Residents and Forum members are invited to make suggestions on agenda items for future Forum meetings and ask any questions that they may have.

John Holland asked whether the Aviation Forum would be revitalised. Councillor Knowles answered that an email had been circulated which announced the date of the next meeting: Tuesday 23^rd April 2024 at 7:00pm at York House, Windsor. John Holland elaborated that the new Chief Executive of Heathrow announced that he wanted to make Heathrow Airport more efficient (theorising that it meant increasing the number of flights) and thus suggested that someone from Heathrow attend the Forum and explain what this meant. Councillor Knowles informed that the intention of the revived Aviation Forum was to ensure Heathrow Airport was better engaged as well as the Forum being more resident-led.

Nigel Griffin stated that a tourist tax had been imposed in Paris. Referring to the financial situation of the Borough, he wondered whether a tourist tax could be considered. Councillor A. Tisi responded that a tourist tax could not be imposed in England (like with Paris), but she added that a semi-voluntary ‘tourist tax’ could be applied, such as a business improvement district, which officers were considering. The Chair added that she believed that this scheme was taking place in Manchester and Liverpool.

Highlighting that the meeting had been going on for a couple of hours, John Bowden suggested that resident questions should be placed first rather than receiving presentations and updates from Council officers and then alleged that Councillor questions were being answered rather the residents. He then expressed disapproval at the management of the Aviation Forum, namely the fact that no meeting had taken place in a long time in spite of a major airport nearby affecting Windsor, alleging that it was a failure of the current administration. The Chair responded that the Aviation Forum was being addressed and countered that she usually asked residents for their questions first before receiving questions from Councillors. Councillor Knowles added that a consultation had taken place after the May 2023 local elections and that there was much activity taking place at Heathrow, thus making it crucial to revive the Aviation Forum.

John Bowden then stated that there was the Community for the Independent Scrutiny of Heathrow which he attended in October 2023 and that a Borough Councillor from Maidenhead attended as well but the responsible Councillor for the Aviation Forum did not attend. Stating that no one attended these Community meetings, he asserted that it was a failure of the Lead (Cabinet) Member.

Highlighting that there had been a maximum increase in Council Tax over the years (in spite of repetitive assertions of low Council Tax) as well as an increase in parking fees, Sarah Walker asked whether the Councillors in attendance were concerned about the impact of parking. In addition, she asked whether the budget included any income generating opportunities which were missed, alleging that the Borough were charging residents without investigating alternative solutions to raise funds. The Chair replied that the answers may have to be investigated and then presented at the next Forum meeting.

Sarah Walker reiterated her query on whether income generating opportunities for the Borough had been explored, such as commercialisation, sponsorship in the budget, advertising on the website, yields from rental income and hiring out halls.

After the Chair replied that she believed that alternative solutions were investigated, Councillor Wilson subsequently recommended to look through Appendix O (Report of the Chief Finance Officer) in the recently-approved budget, which summarised the overall position of the Borough. He added that almost every Councillor and Borough officer had been forwarding ideas on alternative sources of income, mentioning that he had raised the suggestion of a tourist tax at a recent Cabinet meeting.

Councillor W. Da Costa added that he and Councillor C. Da Costa had been presenting ideas to the administration since May 2023. He believed that there were a few options being missed, such as grants which stated were available but there was no officer looking into this.

Councillor A. Tisi highlighted that Borough officers had been focusing on preparing the budget, namely getting it balanced. She then highlighted that the budget included a growth item on having some officers being able to explore grants and income streams with some potential opportunities with groups like Visit Windsor and Business Partnership. An example she gave was selling the services of Educational Psychology to other Boroughs who do not have access to this and then expand the team. She assured that Borough officers had been considering ideas to generate income within their teams and that this was being taken seriously.

Councillor Knowles gave a couple of suggested agenda items. He first suggested an officer from Environmental Health to attend and do an item on the rat infestation across Windsor. He then suggested that the Heritage Committee of the Windsor and Eton Society should attend the Windsor Forum at least once a year to present about the conservation area.

The Chair reiterated a couple of other suggestions: contract management and grass cutting.

The item suggestions for future Forum meetings were:

·       Rat infestation

·       Heritage Committee of the Windsor and Eton Society

·       Contract management

·       Grass cutting