To note the minutes of the Infrastructure Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 18 January 2022 and the Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 12 April 2022.

In relation to the infrastructure Overview & Scrutiny minutes, Councillor Davey wanted to clarify to residents that works on the Alexandra Gardens coach park bridge had not been cancelled, and that work was underway to find quotes for the works, as the current solutions were coming in over budget.

(Councillor Sharpe joined the meeting in-person)

Councillor Walters asked what the £165,000 in grant spending was for and if it had all been spent. Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place Services, replied by saying that this was for decarbonization assessments that had occurred across council buildings and school sites. It gave recommendations to improve carbon levels within the buildings. Not all of the money had been spent yet.

Councillor Walters then asked for information on the Lunar celebrations. Chris Joyce, Head of Infrastructure Sustainability and Economic Growth, said that there were a series of events that ran in Maidenhead. He offered to provide the Panel with this information offline, but implored members to view the minutes for Maidenhead Town Forum.

ACTION: Chris Joyce to share with panel, information on the Chinese New Year celebrations in Maidenhead.

Lastly, Councillor Walters asked in reference to the Holiday Inn site on Shopenhangers road, if the borough were in some way in competition with the Home Office when it came to housing refugees. Andrew Durrant said that it was not a competition and said that this arrangement was directly between the government and the hotel. The borough assisted with safeguarding and welfare solutions, but nothing else.

ACTION: Andrew Durrant to provide Councillor Walters with information on the Holiday Inn arrangements.

Councillor Brar said that residents were still having issues with the Ringo parking scheme. Andrew Durrant said that he was not aware of any issues currently, however offered to be notified if there were any.

Councillor Singh asked if pre-planning was now being monitored by the planning department. Andrew Durrant said that he would discuss this offline with Adrien Waite, Head of Planning.

ACTION: Andrew Durrant to report back to Councillor Singh on the progress of pre-planning.

The Chairman then welcomed Councillor Sharpe to the meeting. Councillor Sharpe apologised for being late and stated that he had gotten a flat tyre on his commute to the meeting.

Councillor Davey said that now Councillor Sharpe was present, the vote for a Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the municipal year 2022/23 should be held as agreed. The clerk confirmed that this was not what had been agreed but stated that this was up to the panel to decide whether they wished to do this or not. The panel wished to continue the meeting with the existing setup.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That Councillor Bowden remained Chairman and that Councillor Davey remained Vice-Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Councillor Walters then asked in relation to the Communities Overview & Scrutiny panel minutes, how the borough was getting on in terms of the air pollution issues that Thomas Wigley had raised at the meeting. The Chairman said that this would be discussed in the work programme section. Councillor Baldwin echoed the words of the Chairman.

The Panel noted both the Infrastructure and Communities Overview & Scrutiny minutes respectively.