Meeting documents

To confirm the appointment of the Chairman of the Beeches Local Area Forum.

Trevor Egleton was confirmed as Chairman for the ensuing year.

To confirm the appointment of the Vice Chairman, who will be a District Councillor.

It was agreed that a Vice Chairman would not be appointed until the next meeting.

It was noted that most of the Parish Councils had elected not to attend the meeting until the result of discussions between the County and District Councils regarding how Local Area Forums would go forward.

Apologies were received from Dev Dhillon, Shorne Tilbey and Sue Imbriano.

To declare any personal or prejudicial interests

None.

To confirm the notes of the Burnham/Dorney/Farnhams/Taplow/Stoke Poges GC2C Cluster meeting held on 18 February 2009.

The Notes of the meeting held on 18 February 2009 were confirmed as a correct record.

Matters arising from the notes:

With regard to questions raised by David Merrick relating to allocations of budgets to the LAF to be split by roads/area, Jim Stevens circulated a paper giving his response (attached as appendix 1).  The paper set out the capital and revenue budget which Highways and Transportation will be using.  Jim stated that not all of the allocated budget is devolved.  This is because of the need to take a strategic approach to the allocation of the budget in certain areas in order to achieve the wider objectives and targets relating to issues such as casualty reduction and highway asset renewals.  The Report also listed the schemes approved for the Beeches area for 2009/10.

Chris Furness stated that at the last Full Meeting of the District Council, Sue Brown, Team Leader Road Safety & Casualty Reduction, gave a presentation on casualty reduction which was well received by members.  South Bucks has the highest level of road casualties not including motorway collisions, because of the amount of through traffic in the district. Chris said the District Council is concerned about the casualty figures and suggested that more partnership working was needed to alleviate the issues.

Jim Stevens agreed to contact Sue Brown and invite her to a meeting of the LAF to discuss the problems.  He stated that the majority of the work on road safety is intelligence led, alongside the work of the Thames Valley Safer Roads Panel.  The Chairman stated that the Police and Fire and Rescue Services have worked hard on this issue and have worked alongside Adult Social Care in their surgeries.

Members agreed that they would like to have more information regarding casualty hotspots in the Beeches area, but were informed that hotspots are not necessarily where the collisions have taken place.  The NAG is also working in partnership with local organisations as a result of the Community Speedwatch programme.  Lin Hazell stated that Hogfair Road and Lent Rise Lane are problem areas in relation to excessive speeding and hoped that these issues could be resolved through the work of the NAG.

Marie Hammon from Burnham Parish Council raised a particular issue in relation to the footway outside the Esso Garage in Burnham.  Vehicles are constantly parking on the footway and concern was expressed that this may cause accidents.  Bollards cannot be put in because the kerb is dropped for the full length of the footway.  Members noted that if the footway is blocked on a regular basis it constitutes highway obstruction.  However, even though fines have been issued, the problem is continuing.  Chris Schwier agreed to look into painting white lines along the footway.

ACTION:  Chris Schwier

With regard to the report, members were asked to email Jim Stevens direct with any comments or suggestions they may have.

Report from Stephen Young, Area Coordinator.

Members received the report of the Local Area Co-ordinator which sought agreement from the Forum for the Terms of Reference and Constitution.

If members wish, the name of the Local Area Forum can be changed

Membership of the forum consists of County, District and Parish Councils, with nominated representatives from each of the Parish Councils.  Parish Clerks can be the nominated representative if a PC so wishes.

The Forum will need to consider and agree the wider membership, with the possibility of including the Police, PCT, ‘Think Burnham’ and the Fire Authority.  Others suggested were Shirley Shaw, Health and Samantha Dilks, Youth Worker.  It was agreed that a list of possible partnership agencies should be drawn up and presented at the next meeting for consideration.

ACTION:  Stephen Young

Members were also asked to consider whether the partnership agencies should be members or guests at the meetings and this information can be included in the Terms of Reference

Discussion also took place regarding whether all District Councillors would be members of the LAF or whether it would only be nominated Councillors.  It was agreed to seek further clarification on this issue.

ACTION:  Maureen Keyworth

Addendum:  subsequent to the meeting clarification on this issue was sought.  It was noted that all District Councillors are automatically members of the LAF.  However, if they wished they could nominate a smaller number to represent all the Local District Councillors.

It was suggested that if members wish to have a quorum for the meeting, it could be set at 25% of the membership or a minimum number.  Further clarification would also be sought with regard to voting.

Stephen Young informed members that the Local Area Plan would determine local priorities for the LAF, who will be able to influence how services are delivered in their areas.

Members noted:

i)                    the purpose of the Local Area Forums (LAF)

ii)                  the proposed constitution for The Beeches Local Area Froum

Members agreed:

i)                    that elected members of Buckinghamshire County Council, South Bucks District council and nominated representatives from the Parishes of Burnham, Dorney, Farnham Royal, Stoke Poges and Taplow meet at a fully constituted Local Area Forum (LAF) provisionally titled ‘The Beeches’

ii)                  that the title of the Forum (The Beeches) could be changed if it was considered necessary

i)                    the proposed constitution for The Beeches Local Area Forum, subject to amendments and updates discussed at this meeting.

Report from Stephen Young, Area Coordinator

Members received the report of the Area Co-ordinator, the purpose of which was to set out the arrangements for the allocation of the funding devolved to Local Area Forums (LAFs) in 2009-10.

The County Council is looking to devolve decision making to a more local level and Services will need to think about what budget or services they can devolve.

Currently there are four separate amounts which have been devolved to LAFs:

For 2009/10 the funding for items 1 and 3 has already been committed and the allocation for Transportation local improvements budget was allocated to appropriate schemes across the District by the same process that had been used with the South Bucks Joint Local Committee.

The deadline for applications for Positive Activities for Young People is the end of September 2009, after which the money will revert back to the central budget.  Members noted that flyers have already been sent out asking for suggestions.  Officers were keen to encourage applications and provide the opportunity to help support projects through local partnerships, such as the NAG and ‘Think Burnham’.  Those interested were asked to contact Stephen Young, who would provide the application forms.

Applications are also being sought for the Local Priorities Budget, which needs to be spent in the current financial year.

Members were asked to consider what to do with the allocated funding for the next financial year, which will be informed by the priorities which will be set.  Although footpaths and speed indicator devices were suggested, Jim Stevens encouraged members to allocate funding to items other than transportation and highways.  However, road safety and speeding were considered to be priority issues.  Jim suggested that the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership could do a presentation in village halls with an update on enforcement and education which could address speeding issues.  Young people could also be included through the work of the Youth Officer.

Stephen Young suggested that, whilst not dismissing transportation issues, he hoped that the object of the LAF would be to look at social and community issues, and also encourage projects that address several areas of concern at once, which provided added value and promote joint working partnerships.

It was suggested that the Local Priorities Budget should be used to resolve local issues and Lin Hazell informed the Forum that she had received a request from Farnham Royal Parish Council for a street lamp at the beginning of the cinder track at the end of Church Lane.

Karen Adamson stated that the County Council gives money for well being events, which have proved to be very successful, ranging from bell ringers to adult social care.  The Intergen programme in Aylesbury Vale has been successful in bringing young and older people together. Providing computers to teach IT skills to older people was also suggested.

Funding could also be used to support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of Jim Stevens, Head of Transport for Buckinghamshire

Members received the report of the Head of Transport for Buckinghamshire, the purpose of which was to guide members through the process of submitting bids for highways/transport schemes.  The report also describes the criteria that will be used to evaluate all bids received.

Rather than divide up the budget between each of the District areas, the process used was to look at needs based on road length, car traffic volume, HGV traffic volume and net customer satisfaction data in each LAF area. As a result of this Beeches LAF will receive £23,819 for 2010/11. 

In December 2007 the County Council entered into a pilot scheme for participatory budgeting, to help with the selection and prioritisation of projects, whilst ensuring bids have been developed with a local emphasis. The guidance for this process was attached to the report.

All submissions for bids for 2010/11 should be sent to Chris Schwier by the end of November 2009.  Chris will then work with colleagues to assess and prioritise the schemes which will be presented at the January meeting

In answer to a member’s question regarding the amount of delegated budget received by Aylesbury Vale, it was noted that there are eight LAFs in Aylesbury Vale, whereas there are only four in each of the other Districts.  It was also noted that no customer satisfaction data has been received over the last two years and this scored against the South Bucks LAFs.

Members noted that based on discussions regarding the lack of budget in the south of the County it was agreed that the budget, as a ‘one off’ for 2010/11, would be topped up to the same level of budget as that for 2009/10.

It was noted that all LAF members can bid for funding and a letter of invitation will be sent out shortly.

ACTION:  Chris Schwier

The Forum was asked to note that paragraph d) under the Criteria for Scheme bids should read as follows:

"Individual scheme bids must not exceed the LAF/LCP budget allocation unless part funding arrangements are agreed."

Lin Hazell expressed concern about the state of the footpath at Hogfair Lane as well as the pavement.  She considered that it would be a good idea to go out with the Local Area Technicians in order to pinpoint areas of issue.

The Forum noted the following:

§               The process for submitting projects for possible funding in 2010/11 through the highways/transport delegated budget.

§               The delegated budget for highways/transport projects in Beeches area for 2010/11 will be £23,819 and that a revised cost ceiling will  be issued to take account of increasing the overall allocation to the South Bucks area to £125,000 for 2010/11.

§               Participatory Budgeting will be included as part of the process.

§               Members of the Beeches LAF are invited to submit bids for schemes to the Transport Localities Team Leader (Chris Schwier, based at Amersham Area Office) by the 30 November 2009.

§               All bids received will be evaluated and costed by Transport for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8a

Report of Jim Stevens, Head of Transport for Buckinghamshire

Members received the report of the Head of Transport for Buckinghamshire, the purpose of which was to inform members about the principles of the ‘We’re Working on It’ project, funding and the type of work that can be carried out locally through this project and how LAF members can influence the work carried out.

The Forum was informed that this was the second year of this project and it would continue for at least another year.  The budget for 2008/09 was £3.25 million and this has increased by a further £0.95million this financial year (2009/10).

The three elements of the project continue to be:

• Plane and Patch
• White Lining
• Local Community gangs, who now carry out work monthly instead of every eight weeks.

It was agreed that Local Members will go out with Local Area Technicians to look at areas of issue.

The Forum was informed that Rob Anderson has taken over from Martin Keneally and is responsible for the area west of the A355.  Members will be informed once Rob has taken up his post.

It was noted that whilst residents are pleased at the amount of patching which has been done, concern was expressed that at Dorney, there was no forewarning that the roads were going to be closed.  Members were assured that there will be advance warning when the gangs begin their work next year.

Jim Stevens said that the contractor, who is now working with Transport for Buckinghamshire, is providing better quality planing and patching.  Currently officers are seeing a 25% efficiency saving compared to the previous contractor.  The savings will be put back into highways work, particularly in respect of new custom built vehicles to carry out the work.  The length of contract was discussed and it was noted that having such a long period of time allows the private sector to make long term investments, thus providing cheaper resources. 

Members were informed that the current technology allows officers to know where every vehicle is at any given time.  Operatives work on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) which will take pictures of each site before and after completion of work.  The pictures will not be available on the website yet, but Chris Schwier agreed to ask when this might happen.

Beeches Local Area Forum noted:

§         The principles of the ‘We’re Working On It’ project.

§         The 2009/10 programme timescales.

§         That members are invited to identify suitable works to be considered for the Local Community gangs as part of the project during 2009/10 and liaise with the County Council Local Member and Local Area Technician on the specific details.

§         That members will be encouraged to identify priorities for the plane and patch gangs later this financial year to assist the County Council Local Member and Local Area Technician determine the works programme for 2010/11.

Adult Social Care

Karen Adamson informed members that a surgery was held in May at which several referrals were taken up, including occupational therapy equipment to support a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8b

There will be a 20 minute period for public questions.  Members of the public are encouraged to submit their questions in advance of the meeting to facilitate a full answer on the day of the meeting.  Questions sent in advance will be dealt with first and verbal questions after.

There were no questions.

None received

There were no petitions.

To be agreed

It was agreed that the next meeting of the LAF would be held in November and subsequent to the meeting the following date was agreed:

Wednesday 4 November 2009 at 7.00pm in the Chiltern Room, Burnham Conference Centre.