Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Online access

Contact: Mark Beeley  Email: mark.beeley@rbwm.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

229.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Barbara Grosman, Kirstie Hardyman, Nicola Davidson, Jesal Dhokia, Usha Parmar, David Bonney, Tim Hiorns, Roger Aisladie and John Diack.

230.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 103 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

231.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 209 KB

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 7th December 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 7th December 2021 were approved a true record.

 

The Chairman asked if there was an update on events for the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

 

David Scott, Head of Communities, said that events that were taking place and further information was available on a dedicated website.

 

The Chairman asked about the RBWM budget 2022/23 and whether there had been any changes made after the consultation had concluded.

 

David Scott said that the budget had been approved by Full Council in February 2022, with the consultation responses being considered as part of the process. Things like the final financial settlement figure from the government had now been finalised and could be factored into the budget.

 

Councillor Rayner added that one significant change had been the decision on awarding grants to arts venues, Norden Farm and the Old Court. This had been as a result of feedback received in the consultation.

232.

Embedding Community Response Project Update

To receive an update from Jesal Dhokia.

Minutes:

Sumayyah Zeib gave an update on the project, starting with Windsor:

 

Food network:

·         Continued to meet monthly.

·         Had received fuel funding which had been distributed to members of the community.

·         There continued to be an increased demand of food services.

 

Youth engagement:

·         The group had recently been successful in receiving funding which would be used for projects going forward.

·         Joined the YES consortium, which was a wider network of youth engagements groups.

 

Physical environment:

·         Combined meetings with Maidenhead to be bi-monthly.

·         Windsor group met monthly.

 

Windsor Cycle Hub

·         Have received a good amount of funding and continued to provide activities and services for Windsor residents.

 

 

Sumayyah Zeib also gave an update on the work of the Maidenhead groups:

 

Community empowerment:

·         Were currently discussing two main ideas, Maidenhead Heritage Trail and Covid-19 Art Exhibition.

 

Health & Wellbeing:

·         New partnership created between Maidenhead Rowing Club and Maidenhead Mosque, there was an ambition to use this link to allow users of the Mosque to have taster sessions at the rowing club.

 

Physical environment:

·         Combined meetings with Windsor, first joint meeting in January 2022.

 

Employment & Skills:

·         Careers video projects with different people to highlight the range of jobs that were available.

 

Sumayyah Zeib said that the group could stay updated with the work of the project on the RBWM Together website, where there was a dedicated page for each subgroup.

 

Valerie Pike asked if the project would be extended to Ascot now that it had been established in Maidenhead and Windsor.

 

Sumayyah Zeib said that there were plans to start the project in the Ascot area by the end of the year.

233.

Busy Buttons Update

To hear from the organisation.

Minutes:

Lautaro Lempiainen from Busy Buttons provided a verbal update on their work. The main goal was to be an inclusive charity that provided different activities and arts to children, these were free to access for families on a low income. Activities involved dress making, film animation, sculpting, sewing and other hands on experiences. There were also a number of community engagement projects, for example the Christmas light switch on in Windsor. Busy Buttons had staged an exhibition before Covid, showcasing their work in the community. There was a design studio on site which the children could use and various schools were also being invited to use the studio.

 

The focus of the charity had been altered slightly, so that it now provided an alternative provision to support children’s mental health. 75% of children referred to Busy Buttons were through CAMHS, while 33% of young participants had eventually returned to school full time. Busy Buttons was looking to support the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and this would be free for families on low incomes.

 

Councillor Rayner said that Busy Buttons did a huge amount of work for the local community and had made big changes to a number of young people’s lives.

 

Caroline Waites asked what age group Busy Buttons hosted activities for. She asked if there was extra support for those with a learning disability.

 

She was informed that 7-15 years was the target age group, this would be 17-25 for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. There was extra support provided for those with a learning disability.

 

Councillor Stimson said that the projects were excellent, she suggested that it would be good to invite Busy Buttons to the upcoming Climate Hub.

 

Lautaro Lempiainen said that he would love to be part of the Climate Hub plans.

 

Andrew Douglass echoed Councillor Rayner’s comments, Busy Buttons championed equality and inclusion and had formed an important part of the annual Parallel Windsor event. Busy Buttons had run an incredible campaign on a diversity relay at the virtual event in 2021 and Andrew Douglass was looking forward to working with them again this year.

 

Valerie Pike asked if children had to be referred through one of the partner organisations.

 

Lautaro Lempiainen confirmed that this was not the case, Busy Buttons was open to all.

234.

CCG/NHS Update

To receive an update from Sabahat Hassan.

Minutes:

Sabahat Hassan passed on her thanks to the RBWM Communications team, key messages were coming out in the regular residents newsletter. A text message had recently been sent out about the health system being under pressure, with both the council and the NHS saying the same thing and relaying the same message. On appointments, conversations were happening to make sure that patients were matched up to specialists where they were available. For those in the Windsor area, there were additional same day appointments at St Edwards hospital. This helped to free up appointments for those that needed to see their assigned GP. In Maidenhead, St Marks was still being used for a wide variety of health services. There was also support being planned for those families arriving from the conflict in Ukraine. At the conclusion of the update, Sabahat Hassan asked if it would be possible to have a slightly extended agenda slot at the next meeting.

 

The Vice Chairman said that there was potential for a longer item, he would discuss this with the Chairman in advance of the next meeting.

 

Councillor Price said that she had spoken to a number of residents about the text messages and some had not received anything while others had. Some had expressed concern that it was a scam and ignored it, the NHS needed to be careful to distinguish official messages clearly so that they were not mistaken. Councillor Price also asked what role Healthwatch played, what their purpose was and were they looking to find faults with the NHS.

 

Sabahat Hassan said that the NHS worked closely with Healthwatch, they were an independent voice. On the text messages being seen as a scam, this was why the Comms team were trying to get the same message out via different communication methods.

 

Councillor Singh said that residents were concerned about the NHS and had recently been told to go to Wexham Park or Bracknell to access services. He asked if there was a date when the Urgent Care Centre at St Marks in Maidenhead would be reopened.

 

Sabahat Hassan explained that capacity had been increased at St Marks to deal with demand. Everything was under review and decisions would be made at the appropriate time.

 

Councillor Singh asked if there was a confirmed date that the centre would reopen.

 

He was told that the service was not out of the pandemic yet and therefore there was no specific date confirmed. Once an update was available, it would be communicated to residents through things like the newsletter. Theresa May, as MP for Maidenhead, had done a site visit last week and it was an important local issue.

 

Valerie Pike said it was good to see that screening services were being brought back to their usual capacity. The medical hub in Ascot had recently been approved and completed its journey through the planning process. On the urgent care centre, Valerie Pike said that she had spoken to someone who had to travel to Bracknell  ...  view the full minutes text for item 234.

235.

Membership Updates

To receive updates from members of the group.

Minutes:

Rebecca Mistry explained that the Baby Bank would be moving shortly, they had been given a months notice to vacate their current property. The charity had supported around 4,000 individuals last year and it would be great if the charity had a more permanent home.

 

Belinda Dixon said that dementia brochures were available to help support those with dementia. The organisation had been doing house visits to check on vulnerable residents and they had now reopened the drop in sessions, which started at 10.30am at the beginning of every month. On the first Wednesday of each month there was a drop in session focused on those from the Asian community.

 

Jane Corry said that Norden Farm was doing some fundraising in response to the war in Ukraine. On 29th March 2022, there would be a film screening and the organisation were inviting groups to have a stall, if anyone was interested they were encouraged to get in touch.

 

Paul Reynolds said that the Windsor and Eton Rotary Club were holding their summer fayre on 25th June 2022 in Alexandra Gardens. Charities were welcome to apply to book a stall at the event.

 

Andrew Douglass said that Parallel Windsor would be hosting its festival of inclusivity on 26th June 2022 on the Long Walk in the Windsor Great Park.

 

Councillor Price said that the Christmas Fayre which had been held in West Windsor was a great success, there were plans to hold an Easter Fayre on 9th April. There would also be a music festival on 2nd and 3rd July. She suggested that if any organisation was looking for a venue for events, the libraries had halls and other spaces which were available to be hired.

 

Jane Corry said that Norden Farm was hosting a ‘Quest Family Fest’ over Easter. This would be a family arts festival, including an installation which had been created for children with SEN, to create a sensory room with lots of lights, colours and projections. Explore Day would take place on Good Friday with a number of activities available, nothing would cost more £5. There were also various activity weeks running throughout Easter.

 

Caroline Waites said that she facilitated the Learning Disability Partnership Board, where the aim was to create a more inclusive environment for those with learning disabilities. She encouraged people to publish information online in ‘easy read’ format so that it was more accessible to those with learning disabilities. Caroline Waites said that they were looking for more activities for those aged between 16-21, as most activities were aimed at younger age groups. A parent/carer group was also being run, for those who had adults with a learning disability.

 

Danielle Lane asked Elaine Keating if families could be self-referred to the fuel programme.

 

Elaine Keating confirmed they could, with all of the information available on the website.

 

Paul Samuels read out an update from the Windsor Cycle Hub. Some of the aims of the Hub:

 

·         Active Travel -  ...  view the full minutes text for item 235.

236.

Dates of Future Meetings

Dates of future meetings are as follows (all 11am):

·         Tuesday 14th June 2022

·         Tuesday 13th September 2022

·         Tuesday 6th December 2022

Minutes:

Meeting dates for 2022 (all 11am start):

 

·         Tuesday 14th June 2022

·         Tuesday 13th September 2022

·         Tuesday 6th December 2022