Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman welcomed attendees to the meeting.

RESOLVED Minutes from the meeting held 30 September 2021 were AGREED as an accurate record.

Apologies were received from Cllr Tim Butcher (Buckinghamshire Council), Natalie Judson (Community Engagement),Peter Matza (ADRA), Ron Newall (AAG / Amersham & Chesham Lions), Clare Holloway (Paradigm), Graham Yellowley (Little Chalfont Community Library) and David Atkinson (Dr Challoner’s Grammar School).

There were no declarations of interest.

·         Funding Updates

Questions from members of the public can be submitted in advance of the meeting to Amersham@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk

The Community Board Manager provided an update on Community Board activities from the last year.

• In terms of engagement 150 people had signed up to the quarterly newsletter. The Community Board Facebook page had 600 followers and 135 followers on Instagram. The Board’s Facebook posts had reached roughly 12,000 people since January 2022.
• There was a Community Board event at Chiltern Leisure Centre held on 12^th February with over 100 attendees. The event also featured the Proud of Bucks awards which had proved successful.
• The 2021/22 funding summary highlighted £170,000 had been allocated with some funds from the previous financial year allocated but not spent.
• Health and wellbeing projects accounted for 42% of the budget, Transport 18%, Environmental 12%, Economic regeneration 5% and a small amount for general spending. A large number of these projects were ongoing.

The Vice-Chairman of the Community Board gave an update on the projects the Board had supported and delivered the previous financial year, the full list is appended to the minutes.

• Projects highlighted included Amersham Youth Club renovation, Amersham Memorial Gardens and Chiltern open air walks for autistic people.
• In addition, no stop across zig zags were installed at Chesham Bois school, a vegetable garden was provided to Little Chalfont Primacy School and a Dementia Café was set up which was well attended.
• In Coleshill picnic benches and notice boards were installed and there would be a biodiversity blitz on 11^th June to allow young people to explore natural spaces with talks from a wildlife expert.
• It was noted it had been a very busy and successful year for the Board in delivering these projects. It was hoped these projects would be supported and built on in the coming year.

The Chairman advised 35 projects had been delivered by the Board which had exceeded expectations. The aim for the coming year was to deliver 45 projects. An example of small funding making a big difference was the £200 allocated to signing for the Amersham Martyr’s play which enable to deaf community to watch the play which would be livestreamed on Youtube.

Alan Polding from Chiltern Food Bank provided an update the presentation slides are appended to the minutes.

• The food bank was currently operating from St John’s Methodist Church and the Church sub-committee was assessing the option for the food bank to remain there permanently. The Church would explore all redevelopment options with the food bank putting forward the case for a community hub.
• The community hub could house the food bank and provide a venue for various community activities including the existing users of the church. Community Board Members were requested to support this proposal from the Chiltern Food Bank.
• There would be an indication by the end of May if the proposal was likely to be adopted. If successful the project would commence at the end of 2022.

Helen Strudwick from Scannappeal which was based at Amersham hospital appealed to the Board for support for the charity.

• Scannappeal fundraised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Funding agreed and projects supported

·  Agreeing priority areas of focus for the year ahead

·  Task and finish groups

The Chairman advised the minimum spending targets for Community Boards had been removed. In addition, there were no specific areas of focus allowing residents to decide where funding should be spent. Projects would not exceed £15,000 and requests for funds in excess of £1000 would need contributory funding at the discretion of the Board.

The Vice-Chair confirmed there were four areas of focus for the Community Board this coming year including, health wellbeing, supporting our young people, improving environment and enabling a safe and thriving community.

The Community Board Manager advised projects and ideas relating to the areas of focus would be collated from the community, with help running the projects sought from volunteers and voluntary organisations. If members had any ideas or interests, they were advised to contact the Community Board Manager.

The Chairman advised the working group meetings were to be replaced with

Task and finish groups. These groups would liaise with the Community Board Manager to ensure projects are delivered more effectively. The groups would consist of a small number of people with key skills and interests to deliver projects and feedback to the Board. The groups would be supported by sixth form students, boy scouts and girl guides.

The Community Board Manager highlighted the Board were currently working on providing cycle racks across the community area. Cycling was encouraged due to the health benefits of active travel and a reduction in carbon emissions. The proposal had gone forward to Transport for Bucks and the Board was encouraged to consider locations of cycle routes to avoid the public highways. The Board was seeking 3-5 volunteers to lead on the project from all 5 areas within the Board areas. The volunteers would be required to commit limited time to liaise with land owners to install cycle racks, research equipment suppliers and decide on suitable locations. In addition, existing cycle racks would be maintained or fixed if damaged. Any interested parties were advised to contact the Community Board Manager.

The Chairman advised a task and finish group relating to speeding would be set up. The Board purchased MVAS machines under the Speedwatch programme last year. Areas with high numbers of speeding cars needed to be investigated and machines would be installed. There was an opportunity to liaise with TVP for persistent problem areas in order for the police to attend with speed guns and issue speeding tickets. In the areas where MVAS was set up a schedule would be required to monitor and respond to the data received. The group needed at least one person from each ward area to volunteer.

An update on projects was provided by the Vice-Chairman.

• The commemorative benches project was underway and discussions had taken place at Parish meetings. Dr Challoner’s School were being consulted on materials, sustainability and durability of the benches.
• Olly O’Neil from the Treehouse Association was working with local schools to determine locations for defibrillators. The Clare Foundation had also expressed an interest in the project.
• The first Artisan Market  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

·Live Well Stay Well

·Grow it, Cook it, Eat it

·Community training opportunities

Mr Owain Jones, Service Co-ordinator from Live Well Stay Well provided an update on the services they provided for the community.

• Live Well Stay Well was a single point of access for healthy lifestyles referrals. Residents could self-refer for the service or GPs and health providers could provide referral.
• There was a broad range of services offered including stop smoking support, adult weight management, child weight management through family intervention services and outreach NHS health checks for over 40s.
• Free NHS Health checks had been conducted at Amersham Lifestyle Centre with 7 people attending. Further checks were available at the Oasis Partnership in Chesham and Chesham Library. If there were any suggestions for future locations that would benefit from holding NHS checks please get in contact.
• Exercise on referral would be available in the near future, this would entitle residents to a 12-week programme with free access to their local gym and swimming pool alongside 121 support by referral from their GP. Wycombe Leisure Centre was already running a GP referral service with free membership service alongside 121 support for £60.
• The Stop Smoking service was for residents over 12 years of age and foster homes and care homes were targeted for support. The service offered many benefits including free 121 support in neutral locations.
• Child weight management meetings would resume in person soon in Amersham and Chesham.
• The stop smoking service for adults provided free vaping devices, coils and e-liquids alongside behavioural support from practitioners.

For any further information contact Owain Johns, Service Coordinator, Live Well Stay Well, owain.johns@nhs.net

Rebecca Kineen from Public Health Bucks gave a presentation on Grow it, Cook it, Eat it, the slides are appended to these minutes.

• There were currently 4 community growing sites in Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe located in areas with higher levels of depravation.

• The initiative featured a 5 week course teaching basic cookery skills to targeted groups including people who use food banks or suffer from food poverty.
• Tutors were allocated groups in the community they understand once they had completed a Train the Trainer course. There was no requirement for a professional cookery background and mental health and food hygiene training was provided. 
• Once the training was completed tutors were given a comprehensive cookery kit to cook in any community venue including schools or church halls.
• The initiative looked at reducing food waste, cooking on a budget and no cook recipes. Participants were introduced to growing sites and their details were provided to gardeners.
• At the end of the course on week 5 there was a celebratory session for participants to cook their own food or from the grow to give recipe cards. Participants would be given the opportunity to complete the food hygiene level 2 certificate and were provided with a goody bag to continue cooking at home. There would also be the chance to share recipes on the online community.
• The next training session would be held at the Bagnall Centre in Chesham. It was reiterated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

•          Notes from the last meeting

•          Buckinghamshire Council updates

28 July 2022, 6:30pm.

Further details to be confirmed.

28^th July 6:30pm MS Teams