5.1 RBWM Officer Introduction

Rachel Kinniburgh introduced herself to the Forum. Rachel Kinniburgh would now be the liaison officer between the Forum and the Council. Rachel Kinniburgh would liaise with officers for updates, reports and information. The Agenda would be set with Rachel Kinniburgh and Rachel would be present at all Forums. Rachel Kinniburgh could be contacted on Rachel.kinniburgh@rbwm.gov.uk

5.2 Borough Local Plan: Hearings

Lisa Hughes informed the Forum that the Chairman and the Vice Chairman had been invited to participate on the first day of the Planning Inspectorates hearing of the Borough Local Plan at the end of June.

The session examined the Legal Soundness and Compliance of the submitted plan and heard representations from senior RBWM officers and legal advisors plus as well as parties such as parish councils, neighbourhood planning groups, landowners and the AAF.

The AAF communicated the following points to the Planning Inspector:

·         The current numbers of residents with disabilities and forecast in 2033;

·         The disconnect between the number of residents with disabilities and proposed level of accessible housing in the BLP;

·         The lack of AAF involvement in the development of the BLP;

·         Concerns about whether the amount of accessible housing proposed in Housing Policy HO2 was supported by robust evidence (as required);

·         The drastic change in accessible housing proposed in policy HO2 between the version of the BLP produced in Dec 2016 and that in June 2017-

o   The Dec 2016 version included 5% of fully wheelchair accessible homes so by inference all homes to be habitable by PwD;

o   In the June 2017 version this had been changed (with no explanation) to 5% of homes to be habitable by PwD.

The Planning Inspector informed invitees that specific policies within the BLP would be examined in detail at the next set of hearings which were initially proposed to take place in September or October, after she had considered the answers and information provided by RBWM to her questions arising from the June hearings.

As Forum members may be aware the RBWM Planning advised the Planning Inspector that they would miss the 17^th August deadline of responding to her questions. They expect to be able to respond by the end of October. This has a knock-on effect on the next stage of hearings.

The Forum discussed planning guidance about accessible housing and whether assisted living had been discussed or considered.

5.3 Using Direct Payments to employ a PA

The clerk had circulated information provided by Vernon Nosal in June 2018. If any The clerk had circulated information provided by Vernon Nosal in June 2018. If any members had any questions, could they send them to Lisa Hughes and Angela Clark by 30 September 2018. The questions would be collated and sent to Vernon Nosal and he would be invited to the next Forum.

Angela Clark had a question about who would replace NuWay as RBWM had stopped contracting with them. They had acted as intermediaries for PAs and clients, checking skills and DBS, registry with HMRC.

AOB

Tim Clare informed the Forum that the barriers put in at Riverside car park in Windsor had now been removed.

Robin Pemberton shared the details of MobiLoo, a vehicle for change – 0300 030 1255, www.mobiloo.org.uk

There was a Daily Living Event in the Town Hall on Wednesday 12 September 2018. This event was open to all