipation of some additional work taking place and an opposing demonstration taking place. Overall, he considered this issue as very serious, particularly as it was a green space.

While appreciative of the support from local Councillors, Raewyn then raised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 316.

All future meetings to be held in-person at York House, Windsor on the following dates at 6.30pm:

·          8^th November 2023

·          11^th January 2024

·          12^th March 2024

·          8^th May 2024

The Forum noted that the next meeting would be held on 9^th November 2023 at 6:30pm at York House, Windsor. The subsequent meeting dates (all 6:30pm) were:

·       11^th January 2024

·       12^th March 2024

·       8^th May 2024