To elect a Chair from the Panel Membership for the 2023/24 municipal year.

Councillor Blundell proposed that Councillor Martin be Chair of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year. This was seconded by Councillor Baskerville.

No other nominations were received and therefore a named vote was not required.

AGREED: That Councillor Martin be elected Chair of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year.

To elect a Vice Chair from the Panel Membership for the 2023/24 municipal year.

Councillor Grove proposed that Councillor Carpenter be elected as Vice Chair of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year. This was seconded by Councillor Carpenter.

A named vote was taken.

The result was 5 against and 3 for, so the motion fell.

Councillor Gurch Singh proposed that Councillor Blundell be elected as Vice Chair of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year. This was seconded by Councillor Martin.

A named vote was taken.

AGREED: That Councillor Blundell be elected as Vice Chair of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year.

To receive any apologies for absence from Panel Members.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Walters and Councillor Majeed. Councillor Gosling was attending as substitute.

To receive any declarations of interest from Panel Members.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meetings held on 12^th April 2023 and 20^th April 2023.

The panel noted and approved the minutes of the meetings held on 12 April 2023 and 20 April 2023.

The report outlines a suggested topic submitted by a resident for consideration by the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Topics can be suggested by residents through the RBWM website, with appropriate topics brought to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Panel for further consideration.

The suggested topic received was as follows: “In hot weather surely waste bins should be collected every week as rats are everywhere in broad daylight. Rats are everyone; outside the library, my garden, my mum's garden and Alexander Gardens.”

It is recommended that the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel notes the report and does not recommend a further consideration of seasonal changes to the frequency of waste collections.

Alysse Strachan, Head of Neighbourhood Services, said that a suggestion had been received from a resident on bin collections. The resident had felt that bin collections should be weekly, particularly in hot weather, as they had noticed that there was an increase in rats. Responding to the topic, Alysse Strachan said that collections could not be altered for a temporary period as this would require significant additional resource. The main part of the problem was the rats which had been sited, this would be more likely due to food waste and this collection was done weekly all year round. The Environmental Health team had also responded and had been visiting businesses in the vicinity of the affected area to ensure that trade waste was being handled and dealt with correctly. At the current time, it was recommended that waste collections were not increased during the summer period.

Councillor Kashmir Singh noted that there were areas of his ward which had not had their waste collected for over two weeks. He felt that there were issues with the report it tool on the website.

Councillor Carpenter asked whether the resident was referring to waste in bags or in large bins, it would be difficult for rats to get into large waste bins. In Windsor, some residents had bag collections and these were still weekly.

Alysse Strachan said that this was not confirmed either way, as long as residents secured waste properly within bins there should not be any issues.

Councillor Gurch Singh said that he had not been supportive of the original decision to move to fortnightly collections. In his ward of St Marys, there were a number of flats and houses of multiple occupants and they had waste collected weekly, which was good to see. He felt that most residents were sensible when it came to sorting their waste, however he thought that there was an issue with rats in Maidenhead. Councillor Gurch Singh considered whether it would be worth looking at the pest control offer which the council could provide for residents.

Alysse Strachan said that Environmental Health had visited all the food commercial businesses in the area and a review had been undertaken in the surrounding parks and green spaces. A pest control service was provided by the council and there were concessionary rates for those on income support and various other support schemes.

Pat McDonald, Co-optee, asked if it was known how much it was costing the council to catch rats.

ACTION – Alysse Strachan to ask the Environmental Health team how much pest control cost for the council.

Councillor Grove had recently noted that it was possible for residents to apply for a second food waste bin, this should be communicated to residents so that they knew it was option.

Alysse Strachan suggested that this could be advertised on the website again, the team were looking to recruit some extra officers who would be able to help educate residents on the options possible in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

To consider what topics the Panel would like to consider over the course of the municipal year.

An example scoping document has been added to the work programme, these are used to understand the scope of a topic and what the review will try and achieve. A scoping document needs to be agreed by the Panel once it has been completed.

Mark Beeley, Principal Democratic Services Officer – Overview and Scrutiny, explained that Panel Members could suggest items for inclusion in the work programme by completing a scoping document. A recent good example of how the process worked was the cost of living item which had been considered by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel. There were also two items from the previous municipal year, on the River Thames Scheme and the Community Infrastructure Levy, the Panel needed to consider whether it wanted to bring these items forward for consideration.

The Chair read out an email from Councillor Bermange, who had suggested that the Panel could look at the resource and capacity within the planning development management and enforcement teams.

Councillor Gurch Singh felt that this needed to be scrutinised to ensure that the planning process was performing as expected.

Councillor Grove was supportive of the topic, in her ward there were planning limitations but she had found that these limitations were often being pushed and sometimes even ignored by developers. If pre-application was being brought back, it would be worth reviewing the advice that was given as part of the pre-application stage. The Panel could also look at cases where planning enforcement had not been effective on some applications. Councillor Grove added that she would appreciate the opportunity to scope the topic on the River Thames Scheme.

ACTION – Mark Beeley to send Councillor Grove the context behind the topic, including the original suggestion and minutes from the meeting where the item was discussed.

Councillor Carpenter requested that grass cutting schedules were considered, the timing had been late and she felt that quality had been poor.

Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place Services, said that there was a planning service improvement plan so that could feed into the item. Pre-application advice was offered and this could be discussed. Recruitment and retention was a wider issue in local authorities across the country. In terms of performance, the Citizens Portal showed that for major applications the planning team were above the target, while minor and other applications were very close to the target. There had been some difficult conditions around the Tivoli contract and there had been a back log.

Alysse Strachan said that officers had worked hard with Tivoli to improve performance after issues had been identified. It had been a wet season and the grass was difficult to cut frequently. The cemeteries and parks had been prioritised, a number of verges were wild verges and were therefore only cut twice a year. A Parks and Open Spaces Contract Manager had been recruited and they would be able to closely monitor the contract performance, this would improve scrutiny internally.

Councillor Kashmir Singh said that it would be useful to receive a schedule from officers on where and when Tivoli were planning to cut the grass and also which grass verges had been designated as wilding areas. He asked if financial penalties had been applied to the contractors.

Alysse Strachan confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.