To receive the above report.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the order of agenda items was changed, so that Town Manager Update was considered first.

Paul Roach said it had been a busy weekend, with the Royal Windsor Horse Show and Windsor Vegan Market taking place. For those interested in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, it was worth looking at the website which contained extensive information and further details on the events which were taking place. On the Thursday, the ox roast and beacon event would be taking place, while the party in the park and the big lunch would take place over the weekend. Considering footfall, this was up on last year by 68% but was down around 10% on the same period from 2019. Windsor was doing well on footfall compared to the national figure. On car parking, the town was up 48% and this was also up on the 2019 figure which was a positive start and there had been an increase in visitor numbers.

Paul Roach discussed the vacancy rate, he was unable to give an exact figure but had received a number of comments which were concerned about the number of vacant units. Paul Roach said that there would be a lot of change over the coming months, with a number of new businesses planning to open up in Windsor. Both shopping centres would see a number of units being added to the portfolio, things were looking a lot more positive. A lot of the new units would be food related rather than retail, this was due to the market and demand currently.

The Chairman asked for confirmation on which roads around Windsor would be closed over the Jubilee weekend.

Paul Roach informed the Chairman that for the Eton street party, the one way section would be closed from 6am – 9pm. In Windsor, there were currently no plans for any road closures. There would be some parking suspensions including Park Street gate to Park Street and Brook Street. This would allow adequate space for visitors to enter and leave the planned events and also to allow access for the emergency services. These suspensions would take place on both the Saturday and the Sunday of the Jubilee weekend. The events taking place on the Long Walk would potentially attract crowds of around 10,000 which was why events were planned here rather than in the town centre.

The Chairman asked which day the beacon lighting event would take place. This was confirmed to be on Thursday 2^nd June outside Cambridge Gate. The event would include performances from local schools and a fireworks display which would seem like it was taking place above Windsor Castle.

Councillor Tisi added that the Clewer and Dedworth ‘picnic in the park’, which was also known as ‘Rock the Rec’, would be taking place in July and therefore would not clash with the Jubilee events.

Councillor Price commented on the increased police presence which had been seen in Windsor over the past few weekends.

Paul Roach explained that Thames Valley Police had been involved in an operation over the past six weeks each Sunday looking at youth anti-social behaviour. Issues had been raised last year that certain activity was taking place in some premises and significant work had been undertaken to identify the individuals involved. This had seen an increased police presence in the town centre, with this operation being possible due to special funding being made available. The police were also working with a number of local businesses to resolve any issues.

Councillor Price reported that she had heard from shopkeepers that were worried to leave their premises at the end of the day as they feared for their personal safety.

Paul Roach responded by saying that he was not aware of that being reported, there would be time taken to review the data and results from the operation.

Jeff Pick, Thames Valley Police, added that the operation centred around large groups of people generally aged between 12-16 years old. The main issue was that they were loud and disruptive, no serious incidents had been reported.

Councillor Baldwin commented on the parking figures which had been delivered as part of the update. The target was to improve on the figures from 2019, which was reported to be up. He asked for clarification on how parking was up, whether it was increased usage or increased revenue. The residents discount parking scheme had recently been introduced and Councillor Baldwin asked how well this had been working. Councillor Baldwin asked if the fireworks show which was part of the Jubilee celebrations had been through the appropriate risk assessment process.

Paul Roach confirmed that parking figures were based on usage, revenue would vary with each car park, depending on things like the size and price to park. In April 2022, there had been 82,000 users while in April 2019 this figure was 78,000, showing that there had been an increase. He was happy to take the comment away and see if the parking team were able to provide some data on car parking revenue in Windsor. All of the key events in Windsor have gone through the Safety Advisory Group in the last month or so.

ACTION – Paul Roach to speak to the parking team to see if data could be provided for car parking income in Windsor.

The Chairman said that the car parks in River Street had seen an increase in usage due to recent events like the Royal Windsor Horse Show, there needed to be consideration to balance the income and usage figures.

Councillor Price asked where residents could go to find out information on all of the events taking place over the Jubilee weekend.

Paul Roach explained that the Windsor Platinum Jubilee website had all of the relevant information which could be accessed by residents. There was a tool to also upload events, so that residents could add their local events to the website.