To appoint the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the municipal year 2022/23.

Councillor Sharpe had experienced a flat tyre on his commute to the meeting and was therefore absent during the appointment of a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman.

Councillor Baldwin nominated Councillor Davey to be Chairman for the municipal year 2022/23. This was seconded by Councillor Singh.

A named vote was taken.

The result was 5 for and 5 against resulting in no majority, so the motion fell.

Councillor Bhangra nominated Councillor Bowden to be Chairman for the municipal year 2022/23. This was seconded by Councillor Shelim.

A named vote was taken.

The result was 5 for and 5 against resulting in no majority, so the motion fell.

Oran Norris-Browne, Democratic Services Officer, then explained to the panel that as no Chairman had been elected for the municipal year 2022/23, they would now propose a chairman for just the duration of the meeting.

Councillor Baldwin nominated Councillor Davey to be Chairman for the duration of the meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Singh.

A named vote was taken.

The result was 5 for and 5 against resulting in no majority, so the motion fell.

Councillor Bhangra nominated Councillor Bowden to be Chairman for the duration of the meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Walters.

A named vote was taken.

The result was 5 for and 5 against resulting in no majority, so the motion fell.

As all motions to elect a chairman had now fallen, the clerk reminded the panel that failure to elect a chairman for the duration of the meeting would result in the meeting being adjourned.

Councillor Bhangra then nominated Councillor Bowden to be Chairman for the duration of the meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Davey.

A named vote was taken.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That Councillor Bowden be Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Councillor Baldwin then nominated Councillor Davey to be Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Singh.

A named vote was taken.

The result was 5 for and 5 against resulting in no majority, so the motion fell.

The clerk once again reminded the panel that failure to elect a Vice-Chairman for the meeting would result in the meeting having to be adjourned.

Councillor Singh then nominated Councillor Davey to be Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Walters.

A named vote was taken.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That Councillor Davey be Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Greg Jones. Councillor Sharpe attended as substitute.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of intertest made.

To note the minutes of the Infrastructure Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 18 January 2022 and the Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 12 April 2022.

In relation to the infrastructure Overview & Scrutiny minutes, Councillor Davey wanted to clarify to residents that works on the Alexandra Gardens coach park bridge had not been cancelled, and that work was underway to find quotes for the works, as the current solutions were coming in over budget.

(Councillor Sharpe joined the meeting in-person)

Councillor Walters asked what the £165,000 in grant spending was for and if it had all been spent. Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place Services, replied by saying that this was for decarbonization assessments that had occurred across council buildings and school sites. It gave recommendations to improve carbon levels within the buildings. Not all of the money had been spent yet.

Councillor Walters then asked for information on the Lunar celebrations. Chris Joyce, Head of Infrastructure Sustainability and Economic Growth, said that there were a series of events that ran in Maidenhead. He offered to provide the Panel with this information offline, but implored members to view the minutes for Maidenhead Town Forum.

ACTION: Chris Joyce to share with panel, information on the Chinese New Year celebrations in Maidenhead.

Lastly, Councillor Walters asked in reference to the Holiday Inn site on Shopenhangers road, if the borough were in some way in competition with the Home Office when it came to housing refugees. Andrew Durrant said that it was not a competition and said that this arrangement was directly between the government and the hotel. The borough assisted with safeguarding and welfare solutions, but nothing else.

ACTION: Andrew Durrant to provide Councillor Walters with information on the Holiday Inn arrangements.

Councillor Brar said that residents were still having issues with the Ringo parking scheme. Andrew Durrant said that he was not aware of any issues currently, however offered to be notified if there were any.

Councillor Singh asked if pre-planning was now being monitored by the planning department. Andrew Durrant said that he would discuss this offline with Adrien Waite, Head of Planning.

ACTION: Andrew Durrant to report back to Councillor Singh on the progress of pre-planning.

The Chairman then welcomed Councillor Sharpe to the meeting. Councillor Sharpe apologised for being late and stated that he had gotten a flat tyre on his commute to the meeting.

Councillor Davey said that now Councillor Sharpe was present, the vote for a Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the municipal year 2022/23 should be held as agreed. The clerk confirmed that this was not what had been agreed but stated that this was up to the panel to decide whether they wished to do this or not. The panel wished to continue the meeting with the existing setup.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That Councillor Bowden remained Chairman and that Councillor Davey remained Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Councillor Walters then asked in relation to the Communities Overview & Scrutiny panel minutes, how the borough was getting on in terms of the air pollution issues that Thomas Wigley had raised at the meeting. The Chairman said that this would be discussed in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To note the contents of the report.

The panel considered a report on a resident scrutiny suggestion titled Pollution of the River Thames.

Chris Joyce introduced the report and said that water quality was a matter for the Environment Agency. The council worked closely with the Environment Agency and said that the report was directly linked to bathing sites within the Thames. He said that to his knowledge there were no designated bathing sites within the Thames, anywhere throughout the borough.

Councillor Baldwin asked if it were possible to bring members of the Environment Agency then he would support this as the river ran throughout the whole borough and touched many people’s lives. He endorsed co-operating with them.

Councillor Davey implored for the Environment Agency to be invited to discuss this with the panel. He said that the borough should be able to reassure the residents that the river was safe and that he had received lots of representations discussing the murkiness of the water for example.

Councillor Brar also agreed and stated that she had brought a motion forward to Full Council previously regarding this, however it was voted down. She said that there were issues in the Marlow and Bourne End area with regards to the sewage plant.

Councillor Walters also agreed that it would be great to bring them to address the panel.

Councillor Taylor acknowledged Bray Lake as being an area which could affect residents here, so agreed with other Councillors that the Environment Agency should address the panel.

Councillor Luxton asked for clarity over the point that Councillor Brar had made with regards to sewage. Councillors Brar and Singh confirmed this. Councillor Luxton said that officers should surely be aware of these issues. Councillor Brar confirmed that they had been aware for years.

Councillor Singh said that within his ward of St Marys, the water that ran through it was very murky and that it would be good to bring the Environment Agency to the panel to reassure residents and to give them some insight. He also acknowledged that it was a national issue.

Councillor Davey read out an email that had been received from Councillor Larcombe with regards to the Wraysbury Drain. His statement was as follows, “Had I been present I would have suggested that the Committee looked again at the condition of and expenditure on the Wraysbury Drain which has not been fit for purpose for many years.  Recent further expenditure of over £13,000 had resulted in insignificant improvement.  This was not good use of public money.  As a lead local flood authority, RBWM had continually failed to use its available enforcement powers.  Furthermore, there were no pre-works or post-works reports.  His view was that riparian owners should bear a variable proportion of RBWM costs associated with ordinary watercourse maintenance.” These were the words of Councillor Larcombe read out on his behalf by Councillor Davey.

Councillor Sharpe said that he believed this to be a national issue and that companies were being permitted to emit waste into rivers during  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the Panel’s work programme for the remainder of the municipal year and view the scoping document on CIL produced by the former Infrastructure Overview & Scrutiny Panel.

The clerk suggested that the panel viewed and discussed the scoping document that the Infrastructure Overview & Scrutiny panel had produced on CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy). This was attached to the agenda pack. The clerk outlined to the panel how this document had been produced and agreed to by the former panel. The clerk asked for a nominated member to be appointed for this document as

Councillor Haseler, who was the former designated member, was no longer apart of the panel. It was agreed that Councillor Baldwin’s name would be attached to this as the idea had originated from him. The panel agreed to this after the clerk explained that this was merely an administrative task.

ACTION: Clerk to add Councillor Baldwin’s name to the CIL scoping document in place of Councillor Haseler.

The clerk then explained the next steps to panel members with regards to this scoping document and asked if anybody had any questions for Chris Joyce upon viewing the feedback that he had provided on the document. The Chairman read out the feedback from both Chris Joyce and Adrien Waite, Head of Planning. The panel agreed with the comments of the officers and said that it should be looked at across the whole borough and not just Maidenhead town centre.

Councillor Singh wanted to ensure that Maidenhead town centre was not forgotten with regards to this, but he was assured by the panel that the whole borough would be focussed upon.

Councillor Baldwin acknowledged the feedback that had been received and stated that new legislation could be introduced soon, which would scrap Section 106 agreements and CIL and introduce a new levy. He said that it was still a valid piece of work to carry out and that a new scoping document needed to be formed that reflected on the comments that had been made.

Parish Councillor Pat McDonald (Co-Optee) said that CIL money was very important to parishes.

Councillor Sharpe said that a review was very important and that the system that was currently in place was slightly skewed. He said that a review of infrastructure requirements was needed so that a clear focus could be obtained as to what the CIL money would be spent on if it was acquired, and what funding levels would be needed.

Councillor Luxton wanted to echo Councillor Singh’s point that the original scoping document was designed for Maidenhead town centre specifically but endorsed the idea of the whole borough being focused upon.

Councillor Baldwin wanted to clarify that this piece of work was not to plan new infrastructure projects and instead it was to ensure that the opportunities to maximise CIL and Section 106 agreements were taken. He said that it was important to note how CIL was collected and how Section 106 agreements were formed.

Councillor Walters asked for a definition of the extent to what Section 106 agreements could cover. Andrew Durrant replied by saying that there were specifications agreed with the planning department once a development was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.