To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Price, Councillor Story and Councillor Werner. Councillor Taylor and Councillor Bowden were attending the meeting as substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest.

Councillor Bond declared a personal interest, in the first main agenda item the RBWM ‘solar together’ scheme was mentioned. He had recently taken advantage of the scheme and installed solar panels on the roof of his home.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th January 2023.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th January 2023 were approved as a true and accurate record.

To review the latest report on the council’s performance against the corporate plan. The Panel are able to refer specific areas of the performance report to either the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel or the People Overview and Scrutiny Panel for further consideration.

Rachel Kinniburgh, Service Lead – Strategic Policy Performance and Insights, explained that the report reflected performance against the corporate plan and considered the progress made up to the end of 2022. The format of the report had been adjusted in line with feedback from Panel Members at the previous meeting.

Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place Services, highlighted that several areas of the corporate plan were showing as completed or were exceeding targets set. On sport and leisure, there was a target to encourage more residents to engage in physical activity. This target was being achieved and attendance had been above target at leisure centres, at 1.6 million compared to 1.5 million. Disabled participation had been below target, officers were working closely with leisure operators as there had been a difference for a while despite some events being organised. Benchmarking seemed to be an issue and would need to be reviewed. 4G coverage was increasing at a good rate and was around 7% above target, with coverage across the borough being 99.74%. Following consultation, the South West Maidenhead Supplementary Planning Document had been adopted by Cabinet in December and this would help to coordinate new infrastructure being installed in this area of Maidenhead. On planning applications, the target was in agreed tolerance and had been affected by staffing levels and delays in specialist advice. However, the up to date performance had improved significantly over the first few months of 2023.

Andrew Durrant considered walking and cycling, these figures were still below the pre-pandemic baseline which was why they had been highlighted as amber in the report. These targets had been reviewed and officers did not feel that the data created a reliable measure of progress on growing walking and cycling. The walking target had been altered, with the metric considering all walking journeys in the borough rather than just those in the town centres of Maidenhead and Windsor. The project to make improvements to the A308 was out for consultation and officers were waiting for feedback, it was anticipated that this project would start over the summer. Andrew Durrant concluded by saying that some of the place making milestones did need some further work. The Ascot Supplementary Planning Document had been prepared and engagement would follow with key stakeholders while in Maidenhead applications had been opened for the new Maidenhead Town Team.

Councillor Walters commented that there was opposition to the proposals to reduce the A308 speed limit from 40mph to 30mph. He asked where the funding for the scheme would come from.

Andrew Durrant explained that there was approved funding for the project in the capital scheme, this was part of Local Enterprise Partnership funding. The consultation would encompass different views, feedback would be considered before works commenced.

Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of People Services, said that there were a number of goals on the citizens portal which were progressing well. Over 90% of referrals to the early help service had been closed with a positive outcome and there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

The Annual Scrutiny Report will contain information on the activity of scrutiny over the past municipal year and is due to be considered by Full Council in July 2023. This agenda item is an opportunity for the Panel to consider what they would like to include as part of the report.

Mark Beeley, Principal Democratic Services Officer – Overview and Scrutiny, explained that each year a report was produced which would go to Full Council and highlighted the work of scrutiny over the past municipal year. The Panel were asked if there were any comments or areas they would like to see included in the annual report.

The Chairman highlighted to members of the public watching the meeting that a list of items which the Panel had considered was included as part of the report. Panel Members could send ideas through to be included in the report.

Councillor L Jones suggested that scrutiny panels were usually used in policy development, when she considered best practise. She felt that the Panel had not been used for any policy development over the past municipal year, this was something to be considered for the future.

The Chairman suggested that the Panel would welcome early oversight of proposals from Cabinet.

Councillor Bowden asked for clarification on the suggestion that the annual report would be interlinked.

Mark Beeley said that there would one report with sections covering the Corporate, Place and People Overview and Scrutiny Panels. In previous years, there had been a separate report for each Panel.

Councillor Bowden noted the call in on Cedar Tree House, he asked if the property was still on the market or if it had now been sold.

Kevin McDaniel said that the action on this property had been to dispose of the asset for the highest possible value. He did not believe it had been disposed of yet, but he would confirm this after the meeting.

ACTION – Kevin McDaniel to confirm the current situation with Cedar Tree House.

To note the work programme, including information on items which will be carried forward to the next municipal year.

The Panel noted the work programme.

The Chairman thanked all Panel Members and officers for their contributions over the past municipal year, as this was the last Panel meeting before the election in May.