Jacqui Wheeler informed the Forum Members that she received an email regarding a public consultation on the draft Southwest Maidenhead Supplementary Planning document. Residents were encouraged to look at it and give their comments by 17^th August 2022.

There were also various drop-in sessions which provided an opportunity for residents to give comments at the following locations and time:

·         Maidenhead Library throughout July 2022, starting on 14^th July 2022.

·         Braywick Leisure Centre on 26^th July.

·         Online event via Microsoft Teams on 27^th July.

Jacqui Wheeler informed the Forum that the designs were underway for public paths in AL-24 (Woodland Park Road Lillibrook Manor site).

Jacqui Wheeler then suggested issues which could be added to the next meeting’s agenda were the ‘Share the Space’ and a ‘Dog Control’ campaign.

On the Volunteers Update, Jacqui Wheeler explained that there was difficulty in knowing how the RBWM grants scheme was working in 2022 or if any applications were received. She was waiting to hear back about this.

Ceri Richardson was supposed to give an update regarding the new 20mph speed limit, but she was not present at the meeting. As such, she provided this written update outside of the meeting:

Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council were planning to hold a public consultation with Sunningdale Parish Council on 20mph speed limits in both parishes. The two parishes had been working together to encourage more local people to walk and cycle, and to make it safer for them to do so. The purpose of the consultation was to determine the level of community support for the principle of introducing 20mph speed limits where appropriate. Both parish councils would review the results of the consultation and if results show strong support for the principle of 20mph speed limits, they would be in a position to persuade RBWM to work with them to develop specific proposals for individual streets or zones and implement them in a timely manner. The consultation document that had been approved by both parish councils had also been shared with the Borough Councillors covering the parishes of both Sunninghill and Ascot and Sunningdale. The timing of the consultation needed to be finalised but was likely to start in mid-September 2022 and run for 4 weeks.

Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council was also working on producing a 'Walks in the Parish' style map as well as finger post/totem style signage in the Parish indicating distance and time to walk between locations.

Elaborating on the update, Councillor Sharpe stated that the police were generally not supportive of increasing 20mph zones because they believed traffic was moving at reasonable speed down those roads, based on the conversations he had with them.

Martin Richardson suggested it would be good to get a visual position on the extended 20mph zones before discussing safety improvements. He also stated that when he attended a Road Safety Summit the official word from the police was that they never object to speed limit changes. Councillor Sharpe responded that there needed to be a right balance with the police so that they were not put into a situation where they were not willing to enforce road offences.

To clarify, the Chairman explained the context of draft Local Plan. When the first draft version was published, the LAF did a detailed analysis of all the plots which affected the network of paths and bridleways. After this analytical report was submitted, the site numbers in the plan had changed while the sites did not change. This was then passed to the Planning Team.