To receive a report from the RBWM Youth Council.

The panel considered a written report on Street Lighting, which had been written by the Youth Council.

Holly Hannan, Chair of the Youth Council and Alexander Wood, Vice-Chair of the Youth Council began their presentation by giving a quick bit of background information about the Youth Council. It was established in August 2021 to represent all of the views of young persons between the ages of 14 and 19 who lived, attended education or were part of a youth organisation within the borough.

They then outlined the aims of the Youth Council as being the following:

·       To represent the views and needs of all young people in the borough.

·       To act as advisors to RBWM and liaise with the Council, businesses, and other organisations.

·       To celebrate the achievements of young people in RBWM.

·       To work on projects that were of interest to young people, to raise awareness of their views and interests

With regards to their street lighting report, they stated that in January 2022, a letter was written by the Youth Council to the Council as part of the 2022/23 budget consultation process. In February 2022, an invitation was extended to them to attend a meeting with Councillor Carroll, Councillor Hilton, and Kevin McDaniel, who wished to address some of the concerns that had been raised within the letter. Young person’s safety was the main concern which came out of both the letter and also the meeting. The Youth Council were asked to produce a report on the condition of street lighting within RBWM, from the perspective of young persons. A working group that was led by Youth Councillor Caitie Holden compiled the report, which was meant to be presented to the Place Overview & Scrutiny Panel in September 2022, however the meeting was cancelled due to the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

They then provided some facts about street lighting to the panel. 5 studies conducted within the UK revealed that 38 fewer crimes per 100 occurred when an area was well lit. In 2020, it was revealed also that Thames Valley ranked sixth on the list of the highest number of women that were killed by men. This reinforced the Youth Council’s belief that street lighting was of paramount importance for the safety of not just young persons, but all residents within the borough. The death of Sarah Everard highlighted this issue in even greater detail.

The identified areas of concern by the Youth Council were very much more rural areas. These included as examples Burchetts Green, Clewer Avenue, Parsonage Lane, Clewer Fields, the Windsor Road and the Ascot Road. They pleaded for the Council to improve lighting in areas such as these to ensure that young people within RBWM felt safe and secure.

The Chair thanked Holly and Alexander for their presentation and opened the floor to questions from panel members.

Councillor Greg Jones said that when some street lights were damaged due to cars for example, the reason it could take so long for them to be fixed was due to the Council awaiting specialist parts and having to get the electricity board to attend and fix it. He also said that some people would object to street lighting put up in certain places as they may not want to increase light pollution in that area for example. He asked if this had been considered when writing the report. Alexander Wood replied by saying that they had considered it, hence why they wished to focus on rural areas, where this would not necessarily be such an issue.

Councillor Walters thanked them for their report and their presentation and said that there was also another school of thought when it came to street lighting. He said that it could potentially have negative impacts on wildlife and the environment. He then provided them with a web address for them to visit. Oran Norris-Browne, Democratic Services Officer then provided them with this in writing to visit offline. He said that a lot of people did not like lots of artificial light as they were unable to see the stars at night for example. Higher lighting areas could also create black spots for criminals to hide in and commit further crimes too. He wished to just make them aware of these things.

Holly Hannan thanked him for his comments but asked what was more important, the environment or safety. She expressed concerns over young people walking to and from school in the dark and stated that anything could happen to them. She was a huge advocate for the environment however huge safety issues were on display.

(Councillor Walters left the meeting at 20:40)

Councillor Luxton thanked them for their presentation and said that it was a very important issue that they were bringing to the panel’s attention. Several issues had recently occurred in her ward near to Charters School. She said that many areas near the schools in her ward were very poorly lit and that it needed to be addressed.

Councillor Hunt said that the presentation was very well put together and thanked them for bringing it before the panel. She said that Burchetts Green was partly in her ward, but also in Councillor Brar’s ward too. With respect to the Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA) she was unaware of any young persons walking to and from there due to its location. She was aware of many buses going to and from the location, but no people attending on foot, and questioned if the Youth Council knew anybody who did walk. They were unsure of anybody personally but knew that people did walk to and from and that the area was very poorly lit.

Councillor Davey said to the two Youth Councillors that they could suggest a motion to the panel, to move things forward and put in a plan of action at the meeting. Oran Norris-Browne said that he could advise them with regards to this at the appropriate time privately during the meeting.

Councillor Brar asked the officers if they possessed a list of locations of concern with regards to poor lighting, or were they rated in priority order. Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place Services said that it would be beneficial to address that question when he summed up at the end of the agenda item. The Chair agreed to this.

Councillor Del Campo said this topic was certainly one that could be looked at going forward and suggested a potential task and finish group as being a way forward.

Councillor Singh thanked all of the Youth Councillors for their work on the report. He said that he would like to have seen the responses from TVP if they were still at the meeting. He noted a number of areas within his ward which were crime hotspots and should be well lit, including where the new car park had been built. He asked if they had seen an increase in lights being broken or not switched on around the borough.

Holly Hannan replied by saying that she had seen lights out around the borough and said that they were clearly not being fixed. They wished for better intervention and a better way to report and keep a track of these things. They also admitted that they probably missed some areas, due to the lack of resources that were available to them.

Councillor Singh asked if the Youth Council had noticed an added sense of concern around the state of reflective beacons within the borough. The Chair and the Youth Councillors were not sure what was being referred to here.

Councillor Shelim said that lighting was very important for security in the borough. He said that his view was that issues in specific ward, needed to be chased up by the ward councillors specifically. They could then follow this up with officers in the most effective way.

The Chair then invited officers to summarise and give their professional advice on the matters.

Andrew Durrant thanked the Youth Councillors for their report and said that it was very important for the Councils as a whole to listen to young persons within the borough. He admitted that as with everything there were competing priorities, whether this be with the environment or economic aspects. He thanked them for pointing out specific locations that had been identified as a problem. Each location of course had different factors to consider, and each had to be handled differently to each other. He said that the Residents Survey would potentially be a good avenue to pursue. Most persons in the borough did feel safe, however it was important to focus on the small percentage of people who did not.

Andrew Durrant said that it was important to also not hamper the engagement of young persons in extra curricular activities also, due to low amounts of street lighting. He recognised the comments that had been made about current street lights within the borough. He said that it was always helpful when these were reported and recognised that lights may not have been fixed as quickly as they should have in the past. He said that there was a lot of intelligence available between the Youth Council and the officers and said that they just needed to home in on what the issues were.

The Chair suggested a quick comfort break where Oran Norris-Browne could discuss with the Youth Council, their options that were available to them.

The meeting was adjourned at 21:10

The meeting re-convened at 21:21

It was discussed between the officers and the Youth Council representatives that they could not support a motion at the meeting as they did not want to speak on behalf of the Youth Council, without having consulted them first. Officers suggested that they look into the issues that had been raised at the meeting and invite the Youth Council back to a future meeting to inform them of the work that had been undertaken and any other information that they felt needed to be distributed. Several options could potentially be formulated between the officers and the Youth Council and put before the panel at a future meeting.

AGREED: That the Youth Council be invited back to a future Place Overview & Scrutiny meeting.