To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Taylor & Reynolds and also Co-Optee Parish Councillor Pat McDonald. Councillor Del Campo substituted for Councillor Reynolds.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No declarations were made.

To receive a presentation from the Chief Constable and the Police & Crime Commissioner.

The Chairman began by informing the panel that he had decided to change the order of the agenda items, where the Thames Valley Police would give their presentation first, followed by the Youth Council.

AGREED: That the order of the agenda be altered as per the above.

The panel considered a verbal presentation from members of the Thames Valley Police that was provided by John Campbell, Chief Constable, John Groenen, Detective Chief Inspector, Clare Knibbs, LPA Commander & also Matthew Barber, Police & Crime Commissioner.

John Campbell began by providing the panel with a brief overview of the Thames Valley Police in numbers. He stated that they were the largest non-metropolitan force in England and Wales, which covered 2,200 square miles over 3 different counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. This area had a population of 2.5 million, with in excess of 6 million annual visitors. He then outlined key members of his management team within Thames Valley.

John Campbell said that within Thames Valley, there were 4861 Police Officers, 3384 Police staff, 288 PCSO’s, 229 Special Constables, plus many volunteers, cadets, and even mini police. This data was correct as of October 2022 and included regional units of counter terrorism policing in the South East. He said that as part of an uplift programme, they were working hard towards building a workforce that reflected its communities. They received more than 1,600 police officer applications in 2022. 147 of recruits were from a Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic background and 594 of the recruits were also female.

John Campbell then noted that a lot of what people heard about the police were the negative things and the things that they did not do. He however wanted to share with the panel, all of the things which the police had done. From 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022 there were 497,857 contacts made by the public. Of which, 90,339 incidents were attended too with 15,099 arrests being made. 2,400 drug dealing and possession crimes were recorded, with 1844 drug possession arrests being made.

John Campbell made note that domestic abuse formal action was up 44%, which although it was negative thing, the statistic was positive as it showed that more people were being encouraged to actually report this. Rape, sexual offences, stalking & harassment, and the number of crimes resulting in formal action being taken were all also up from the same point last year. 4,205 road collisions were attended, 3.319 missing persons were found, and 319 different events were policed by Thames Valley Police. Mental health distress was also a major thing that was impacting modern society too, and 810 people who were experiencing this were attended too.

People could also now be arrested under the Mental Health Act if they proved a danger to themselves or others. Unfortunately, 800 sudden deaths were also attended too by Thames Valley Police, which in turn meant officers had to deliver news to families of the deceased. 658 reported crimes of assault against officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To receive a report from the RBWM Youth Council.

The panel considered a written report on Street Lighting, which had been written by the Youth Council.

Holly Hannan, Chair of the Youth Council and Alexander Wood, Vice-Chair of the Youth Council began their presentation by giving a quick bit of background information about the Youth Council. It was established in August 2021 to represent all of the views of young persons between the ages of 14 and 19 who lived, attended education or were part of a youth organisation within the borough.

They then outlined the aims of the Youth Council as being the following:

·       To represent the views and needs of all young people in the borough.

·       To act as advisors to RBWM and liaise with the Council, businesses, and other organisations.

·       To celebrate the achievements of young people in RBWM.

·       To work on projects that were of interest to young people, to raise awareness of their views and interests

With regards to their street lighting report, they stated that in January 2022, a letter was written by the Youth Council to the Council as part of the 2022/23 budget consultation process. In February 2022, an invitation was extended to them to attend a meeting with Councillor Carroll, Councillor Hilton, and Kevin McDaniel, who wished to address some of the concerns that had been raised within the letter. Young person’s safety was the main concern which came out of both the letter and also the meeting. The Youth Council were asked to produce a report on the condition of street lighting within RBWM, from the perspective of young persons. A working group that was led by Youth Councillor Caitie Holden compiled the report, which was meant to be presented to the Place Overview & Scrutiny Panel in September 2022, however the meeting was cancelled due to the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

They then provided some facts about street lighting to the panel. 5 studies conducted within the UK revealed that 38 fewer crimes per 100 occurred when an area was well lit. In 2020, it was revealed also that Thames Valley ranked sixth on the list of the highest number of women that were killed by men. This reinforced the Youth Council’s belief that street lighting was of paramount importance for the safety of not just young persons, but all residents within the borough. The death of Sarah Everard highlighted this issue in even greater detail.

The identified areas of concern by the Youth Council were very much more rural areas. These included as examples Burchetts Green, Clewer Avenue, Parsonage Lane, Clewer Fields, the Windsor Road and the Ascot Road. They pleaded for the Council to improve lighting in areas such as these to ensure that young people within RBWM felt safe and secure.

The Chair thanked Holly and Alexander for their presentation and opened the floor to questions from panel members.

Councillor Greg Jones said that when some street lights were damaged due to cars for example, the reason it could take so long for them  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To consider the Panel’s work programme for the remainder of the Municipal year.

Oran Norris-Browne outlined to the panel what was currently scheduled in for the next meeting. 2 scoping documents were currently outstanding, one being on CIL and one being on the River Thames Scheme. The Chair asked the panel if the River Thames Scheme was to do with the route all the way to Staines, or if it was just within the borough as he was not too sure how a scoping document for part of the scheme would entirely work. He said that he would look into this offline.

With regards to the CIL scoping document, Oran Norris-Browne said that this had sat with a Councillor who was no longer on the panel, and therefore it needed to be re-assigned. He explained that it had first been created in May 2022 and had already appeared on the June 2022 agenda for officer comment, however since then it had somewhat stagnated. Councillor Singh agreed that he would work with Mark Beeley, Democratic Services Officer, and Statutory Scrutiny Officer to perfect it.

AGREED: That Councillor Singh perfects the scoping document on CIL and brings it back to the panel.