Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Online access

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

Items
No. Item

217.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Nicola Davidson, Josephine Crabb, Vanessa Faulkner, Andrew Saunders, Danielle Lane, Valerie Pike, Ila Gangotra and John Diack.

218.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 103 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

219.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 278 KB

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 14th September 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 14th September 2021 were approved a true record.

220.

Budget Consultation

To receive information on how community groups will be consulted on the Budget 2022/23.

Minutes:

Louisa Dean, Head of Communications, gave the Group a presentation on the upcoming budget. There were proposals for over £5 million to be invested in key priority areas, including children’s social care and response to the climate emergency. There was planned to be a total savings and income generation of around £3.4 million. It was also planned to move away from council tax increases and instead rely on government grants, there would not be confirmation of the amount for RBWM until mid-December at the earliest. Therefore, assumptions had been made in the budget from the national average. Some new grants would open up and RBWM could need to make a bid, for example:

 

·         Special educational needs

·         Transport and highway maintenance

·         Carbon reduction and active travel

·         Levelling up fund

 

The council was currently awaiting more detail on these grants. Council tax could be increased by up to 3%, while there were business rate changes including freezes in multiplier and a new 50% discount for retail, hospitality and leisure, although exact details were still to be confirmed.

 

Louisa Dean explained that the draft budget had been considered by Cabinet in November, with the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel due to scrutinise the budget on Monday 20th December 2021. The public consultation would run from December until the end of January. All feedback would be considered before Cabinet reconsidered the final budget in February 2022. The budget would then go to Full Council at the end of February. Community groups and organisations would form a key part of the consultation and they were encouraged to get involved.

 

Alison Bourne said that she was from the Dash Charity, which supported over 1,500 residents who had experienced domestic abuse. She explained that she had to ask trustees to approve another budget deficit at the charity as it was unclear what money would be received in the form of grants.

 

Louisa Dean suggested that Alison Bourne contacted the Executive Director of Adults, Health and Housing at RBWM who would be able to help. She was encouraged to take part in the consultation so this could be fed back to officers.

 

Councillor Price said that the consultation form was very short and asked if community groups were able to email their thoughts and views to the council.

 

Louisa Dean confirmed that this was encouraged, feedback could be sent to the communications@rbwm.gov.uk email address.

 

Councillor Price explained that in the consultation, the word transformation was used which showed where RBWM was looking to make savings. The Equality Impact Assessments were listed on the website and Councillor Price felt that it was important that community groups looked at these for their area, to see what the impact was.

221.

Community Safety Partnership

To hear from David Scott, RBWM Head of Communities.

Minutes:

Andy Aldridge, Community Safety Manager, explained that the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) was a multi-agency partnership between the police, health, fire and council services. Interventions were put in by the partnership to keep the community safe, it was part funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner with money shared out amongst the bodies that were part of the partnership. The CSP had recently been reviewed and new priorities had been brought to the fore, particularly on exploitation and violence reduction. Other local priorities that were important were things like water safety and violence against women and girls. The changes to the CSP had been endorsed by the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel in November 2021, with a community safety plan due to be drafted in 2022.

222.

Local Outbreak Management Plan Review

To hear from Alex Bayliss.

Minutes:

Alex Bayliss said that the local authority was required to have an outbreak plan which outlined how the organisation would respond to any outbreaks that occurred. The plan linked in with local NHS services, local authorities and the Thames Valley Resilience Forum. Changes had been made to the plan over the past few months and lessons had been learned by the team. It was essential that good links between local bodies were implemented so that positive cases could be quickly identified and then traced so that any outbreaks could be contained. The plan was led by local data and was also linked with the work and progress of the vaccination programme. High risk settings were one particular area which had been refined, with a focus on schools as well as care homes particularly as outbreaks were more likely to happen in these environments. Alex Bayliss concluded by saying that the public version of the plan would be published on the RBWM website.

223.

Embedding Community Response Project Update

To hear from Jesal Dhokia.

Minutes:

Jesal Dhokia, Transformation Project Manager, said that the project was currently making progress in other areas of Windsor by working in coordination with the libraries. There were three active groups, the food network group had been delivering food parcels to those in needs, while the health and physical environment sub group had been offering cooking classes. The youth engagement sub group had been looking to expand its scope and was looking to join the wider youth engagement consortium.

 

In Maidenhead, the health and wellbeing sub group had 25 members and there was a partnership with the Mosque and the rowing club, they were helping to support young people to partake in indoor and outdoor rowing lessons. There had been some cross over between the Maidenhead and Windsor heath and wellbeing groups which had been beneficial to both groups. The community empowerment sub group had been meeting with the Heritage Centre to discuss their plans for the future, the group was also chaired by residents from Housing Solutions. The employment sub group had aimed to connect with those individuals and communities which were harder to reach and also those older residents that were looking to work and were interested in finding potential job opportunities.

224.

Food Share

To receive an update on the work of Food Share.

Minutes:

Councillor Price outlined the work of Windsor Food Share. There were four main aims and food was usually distributed to the local community on a Thursday. The Food Share took vouchers but did not turn people away if they were in need, around 30% of the food available was delivered to homes. The work of the Food Share was unable to be done without the team of volunteers and the organisation was now able to offer fresh fruit and veg, and bakery items along with the usual non-perishable items. If the Food Share was running low on any items, an appeal was put out and the local community would respond. There would be more demand for the Food Share in the future as the cost of living increased.

 

Vivian Salmon explained that the Co-Op had two projects, with one being a community fridge which would help the community and link in with the work of the Food Share. The other project was focused on zero waste from food, organisations could collect food which was going out of date and had not been sold directly from stores and it could then be shared with those that needed it.

 

Asma Aziz asked where the food was stored.

 

Councillor Price confirmed that it was stored at a nearby church before it was distributed.

 

Lester Tanner gave an update on Maidenhead Food Share. They were providing for around 400 people a week and like Windsor, were also able to supply fresh food to residents. Projects had been undertaken with schools, like the holiday hunger programme which ensured that children had access to food during school holidays. The main challenge for the Food Share was trying to reach more people and particularly those that needed to be reached. The Food Share was currently using temporary accommodation at the old Tesco unit in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre but the organisation was looking for long term options.

 

Councillor Singh said that he had visited Maidenhead Food Share the previous week and explained that it was providing crucial support to residents in need. There were a number of sites that were empty around Maidenhead and Councillor Singh asked if the Food Share had been in communication with the council about these sites.

 

Lester Tanner said that they had been trying to locate somewhere new, the Food Share had built up its financial reserves so that they were prepared for any opportunities for long term accommodation that became available.

 

Asma Aziz asked if Maidenhead Food Share had reached out to the Mosque and Gurdwara, as they had delivered food to residents during lockdown.

 

Lester Tanner confirmed that the Food Share was in communication with these venues.

225.

CCG/NHS Update

To hear from Sabahat Hassan.

Minutes:

Sabahat Hassan said that most of the communications had been focused on the vaccination programme and ensuring that everyone was aware that those over 18 could get their booster jab after three months. The NHS would let residents know when it was their turn and appointments would also be available to book using the national booking system. 16-17 year olds were also now eligible to receive their second dose, while 12-15 year olds were currently advised to have a single dose. This week marked one year since the start of the vaccination programme. The NHS was also encouraging people to take up the offer of a flu vaccine. Healthwatch were running a public survey on experiences with GPs, it was important to encourage residents to use the rights services at the right time.

226.

Queen's Platinum Jubilee

To hear about the plans to mark the Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Minutes:

Councillor Rayner said that the Queens Platinum Jubilee would be taking place in 2022. A group had been created to lead on the process and there was a website and social media pages to keep residents informed of progress. The group would look to combine all of the activities which would be taking place across the borough over the long bank holiday weekend in June 2022. There were plans to have the world’s longest picnic on the Long Walk in Windsor and the council wanted to involve the whole community. Paul Roach, Windsor, Eton and Ascot Town Manager, was leading the team officers who were formulating plans. The Jubilee celebrations were due to begin in early February 2022, with the main focus being the bank holiday weekend in June.

227.

Future Meetings of One Borough pdf icon PDF 188 KB

To consider when/if One Borough should have an in-person meeting. The attached report was agreed at Full Council in September 2021, One Borough is listed on the final page of the report.

Minutes:

Paul Samuels explained that One Borough meetings would be held virtually, with one meeting each year proposed to be held in person. This had been agreed by Full Council, he asked what the groups opinion was on this proposal.

 

Councillor Price felt that due to the ongoing Covid situation, it was best to wait and see rather than committing to anything now.

 

The group agreed with this, all One Borough meetings for the time being would continue to be held virtually.

228.

Dates of Future Meetings

The dates of future meetings are as follows (all 11.30am):

·         Tuesday 15th March 2022

·         Tuesday 14th June 2022

·         Tuesday 13th September 2022

·         Tuesday 6th December 2022

Minutes:

Meeting dates for 2022 (all 11am start):

 

·       Tuesday 15th March 2022

·       Tuesday 14th June 2022

·       Tuesday 13th September 2022

·       Tuesday 6th December 2022