To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received.

To receive any Declarations of Interest.

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm the Minutes of the previous meeting.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2021 be a true and accurate record.

To receive the above report.

Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place began by stating that the Council adopted the new Corporate Plan on 23 November 2021, which set out the Council’s new strategic priorities between 2021 and 2026. The Q2 performance report covered the dates ranging from 1 July to 30 September 2021. The report also acknowledged the new performance reporting arrangements that had been agreed by Cabinet on 16 December 2021, which would take effect on 1 April 2022.

Andrew Durrant referred to table 2 on page 13 of the report, which summarised key indicators and at close of Q2, 6 out of 8 of those measures were meeting or exceeding their target. Andrew Durrant added that one of these measures was short of target, but within set tolerances and that one was also a non-targeted measure.

Andrew Durrant said that there had been a return to some of the large-scale events in the borough including Royal Ascot, the Royal Horse Show and a wide range of borough-wide Christmas events. Andrew Durrant said that footfall levels were encouraging and that between 1 April and September 2021, Maidenhead saw a 90% footfall volume compared to the same time pre-pandemic. Similarly, Windsor saw 81.7% for the same period.

Andrew Durrant said that with regards to the Environment and Climate Strategy, the Council secured £165,000 worth of grant funding, which would allow for a range of decarbonisation assessments, with reports being made available later in 2022.

Andrew Durrant said that within Q2, the Council ran a number of consultations on the new Corporate Plan and that this helped to shape the final plan that was adopted by Full Council in November 2021. He added that Overview & Scrutiny panels would be aided by a new platform and a new set of Performance Management data and intelligence. Moving forward, any key issues or topics would be referred by the

Corporate Overview & Scrutiny panel to the relevant panels for further focus.

Andrew Durrant said that the Highways Maintenance and planning application processing times for major, minor and other applications was on target and that some other applications were just short of target up to the end of September 2021. This was shown at 83.6% compared to a target of 85%, which was a result of a high volume of planning applications and a number of staff vacancies within the borough.

Councillor Davey asked about footfall counters and their value of being used as accurate measures of footfall in both Maidenhead and Windsor town centres. Steph James, Service Lead for Economic Growth, said that there was no formal way of obtaining this transaction value from the footfall properly. However, she acknowledged that discussions were ongoing with businesses about how this could be improved. This was carried out through ways such as the Retail Forum and through informal discussions with businesses about how they were performing.

Councillor Davey responded by saying this would be more beneficial to focus upon rather than footfall numbers, as this was not an accurate measure of persons  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121.

Chairman to work with clerk and officers on a draft copy of the Annual Scrutiny Report.

The Chairman opened the item by stating that the number of topics discussed by the panel in the previous municipal year had been 22, compared to 4 during the current municipal year. The Chairman acknowledged that there had been changes to the way Scrutiny was conducted, which may in the short term have affected this. However, she said that going forward scoping documents would need to be carried out by panel members.

Emma Duncan, Monitoring Officer, said that the purpose of the Annual Scrutiny Report was to acknowledge what had been achieved by the panel over the last municipal year, but arguably more importantly what can be improved. Issues can be identified and addressed, with outcomes being scrutinised. Emma Duncan confirmed that this would be member-led and that panel members would have to complete a scoping document, which would then have to be agreed with the rest of the panel.

The clerk asked panel members to send in any comments they had for the Annual Scrutiny Report by Friday 28 January 2022, to ensure that they were added to the draft copy ready for publication.

To consider the Panel’s Work Programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

To include consideration of items scheduled on the Cabinet Forward Plan.

Councillor Davey said that if the panel agreed that a certain subject matter needed to be scrutinised, then a scoping document could be completed in its entirety to ensure that no officer time was wasted. Emma Duncan Confirmed this

Councillor Davey then introduced a topic to his fellow panel members titled ‘Facelift 2022, Optimising Visitor First Impressions’. He outlined to the panel what this involved including a facelift of the Victoria Street car park and the Alexandra Gardens Coach Park. This would be to enhance resident experiences and visitors first impressions of the borough when arriving in Windsor, especially for the upcoming Jubilee Celebrations in June 2022.

The Chairman said that there was already a Jubilee Facelift Project ongoing and that she implored Councillor Davey to contact the Windsor Town Manager, Paul Roach to get an update on if these two named locations were being covered within this. She added that Councillor Cannon as the Lead Member for parking may also be a useful contact on this. The Chairman added that works were already planned for the Alexandra Gardens Coach Park and that these were planned to be complete before the Jubilee Celebrations in June 2022.

Andrew Durrant said that plans were underway for Alexandra Gardens Coach Park but admitted that further assessments were needed before work could commence. Some capital budget was being allocated towards this from the borough’s own funds. Victoria Street car park had seen increased cleaning regimes being implemented. Once having spoken to Paul Roach, a clearer picture on future plans with Victoria Street car park would be visible, and this would be shared with the panel if required.

Councillor Singh expressed frustration with the new process and the introduction of scoping documents. Emma Duncan outlined why the new process had been adopted and said that support was there for members in aiding them with producing a scoping document.

Councillor Singh outlined an idea that he had to be brought before the panel. This was in reference to the reflective stickers on bollards and road signs. He said that during the day they worked well, however due to them becoming dirty, they became slightly more ineffective at night-time. He asked if there was a cleaning routine in place for these signs and he asked for a review into how often these were cleaned.

The Chairman responded by stating that items had already been agreed by the panel as being important ones to discuss and produce scoping documents on. Councillor Singh was encouraged to produce a scoping document on this issue that he had raised and present it to the panel. Councillor Singh asked when this would come to a panel. The Chairman responded by stating that this depended on the urgency of the item and the speed in which the scoping document was produced.

Councillor Bateson asked if the bridge at Alexandra Gardens Coach Park was owned by the borough. Andrew Durrant confirmed that the borough held a 125-year lease on the bridge.

Councillor Bowden was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123.