Councillor Hilton started the meeting as Chairman due to Councillor Bowden running late. It was decided that Councillor Hilton would Chair for the duration of the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked those present to introduce themselves.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Duncan Reed and Councillor Davies. Councillor Baldwin was attending as a substitute.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th November 2019.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That the minutes from the meeting held on 14^th November 2019 were agreed as a true record.

To consider any matters arising.

Chris Nash, Community Protection Principal, updated the Forum on the Judicial Review. A verdict was expected by 28^th February, with the legal team getting an advanced draft copy before the decision was publicly announced.

Paul Groves said that they would be interested in getting people outside the court when the verdict was announced.

Councillor Hilton asked if it would go back to parliament. Chris Nash said that it could be a requirement of the review, but there were a number of options.

To consider the above titled item.

Chris Joyce, Head of Infrastructure, Sustainability and Economic Growth, explained to the Forum that there would be a targeted consultation in June, for submission at the end of the year. This would bring an up to date review on noise in areas across RBWM. Chris Joyce asked the Forum if they had any amendments or comments on the consultation.

A representative from Wraysbury Parish Council said that planes flying overhead were regularly reaching 70 or 80 decibels and that there should be a monitoring location in Wraybsbury.

Chris Joyce said that they would have the chance to change some of the locations and that a map with all the current locations of noise monitors would be distributed in due course.

Councillor Hilton said that there were over 30 monitors out to the East of the borough but there was not that many to the West. He suggested that this should be passed on to Heathrow.

Chris Joyce said that the monitors were needed by Heathrow in order to demonstrate that their model replicates reality. Therefore, the monitors needed to be as accurate as possible to provide legitimate evidence for Heathrow’s future plans.

Malcolm Beer said that planes were not supposed to fly over Old Windsor and that a monitoring location would be good in Wraysbury. In Windsor, he suggested that somewhere near the lock would be a good location.

To receive an update on the Heathrow Strategic Planning Group.

Chris Nash outlined the changes to the expansion programme and said that there was an additional consultation in April. There would be updates on construction plans and the environment mitigation plan but there was still a lack of communication and detail on the impacts from Heathrow. By the end of the year it was planned there would be a submission to planning and Chris Nash said that he would plan the RBWM response to the consultation. He explained that he would meet with Parish Councils to develop a response if the expansion does go ahead and said that the Parishes now have their own forum that they had been getting involved with and working on a joint strategy.

Malcolm Beer asked which Parish Councils were part of the forum which had recently been set up. Chris Nash said that currently Horton and Wraysbury were and there were plans to invite Old Windsor but the forum had not yet been finalised.

Chris Joyce said the idea was for every parish council to have a representative at the forum so that activity could be coordinated.

Councillor Baldwin asked if there were any Maidenhead parishes that were interested in the forum. Chris Joyce said that he was not aware of any interest, but was happy for anyone that was interested to get involved.

A member of the forum asked if RBWM was actively trying to stop the expansion of Heathrow or if it had accepted that the plan was going ahead. Chris Joyce said the first stage was to find out the result of the Judicial Review. From there it was about making a representation to the Development Consent Order and ensuring that environmental and economic issues had been considered. He said that RBWM did not have any decision making power but it was their responsibility to get the best outcome possible.

A resident asked if the UK was part of the Paris Climate Agreement. Chris Joyce said that it was currently receiving Royal Assent and would have a target of being net carbon neutral by 2050. He suggested that it could be used as a political lobbying tool to stop the expansion.

To receive updates regarding key developments from the Heathrow Community Engagement Board, the Local Authority Aircraft Noise Council, and the Heathrow Community Noise Forum.

Councillor Hilton informed the Forum that the Heathrow Community Noise Forum had been discussing rest bite but had not been able to get Heathrow to define what it means. He said that further information would be available at a future HCNF meeting.

Malcom Beer had an update on the Local Authorities Aircraft Noise Council. He said that they were in the process of updating the website in liaison with the director of LAANC. Lots of councils were now involved with the group, but Malcom Beer was keen to encourage more to join. He asked if there could also be an increase in involvement from other councils in the HSPG.

Chris Nash said that it was a political decision whether councils got involved with the group and that he had been in discussions with officers at other local authorities.

Councillor Bowden said that there was little activity with the Heathrow Community Engagement Board. They had not responded to his email and there were no future meetings currently planned.

Malcom Beer said that the agenda should say ‘Local Authorities Aircraft Noise Council’ rather than ‘Local Authority Aircraft Noise Council’.

To note the dates of future meetings:

·         Thursday 14^th May 2020

Members noted the date of the next meeting in May.

It was agreed that there would be an additional meeting in March to discuss the result of the Judicial Review. Details of this would be circulated in due course by Democratic Services.