Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman welcomed attendees to the meeting.

The Chairman informed the community board name has changed from Amersham to Amersham & Villages to correctly reflect the area.

Ms L Wright, Community Board Co-ordinator gave a refresher presentation on the focus areas of spend and minimum spends. These include Economic Regeneration and Recovery minimum 15% spend or £26k, Improving our Environment minimum 15% spend or £26k, Health and Wellbeing and Transport maximum 25% spend or £43k.

RESOLVED Minutes from the meeting held 15 July 2021 were AGREED as an accurate record

There were no declarations of interest.

To be presented by Oli O’Neill.

Mr O O’Neil, Youth Worker for Amersham Youth gave an update on the activities and services they provided young people over the summer to increase youth engagement.

The proposals for future actions were outlined including a Buckinghamshire Council run positive relationships course after half term, Red Box project, encouraging talking to each other in a positive way and soapbox racer partnership.

The Chairman reiterated the Community Board was available to help Amersham Youth financially in the future if the funding was available.

There was an open day at the new Amersham Youth Centre on Saturday 2nd October.

Including a written update.

Mr S Salwa Contract Manager for Everyone Active provided an update on the new Chiltern Lifestyle Centre a copy of which was appended to these minutes.

It was confirmed the new centre was on track to open on the scheduled date.

ACTION Mr S Salwa to add the opening date of the new centre to the minutes once confirmed.

A question was raised concerning the safety of fencing between the demolition site and the new lifestyle centre site.

ACTION Ms L Wright to raise the issue with the relevant service area in Buckinghamshire Council.

A question was raised regarding parking and if the first hour of parking will be refunded if using the centre.

ACTION Mr S Salwa to check with the relevant service area at Buckinghamshire Council as the car park is council owned.

To include funding updates, action group progress and engagement.

Ms L Wright, Mr M Dormer and Ms R Matthews gave a presentation providing updates on the four focus areas.

Vice Chairman Ms R Matthews provided an update on ongoing proposals for Economic Regeneration.

•          Increasing footfall and improving accessibility with the following proposals; cycle racks in key areas, increased signage to highlight areas of interest and benches along areas of interest. Visit Bucks to promote events and engagement online.

•          Artistry and murals to brighten up areas of town, potential for local artist Dan Wilson to paint the wall by Royal Mail sorting office. Local schools could have input into murals.

•          Bucks Business First have put forward proposals for local businesses including a net zero initiative to reduce carbon footprint, raising awareness and accessibility for those with disabilities, a voucher scheme to support businesses with digital skills and a be your own boss scheme.

                  Community Board Co-ordinator Ms L Wright provided an update on ongoing proposals for Environmental projects.

•             Innovative projects include bee bus stops, biodiversity study for the local area, restoration of local wildlife hubs, community grow and share and reducing single use plastic.

There was a call for volunteers to help with improving the local environment.

Vice Chairman Mr R Matthews provided an update on ongoing proposals for Health and Wellbeing.

•          Mapping of defibrillators in the local area underway, Bucks Mind to attend school assemblies, mental health training for secondary school teachers, Chiltern Open Air Museum to offer accompanied walks for adults with learning disabilities, dementia friendly initiative and more exercise equipment in play areas.

Mark Flys was in discussions with JCDecaux regarding advertising boards with defibrillators included for free, further discussions with Buckinghamshire Council were required as to locations.

Chairman Mr M Dormer provided an update on proposals for Transport.

•          The focus of spending would  be on danger hotspots and the prevention of accidents. Wooden bollards would  be placed on Stanley Hill by St George’s School to stop dangerous parking.

•          Parking restrictions would  be enforced near the Amersham industrial estate and Mobile Vehicle Activated Sign would  be used in certain hotspots to tackle speeding and to collect speeding data. A full parking review would  be undertaken in 2023.

•          Projects in the pipeline included Roughwood Lane feasibility study to make it a one-way street, reduce speed advisory to 20mph outside Dr Challoner’s School and wider parking review.

The Chairman requested more volunteers participate in the working groups and highlighted the new ideas form available online.

Ms L Wright encouraged more people to sign up to the community board newsletter. There had been an increase in followers and daily reach of the board on Facebook. There was a request to advise the co-ordinator of any community events which can be promoted on the Facebook page.

The Chairman reported £14k of the budget spent so far, with approx. £97k provisionally allocated which was over half of the total budget

To include updates on consultations, petitions and public questions

Little Chalfont Primary School had requested support to develop an area of the playing fields into forestry so pupils can learn about conservation.

The Chairman requested help from any volunteer groups.

Chiltern Food Bank was looking for a new premise and requested if anyone knew of a suitable site which was close to public transport, on one level and had sufficient parking to contact Ms L Wright the Board Co-ordinator.

Ms L Wright notified the board that local voluntary organisations could now manage their own listings on the Bucks online directory and there were a number of Consultations that residents could take part in on the Your Voice Bucks website.

There was a Big Bucks Tidy-Up organised by the Council for the end of October and start of November to target grotspots for litter picks and street cleansing. If there were any areas of concern contact Ms L Wright by 18th October who could inform the team.

 17 February 2022, 7pm

12^th February 3pm