Agenda and minutes

The Chairman extended a warm welcome to all those in attendance and on behalf of the Board placed on record thanks to Councillor M Winn, the previous Chairman and Jack Pearce, the former Community Board Manager. Furthermore, it was

RESOLVED that Councillor S Morgan be appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Aylesbury Community Board for the ensuing year.

Apologies had been received from Buckinghamshire Councillors S Chapple, T Dixon, S Morgan, W Raja, D Summers and M Winn.

To declare any personal or pecuniary interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Amy Jenner, Senior Community Board Manager advised of the relevant housekeeping rules and procedures.

To review and sign off the action notes from the meeting on 17^th February 2022.

Updates were provided on the actions from the last meeting. These included:

·   Aylesbury Street Wardens – the trial was ongoing and two wardens were in place on fixed term contracts until July 2023. There were no plans at present to centrally fund the roles. An update report could be found at pages 10 to 18 of the reports pack. Members noted that the Street Wardens had not been accessible to the Buckingham Park and Coldharbour areas respectively and Members were informed that the Wardens did not have transport to visit the outer areas of Aylesbury. Members suggested this be considered in greater detail when future decisions were made by the Board and further highlighted that sustainability of projects was key, particularly with regard to future funding of those projects/initiatives which had been successful.

·   Tree planting as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative – information had been circulated to Board Members following the meeting.

·   Road safety at the Mandeville School – Unfortunately, school crossing patrollers were not available to Buckinghamshire Secondary Schools and an update was being sought from the school travel team supporting the school with their travel plan.

·   A Member raised that Chris Geen had planned to liaise with local members on the CCTV review. This would be followed up (Action: Amy Jenner).

RESOLVED to approve the action notes from the last meeting.

To be presented by Inspector James Davies.

Inspector James Davies was in attendance to provide an update on the work of Thames Valley Police in the Community Board area. The following points were highlighted:

• Violent crimes had increased locally and nationally.
• Aylesbury had commenced a trial with knife crime offenders in custody, which would see those offenders being prioritised and remanded if appropriate.
• The additional 20,000 officers nationally would be on a two-year apprenticeship so would not be deployable on their own for quite a lengthy period.
• A Board Member highlighted that sexual assault figures were very high in comparison to other crimes in Buckinghamshire and noted that awareness needed to be raised.
• A Board Member requested that Police make visits to primary schools to ensure that officers were viewed by children as a normal part of the community. This was resource dependent; however, efforts were made to visit primary schools (Action: James Davies to speak with Alan Sherwell outside of this meeting)
• A board member raised an issue with a perceived drug issue at Conway Close (Action: James Davies to speak with resident outside of this meeting).
• A Members forum was suggested for elected Members and the Police to share information and act as conduits to the community (Action: James Davies).
• 101 call handling times had improved, although it was recommended to use the online reporting tool where possible for non-emergencies.
• Members suggested presenting statistics relevant to Aylesbury at future meetings, such as what the exact number of new officers would be in Aylesbury from the national recruitment drive (Action: James Davies).

To be presented by Cllr David Thompson, Amy Jenner -  Senior Community Board Manager and Priority Group Leads.

Amy Jenner, Senior Community Board Manager provided an overview of Community Board priorities. The three priorities identified for the Board were Environment, Cost of Living and Education and Skills. Points highlighted included:

·   There was a target to remove barriers people faced when accessing transport that was not a private car. Key stakeholders were being engaged with including Buckinghamshire Council, its schools and the Buckinghamshire College Group. Local cycling and walking groups were also being contacted to highlight what was working well and what was not working so well in Aylesbury.

·   Board Members were encouraged to complete and share the cycleway survey found here.

·   A Member suggested increased publicising of the Greenway extension between Buckingham Park and Berryfields would raise awareness, particularly now that the new Berrycroft Medical Centre was open.

·   It was also suggested that issues such as how to purchase a bicycle and how to repair and maintain one were important to focus on if people were being encouraged to switch to this mode of transport.

·   Buckinghamshire Council’s Opportunity Bucks Programme was to be launched imminently. This was developed following the Government’s Levelling Up white paper published earlier in the year. As soon as this was launched, details would be shared with the Board and ideas for projects would be welcomed (Action: Amy Jenner).

·   Each of the three sub-groups would engage all relevant stakeholders and welcomed anyone with an interest in the projects.

Funding

·   £45,336 of the £207,127 budget had been allocated to date and Members were advised of the projects supported.

·   ‘What’s new?’ was summarised to Members, this included small grants of up to £1,000; maximum value of £15,000 for general funding; must have contributor funding for requests over £1,000; majority of projects to be grown from within board priorities and the new highways contract which would be in place from April 2023.

·   Fairhive Housing had co-funded projects and were open to exploring new community projects to support.

·   Concern was raised that any unused budget would not be rolled over to the next financial year and that whilst waiting for the Council’s Opportunity Bucks Programme to launch, there would be limited time for the Cost of Living and Education and Skills sub-groups to go through the funding process for projects. There was also concern that if there was leftover budget, it could appear that the Board did not require as much as it had been allocated, which was not the case (Action: Amy Jenner to review).

Members were invited to contact Amy with any further comments.  

To be presented by Lisa Michelson, Service Director - Planning Growth and Sustainability and Carla Galea, Area Generation Manager - Planning Growth and Sustainability.

Lisa Michelson, Service Director for Planning Growth and Sustainability and Carla Galea, Area Generation Manager attended to present an update on town centre regeneration, which had a focus on the Bus Station, Kingsbury Square and Market Square areas and Town Centre Management review. The presentation would be circulated to Board Members (Action: Amy Jenner / Lisa Michelson).

The ten principles that had been established were summarised and the framework was in development and would be shared at the appropriate time.

The Kingsbury and Market Square improvement project were started prior to the unitary Council and was currently being reviewed due to the emerging surrounding area issues, including Cambridge Street and the success of the temporary pedestrianizing of that street. The temporary traffic regulation order ran until September 2023. In order to keep the street pedestrianised permanently, the current plans which relied on it being open to traffic needed to be revisited.

The Board requested timescales be shared for the Kingsbury and Market Square project. (Action: Lisa Michelson / Carla Galea)

A Board Member, on behalf of Aylesbury Town Council noted that the Town Council already had good relationships with town centre businesses and key contacts and were capable of managing the town centre on a day to day basis.

Board Members requested that the Board be consulted on plans to ensure their views were taken in to account and were not disregarded by those making the final decisions (Action: Lisa Michelson/Regeneration team).

A national survey undertaken by Visa was said to highlight the need for improved 5G network connectivity in Aylesbury and noted that Park and Ride was important for the town to grow. (Action: Prakesh Dey to share survey link with Amy Jenner to pass on to the regeneration team)

The importance of ensuring the hospital and associated traffic use was factored in to town centre regeneration was noted.

·       To address questions from the public. Questions to be submitted in advance of the meeting to aylesburycb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

·       Cambridge Street Petition

To be presented by Carla Galea, Area Generation Manager- Planning Growth and Sustainability

·       Community News

·       Buckinghamshire Council update

Cambridge Street Petition

Local resident, Juan Ribeiro summarised the petition on behalf of the residents and businesses of Cambridge Street. The petition was in respect of the condition of the paving slabs and highlighted the benefits of the road being pedestrianised. As noted in the earlier item, it was recognised that Cambridge Street contributed to the town centre and improvements were required. Assurance was provided that local businesses would be consulted on plans and the Kingsbury Square and Market Square regeneration project was on hold at present whilst options were explored to satisfy highway requirements to keep Cambridge Street pedestrianised permanently.

Public Questions

No questions were received in advance of the meeting. Board Members suggested the following areas would be useful for future consideration:

• Town centre office locations and availability/affordability difficulties for vital voluntary organisations.
• Primary Care Networks.
• Dentistry NHS waiting lists.

Community News

Pages 25-32 of the agenda pack included details of various initiatives and events taking place across the county and Members were encouraged to share details with their communities and contacts.

Buckinghamshire Council update

An update from the Council was provided and could be seen on pages 33 to 42 of the agenda pack.

Thursday 16 February 2023 – Location TBC

Thursday 16 February 2023 – Location TBC.

Post-meeting note

The next meeting date would take place on Thursday 23 February 2023 at location TBC