To receive an update from Robyn Bunyan.

Robyn Bunyan, Maidenhead Town Manager, said that footfall across the town centre had been recovering. 2019 was the last ‘normal’ trading year and when compared to the data, Maidenhead was recovering faster than other similar sized places. There was more to do, but generally the town was in a good place. There had been a lot of regeneration of the town planned and as Victoria Manston had mentioned as part of the update on the Landings site, the developers had joined in with the recent pancake day race which was held on the high street. Lots of scaffolding was coming down around the Chapel Arches development too. The Countryside development near the Town Hall would shortly see the community square completed and there would be a launch event. Across the town, car parking usage was down and this was still largely attributed to the lack of office workers.

Considering highlights of the previous month, Robyn Bunyan said that Anytime Fitness had been running free bootcamps. Spring hanging baskets had been placed around the town centre and the recent Chinese New Year celebrations and events had been a success, particularly linking in well with the countries hosting of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Activities over the period had been attended by over 1,500 and had therefore been well received. The street clean team had been out cleaning streets and the council had recently purchased two professional graffiti cleaning kits, along with 20 community graffiti removal kits. This would allow community groups to help clean their communities. Grilled Grub, one of the market street traders, had recently taken over the old Subway unit and there was hope that this would be open in the next couple of months. The craft fair would be taking place in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre, while a vegan market would be taking place at the weekend in the high street.

Robyn Bunyan said that Maidenhead was preparing events to celebrate the Jubilee. There would be bunting and flags, which would be in place before the Queen’s birthday on 21^st April 2022. There would be a package put together that would allow businesses to sponsor special Jubilee hanging baskets.

The Chairman announced that social distancing barriers around the town centre would be removed, on Queen Street, Broadway and York Road. The cycle parking in King Street and the high street, and the cycle lanes in the high street would be retained.

Councillor Bhangra said it was great to see pop up stalls and bars in the town centre. He commented on the vacancy rates and asked how the council could encourage businesses to open up in the town.

Robyn Bunyan said that there was lot of activity on the high street and a significant proportion of the areas which were currently covered in hoardings were due to work which was ongoing.

Councillor Baldwin expressed concern about the parking, the budget had been based on the pre-Covid level of parking. The numbers were still down and Councillor Baldwin believed that this called into question the assumptions which had been made on this important revenue line in the budget, particularly as the new financial year was imminent.

Robyn Bunyan said that office trade was a big part of the issue, she was not sure that parking would recover to the same level that was seen pre-Covid. People had changed their mindset and were walking and cycling more around the town.

Councillor Baskerville asked how readily available the graffiti kits would be and also if any training would be provided on how the kits worked.

Robyn Bunyan said that there were two types, professional and community kits. The community kits were created specially for groups and organisations and came with instructions which would allow them to be easily used. The kits would be available for collection from the Town Hall or could be delivered to groups if required.

Councillor Baskerville said that it was the 60^th anniversary of the Town Hall opening later in the year, he asked if anything would be done to commemorate this. The date would be 25^th June 2022.

Robyn Bunyan said that she was not aware of anything happening but would explore options to see if anything could be done to mark this date.

ACTION – Robyn Bunyan to explore potential options to mark the anniversary of the opening of the Town Hall.

Councillor Singh expressed concern about the announcement on barriers and other active travel measures being removed around the town centre. He asked if this was the correct time to be doing so, when cases were rising in the area.

Councillor Hasler, as Cabinet Member for Planning, Parking, Highways and Transport, explained that there was a lot of plastic clutter around the town centre which had been the result of the active travel measures and it was a mess. The barriers were not serving any purpose and they were causing an obstruction to the highway. Certain cycling provisions would be maintained, but the plastic barriers would be removed.

Councillor Singh said that the council received funding from the government to implement these measures, he felt now was not the right time to remove them. He argued that the only reason the barriers were not in the correct positions was because of the recent storm.

Councillor Haseler responded by saying that the barriers had not been in position for months now, it was not just damage from the storm. There were no implications from this decision being taken and no money needed to be repaid back to the government.

Councillor Taylor suggested that there could be a firework display at the Town Hall to celebrate the 60^th anniversary, as had been mentioned by Councillor Baskerville earlier. The Christmas fireworks did not happen last year and Councillor Taylor suggested that the budget saved from this event not taking place could be used.

Robyn Bunyan said that due to the fireworks being cancelled in advance, there were no additional fireworks that had been stored. She was happy to raise the question to see if it was something that could be done.

Councillor Taylor said that many businesses were moving out of the Nicholsons Shopping Centre ahead of the redevelopment and relocating onto the high street. Councillor Taylor asked if businesses were being located in similar positions to where they had been originally.

Robyn Bunyan confirmed that this was the case where it was possible and where space was available.

Councillor Bond asked how things like the amount of walking and cycling across the town was monitored by officers. He had recently taken a bus and wondered how bus usage was also monitored by the council.

Robyn Bunyan said that walking was based on footfall in the town centre, cycling was based around the amount of bikes that were being used in the town. Bus usage was not currently monitored, but there was a team at the council that did, this was something that could be added to the report.

Councillor Singh said that parking usage was down but there was a scheme which would look to give discounts on parking to residents to encourage them to use car parks in Maidenhead. He suggested that the Broadway and Hines Meadow car parks should be included, as this would help businesses in the town centre and encourage further footfall.

Neil Walter, Parking and Enforcement Manager, commented on Councillor Baldwin’s question on the budget for parking income. He said that the budget income was based on pre-Covid usage and did not rely heavily on season ticket income. Officers were not predicting a change over the course of the financial year, as office workers were not expected to return to offices in the same way. An amount had been added to the budget to cover the shortfall on season ticket income. The two car parks that were part of the resident scheme were the two busiest car parks in Maidenhead, per space capita. It was unnecessary to use the Broadway car park, as the council was unsure of how long it would be there for with the imminent redevelopment of the shopping centre. Hines Meadow was a short term car park for those using Sainsbury’s, there was already a discount offered to shoppers by the supermarket.

Councillor Singh said that car parking revenue was down because the evening parking charges had been amended.

Neil Walter said that this was incorrect, the council used to charge a flat rate between 6pm and midnight. This had changed to only be chargeable until 9pm, therefore parking was free between 9pm until 9am the following morning.