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 spending money on goods and adding value to the town.

Councillor Haseler asked where the footfall counters were located in both Windsor and Maidenhead High Streets. Steph James confirmed these were located above the former residence of Monsoon in Maidenhead High Street, and above Daniels on Peascod Street in Windsor High Street. Councillor Haseler noted that Windsor had been very busy when he had last visited recently and asked what the car park take up was in Windsor, and if there was a measure of weekday and weekend data. Steph James responded by saying that this data was measured, and it showed that car park usage was increasing in line with an increase in footfall.

Councillor Singh asked Andrew Durrant if he felt that the High Streets were in healthy positions now having recovered more so from the effects of the pandemic, with both footfall and car park suage increasing. Andrew Durrant responded by saying that Windsor car parks were back to pre-pandemic levels and that several Windsor car parks were also performing better than before the pandemic. He added that resident parking was down.

Councillor Singh said that having spoken to retailers in Maidenhead Town Centre, they did not share the optimism that was being shown by the officers. He said that retailers he had spoken with were particularly concerned with the regeneration plan of the town centre. He highlighted the demolition of the Nicholson’s Shopping Centre having a big impact on footfall and shopper choice. He asked if any business surveys had been carried out and if the Council was braced for the loss of business rates that would occur from this regeneration project.

Steph James acknowledged that a new Maidenhead Town Manager had been appointed and that her key role was in engaging with retailers and assuring them that the regeneration project once complete would attract more shoppers. She was currently involved in organising a Lunar New Year celebration to attract food markets and local organisations to the town. In terms of business surveys, Steph James acknowledged that this could be adopted, but assured Councillor Singh that a lot was being done to reassure retailers.

Councillor Bateson asked about the percentage of other planning applications that were processed in time. Adrien Waite, Head of Planning said that they were a few percentage points down, but this was primarily due to resource issues and high staff turnovers. He added that he was confident as a service that there were no indicators of this dropping further and as a service, they would endeavour to increase it.

Adrien Waite added that lots of components were involved in planning applications and agreed with Councillor Bateson that it could sometimes elongate the process if applicants were to not submit information in a timely manner, However, he acknowledged that this was not always the sole reason and that the reasons he noted previously were also contributing factors.

Councillor Davey asked about the Ringo Parking Scheme and problems that he and others had faced where they had forgotten to end the parking time and had been charged for a full day. He asked if there was any scope to aid residents in reminding them to end their parking time.

Andrew Durrant replied by saying that Ringo would be introduced at all the borough’s car parks and that this would provide residents with a discount on parking within the borough from 4^th April 2022 onwards. He added that his understanding was that users could pay an additional charge to receive notifications upon their car parking time expiring. Councillor Davey disputed this and added that the borough’s system differed to others. Andrew Durrant said that he would discuss this further with Neil Walter, the Parking Principal offline to better understand the small details of this and reconfirm.

ACTION: Andrew Durrant to contact Councillor Davey offline with regards to the Ringo parking System.

Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance, said with regards to business rates that when the pandemic began, a business rate holiday occurred until July 2021, and since then this was changed to just a third until April 2022. The business rate multiplier also would not change.

Councillor Haseler said that the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation was 73 less than the same period in 2021, which was a positive move. He asked if there were any significant trends between these people in temporary accommodation. Andrew Durrant said that this would have to be directed to the Housing team. The clerk and Andrew Durrant agreed to pick this up offline.

ACTION: Councillor Haseler to be provided with information on trends between people in temporary accommodation.

Councillor Singh asked what the turnaround time was for pre-planning application advice. Adrien Waite said that this figure was not currently monitored but acknowledged that this was one of the most important parts of the planning process and therefore it could be looked at being implemented in the future.

Councillor Singh asked further questions on business rates, specifically in Maidenhead. Councillor Hilton replied by saying that there were no discrepancies between Maidenhead and Windsor and that all Council tax that was paid to the Council was retained. 15% of business rates that were received were also kept, the rest went to National Government for their own distribution to other local authorities.

Councillor Davey asked about 5G infrastructure and said that it was resident belief that the Telephone Companies paid the Council to place 5G poles within the borough, but it was his understanding that this was not the case and that they were not charged anything. Councillor Davey asked for clarity on this. Councillor Hilton said that his understanding was that any pole or mast that was placed on highways land was granted permission.

The Panel noted the report.