Meeting documents

County Councillor David Polhill in the Chair.

RESOLVED

That County Councillor David Polhill be elected Chairman of the Local Area Forum for the ensuing year.

Mr Polhill in the Chair

The Vice Chairman to be a District Councillor.

It was agreed that District Councillor Stefan Balbuza be appointed Vice Chairman for the ensuing year.

Apologies were received from Lady Scott, Tim Mills, John Cartwright and David Rowlands.

To declare any personal and prejudicial interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members received the report, the purpose of which was to inform the Local Area Forum of the County Council Resolution made on 10 July 2008 regarding the revised GC2C Strategy.  The Terms of Reference for the Local Area Forums were agreed at the Full meeting of the County Council on 10 July and a summary sheet was circulated at the LAF meeting.

During the discussion, it was noted that there are 36 parishes in the Buckingham Local Area.  The Chairman explained that each parish and town council will be able to send one representative but everyone is welcome to attend as a member of the public.  He stressed the importance of ensuring things are carried out by consensus and therefore appointing one representative per parish/town council will help to achieve this.  Members can send a substitute to a meeting on their behalf.

With regard to the terms of reference for the LAF, the following was agreed:

• The Buckingham LAF will meet quarterly, meetings to commence at 7.00pm.
• Where possible, the Parish Councils will host the meetings.  It was noted that the venue would need to be suitable for around 50 people with sufficient car parking.  Please contact Liz Wheaton (ewheaton@buckscc.gov.uk) if you are able to host a future LAF meeting.
• There will be one nominated representative from each Parish and Town Council, although any number of members may attend the meetings.  This could be reviewed in the future if necessary.
• A horse-shoe format is the preferred layout for the room with representatives sitting at the front and members of the public behind them.

The Local Area Forum meetings will identify local issues and contribute towards any decision-making.   Being a Forum rather than a Committee does not mean a loss in the ability to bid for funding and details regarding how much the Forum can bid for will be available soon.  The LAF may have to vote on which projects should be undertaken once the bids have been received.  The delegated budget for highway maintenance will continue.  Previously each Local Committee received £125,000 to carry out environmental improvement schemes. 

Members of the Local Area Forum NOTED the strategy and terms of reference.

To confirm the notes of the Buckingham Local Area Forum meeting held on 15 May 2008.

The action notes of the meeting held on 15 May 2008 were agreed.

The Chairman read out a briefing note prepared by the Environment Agency regarding the Flood Risk Management in Buckingham.  Please see attached document.

Ian Reed told Members that on 30 October there will be a Flood Fair in Buckingham (at the Community Centre) to which Members were encouraged to attend.

It was agreed to set up a Flood Sub-Committee to prepare a response to the Environment Agency.  Cllr Derrick Isham agreed to be chairman of the sub-committee and to organise the first meeting.

Action: Derrick Isham

Karen Adamson, from Adult Social Care, reported that the Surgeries held over the past few months had been very successful.  As a result, 78 people have been referred to the in-touch programme and 6 people have been referred to the Unit for a full assessment.  Karen said that the team had spoken to over 200 people during the Surgeries.  Karen explained that they have been using the mobile library service as a way of meeting people in the rural areas which has been very successful.  They are also using the Fire and Rescue vehicles.

The next surgery in Buckingham is on Tuesday 21 October from 10am-1pm in the Buckingham Community Centre.

At future meetings, 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.  One supplementary question is allowed to be submitted by the member of the public from whom the question originated.

A Member asked when the replacement direction signs in Stowe were to be provided.  Ken Horne, local area technician responded by saying that the signs had been ordered and should be put up soon.  He said he would chase the traffic team.

Action: Ken Horne

A Member raised concern about a large number of signs not being visible due to overgrown hedgerows.  Simon Dudley asked Members to let Ann-Marie Davies or himself know so that they can speak to the community gang.  He also asked Members to let them know who the landowner is so that they can contact them.

A Member asked whether it was possible for the Community Gangs to report back to the Forum on what they have been working on.  Simon Dudley explained that there are approximately 400 day sheets for the Community Gangs so this could be difficult but he said he would look into it.

Action: Simon Dudley

A Member asked whether the Community Gangs will continue to come back to their area.  Simon said that as long as there is work to be done, the gangs would come back to the area.

A Member asked about the procedure regarding customer service, particularly with regards to email response times.  Simon Dudley explained that all calls are received by the customer centre and then passed onto Ann-Marie who emails a response.  It was noted that communications should improve over the coming months as new systems were being introduced.

The standard response time should be 48 hours to receive an acknowledgement email and then 10 days’ before a full reply is sent out.  Amanda Brooke-Webb asked Members to contact her if they had any concerns.

A Member expressed concern regarding the work carried out by the Community Gangs in conservation areas.  There was concern surrounding the gang replacing granite surfaces with tarmac, for example.  The Member explained that special permission can be sought from the Conservation Board to use different materials.  The Member expressed concern that investment is not being made for the long-term and inappropriate materials were being used.  Simon Dudley responded by saying that he would look into this and report back.

Action: Simon Dudley

Members received a presentation from Paul McShane from the Fire and Rescue Service which can be located via the following link:

http://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.asp?ID=5457

He covered the following issues during his presentation:

• Vision
• Organisation
• Understanding community risks
• Pressures and realities
• Proposed objectives
• Potential prevention schemes
• Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP).

Their website can be found at www.bucksfire.gov.uk

Claire Childs is the BFRS contact for Aylesbury Vale and her contact details are 01296 744475 (cchilds@bucksfire.gov.uk).

During discussion the following points were highlighted:

• BFRS is now an enforcing body due to changes in the Act which means that they can fine and close companies if they fail to meet certain standards.
• The ageing population means that one of the main focus areas for BFRS is to make those people over 65 feel safer.
• The fire station in Buckingham is Day crewed, which means that a crew is on duty during the day and responds on a pager at night time, and also has a retained crew attached to them.  Winslow is a retained part-time crew.
• BFRS use mosaic data to highlight vulnerable groups.
• There is a leaflet on home fire safety checks and smoke alarms which is provided free of charge.
• There is also a leaflet to be used for cars which are parked inappropriately making it difficult for emergency vehicles to pass.  These must not to be placed under the windscreen of cars but must be placed on the car in a small pouch (to avoid flyposting) or put through the doors if it is local parking in a street.  The pouches and leaflets are available from Buckingham Fire Station or from Claire Childs and they should be used in conjunction with BFRS.   A Member asked for 50 copies of this leaflet.  Paul suggested they contact the Fire Station at Buckingham and explain what they would like the leaflets for.  It was also suggested that the Local Area Technician’s could also use the leaflets when they are out and about in the County.
• BFRS will be attending the Flood Fair in October.  Members can obtain information from their local fire station on issues such as flooding.
• A Member asked whether the provision of fire alarms will continue.  Paul explained that over 25,000 smoke alarms have been fitted in Bucks and whilst they have lost the funding for the initiative, they have sufficient smoke alarms for the next 3 years.
• A  Member asked whether the Fire and Rescue team still charge for pumping out houses after they have been flooded.  Paul explained that they do not pump out houses as their priority in flood situations is to save lives.

Andy Jones, from Thames Valley Police, provided Members with an update on the restructuring/reorganisation of the Buckingham North Police resourcing.  He explained that neighbourhoods are categorised into 3 main areas – priority, enhanced and capable neighbourhood.  Police resources are allocated according to the category (for example, a capable area receives one PCSO).

Andy emphasised that Buckingham North will not suffer as a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Previous issues discussed by the Forum have been:-

• Transportation
• Road Maintenance
• Traffic Management Issues
• HGV’s using inappropriate routes through the area
• Anti-social Behaviour
• NAGs
• Environment
• Grass Cutting
• River Flooding
• Community Speedwatch

A Forward Plan of issues is currently being developed and Members are asked to let the Chairman know of any issues they wish to be included for future meetings.

Simon Dudley told the Members that the Multi-Agency Flood Plan is due to be finalised soon.  He explained that supplying sandbags to affected areas will be done more effectively next time.  He asked Members to contact him if they had any queries relating to the Plan.

Simon went on to warn Members about illegal signs and he asked people to be careful about where signs were put up.

A Member expressed concern about HGVs driving through villages.  Simon said that he has discussed this with the police and there is a project underway to identify better routes for HGVs in future.

A Member said that there is much confusion amongst drivers as there are two Lenborough Roads.  Simon said he would mention this to the traffic team.

Action: Simon Dudley

A Member explained that the lorry weight restriction signs are being ignored.  It was reported that the Traffic Police are looking at this to ensure the signs are in the right place and that they are the most appropriate signs.

A Member asked whether the Flood Plan affected only the Towns.  It was explained that the Plan covers every area which is affected by flooding.  The project team have been collecting information and identifying areas which are most in need of assistance.

A Member commented on the work being carried out near the White Hart car park which could be damaging the road surface due to the lorries being used to deliver materials.  Simon said that he was unaware of this but in future closer working with the Districts might help to reduce the likelihood of it happening again.

To receive any Petitions that have been submitted to the Local Area Forum.

There were none.

To agree the date of the next meeting and to agree future dates in 2009.

The date of the next meeting is Thursday 4 December at Calvert Green Community Hall.

Suggested dates for future meetings:

• 4 December 2008
• 26 March 2009
• 25 June 2009
• 17 September 2009