Agenda and draft minutes

To be presented by Howard Mordue, Buckingham & Villages Community Board Chairman

The Chairman welcomed all attendees to the meeting.

To be noted by Alice Williams, Buckingham & Villages Community Board Manager

Apologies were received from:

Caroline Cornell

Anja Schafer

Frank Mahon

Patrick Fealey

Sara Turnbull

Gawcott Parish Council

Westbury Parish Council

Leckhampstead Parish Council

Twyford Parish Council

Foscotte Parish Meeting

Thornborough Parish Meeting

Declarations of interest related to items on the agenda to be noted by Alice Williams, Buckingham & Villages Community Board Manager.

There were none.

Updates on actions to be noted by Alice Williams, Buckingham & Villages Community Board Manager

Notes of the previous meeting to be AGREED by the board

The actions of the previous meeting were reviewed; all actions were completed. 

The notes of the previous meeting were reviewed; no amendments were required.

RESOLVED: The notes of the previous meeting were AGREED as an accurate record.

To be presented by Sara Turnbull, Service Director for Strategy, Improvement and Governance

Apologies had been given by Sara Turnbull, Service Director for Strategy, Improvement and Governance.  The update had been circulated with the agenda so was noted by the board for information.  Any questions could be emailed to the Community Board Manager to coordinate a written response.

Question and answer session with Melissa Whittaker, Community Engagement Manager, Cash Access UK

Melissa Whittaker, Community Engagement Manager, Cash Access UK held a question and answer session regarding the newly established Banking Hub in Buckingham.  The following points were raised:

·   Q.  It was not clear that customers could use banking services every day but that specific bank staff were only in attendance on certain days

·   A. CashAcess UK were exploring wider advertising options with an emphasis on the services available.

·   Q. Nationwide had withdrawn and there should be better messaging about the reasons why.

   A. Nationwide decided they no longer wanted to be a part of the Banking Hub; the official note would come from them directly but the statement from Cash Access UK could be found on their website:  Cash Access UK - Nationwide Building Society announce withdrawal from Cash Access UK

·   Q. Really helpful and useful not to have to take two buses to the nearest bank and it was a relief for older residents. However there were still a high number of residents who did not know about the banking hub.

·   A. The Community Engagement Team at Cash Access UK were expanding and they are engaging with the community in their small groups i.e. coffee mornings to ensure the messaging was promoted more widely. 

·    

·   Q. Doctors and dental surgeries suggested as an effective place to put notices and leaflets for those that are digitally excluded. 

   A. Noted by Melissa.

·   Q. Would there be a possibility to rotate days that the banks are in for those people that could not  attend on a Tuesday for instance.

   A.  This would be fed back and discussed at senior leadership level - the issue hadn’t been raised before but it was a good point.

·   Q. There was no scanner facility or a mandate facility, you would be required to visit a main branch.

A. The Cash Access UK website had information on what you could and could not do at the Banking Hub. There were issues with GDPR regarding printers and scanners but it was being worked on. Cash Access UK - Buckingham

·   Q. A suggestion was made that the “cattle pens” in Buckingham would be a good location for promotion using a banner.

A. Noted by Melissa.  Jon Harvey, Buckingham Town Council responded that there may be an issue with advertising because of the nature of the organisation and the Town Council would decide. 

·   Q. Could we get a simple summary of the banking hub to be included in local publications, such as parish leaflets and newsletters. 

A. This could be coordinated with the community board manager and Cash Access UK.

ACTION:  Alice Williams to share contact details for Buckingham Town Council and local publications with Melissa.

The Chairman noted that it was a fantastic facility for the local community and thanked Melissa for her attendance. 

Presentation from Lucie Smith, Public Health Principal on Healthy Ageing and how the Community Board can support this on a community level.

Lucie Smith from Public Health delivered a presentation on Healthy Ageing, with an emphasis on social isolation prevention. 

The Healthy Ageing Strategy was a 5-year strategy from 2024-2029 which looked at the older population and how Buckinghamshire Council could contribute to the health of those residents.  The strategy was prevention focused with a multi-agency approach, aiming to understand what was important to our residents.  They were using the World Health Organisation (WHO) Age Friendly Approach to assist our residents in ageing well.  There was work being done to engage with older residents to find out what barriers were in place that prevent them from participating fully in society.   They had a Healthy Ageing Collaborative which brings together organisations, the ‘Welcome In’ scheme and the Healthy Libraries initiative.

The following questions and points were discussed following the presentation:

·       There was a lot of lost experience in the older generations and they could look at leveraging that experience to bring those people into the society – not discriminating when recruiting.

·    Buckingham Town Council had been looking at retail outlets in the town centre to see how accessible they are. They were also looking at creating some yellow benches in the town council parks, to encourage conversation to tackle loneliness.

·    There were issues accessing the town centre due to the unreliable transport links.  Proposed increased parking charges may contribute to residents in villages choosing not to visit Buckingham Town Centre.

·   Visits to some of the residents in local parishes had found that having lost their loved ones they often did not have anyone to talk to and tell stories about their lives and memories.  We should find ways and ask key questions to encourage conversation.  We should not be so prescriptive about what and when lonely people had the opportunity to engage.  An engagement day would benefit the community.  Being receptive to people who want to talk was important.

·   Concerns were raised that this type of work may not reach the people in the community who don’t engage at all and are completely isolated, who would really benefit from the services on offer.

·   The work of Compassionate Communities UK’s “Frome Model” was highlighted, to help reduce emergency healthcare admissions.   Compassionate Communities are working with GP’s to tackle this issue, and emergency admissions had significantly reduced. 

The Frome Model – Compassionate Communities UK (compassionate-communitiesuk.com)

·   It was difficult for older people to downsize as they were unable to do so within the communities that they already live due to the increase in house prices.  Housing should consider this when looking at new builds, as well as focusing on establishing supported living within existing communities.

·   The Health and Social Care / Growth, Infrastructure and Housing Rapid Review was highlighted in response to these comments.

FINAL Planning for Future Primary Care in Bucks Feb 24.pdf (moderngov.co.uk).

Lucie thanked everyone for their input and clarified that the service was working closely with Buckinghamshire Council’s Housing Team as part of the strategy.  All feedback generated during the meeting would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Project presentation from Sue Fish, Buckingham Primary School PTA

Sue Fish, Buckingham Primary School PTA provided an update on the Buckingham & Villages Community Board project: Buckingham Primary School Playground. 

Buckingham Primary School was 50 years old and had some very old playground equipment which could no longer be maintained. The project totalled £100k so it was decided to divide the project into phases, with an initial focus on the Key Stage 1 (4-7 year olds) equipment as that was in most disrepair and not in use.  They selected “Creative Play” to undertake the work.   The new play equipment had it’s official opening on 4^th May 2023. The project had benefitted many children, both within the school and nursery.  It was also available for use by external groups such as Rainbows, Brownies, Sports4All and a number of other community organisations. The impact to the children in the community was significant and without funding from the Community Board the school would not have been able to complete this project.  In addition, they had completed phase 2 with the help of external grant funding and fund raising.  Thanks were given to the Buckingham & Villages Community Board for supporting the project.

The following points were raised during questions from the board:

·       The PTA had handed ownership of the equipment over to Buckingham Primary School.  The equipment was covered by the school’s insurance, who were also responsible for the general maintenance.

·       It was highlighted that it would be beneficial for the community board to have the opportunity to visit the playground.  This could be arranged for board members by the community board manager and the PTA.

The Chairman thanked Sue for her presentation and commented that it was beneficial to the community board to be able to see the difference that the funding had made.

ACTION: Alice Wiliams to coordinate a visit to the Buckingham School Play Equipment for community board members.

Discussion around support for households and communities affected by flooding

A discussion was held around flooding in the local area, due to recent incidences in Buckingham and the surrounding villages.  It was stated that this was a key issue for the local community.  A question was asked around what national government support the purchase and storage of protective kit such as sand bags.

A question was raised around the available support from the national government to help communities with flooding provisions.  Jilly Jordan, Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment provided the following response:

Central government had released a statement offering funding for protection to communities impacted by flooding; however, there was very precise criteria to qualify for the funding and at the time Buckingham did not qualify. There was a responsibility with the Environment Agency and land owners to make allowances for flooding within highways schemes.  Buckinghamshire Council assets were regularly maintained.  The issue was actively lobbied by Buckinghamshire Council with the Member of Parliament and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

To be presented by Alice Williams, Buckingham & Villages Community Board Manager

· Funding report for 2023/24

· Summary of Community Board Activity and projects 2023/24

· Priority setting for 2024/25

Alice Williams, Community Board Manager presented the report included in the agenda pack and highlighted the following key points:

Funding

To date £11,796.50 had been allocated.  However, there were multiple projects in the pipeline going undergoing the internal due diligence process.  The board would receive a final funding update at the end of the financial year (March 2024).  The anticipated final allocation figure was £45,620.60.

It was confirmed that underspent budget could not be rolled over into the next financial year.  There was no performance target to allocate the full budget and it was more important to ensure that the projects in receipt of funding were having a positive impact on the local community.  The budget would likely be reduced for the following financial year, however this was due to overall budget cuts within the organisation, not due to an underspend of individual budgets.

Community Board Led Projects

Buckingham Youth Café – a funding application had been submitted to the community board and was undergoing the internal due diligence process.  Pending the allocation of the community board funding, a project team of young people would be pulled together to oversee the development of the cafe.  The purpose of this was to give young people a sense of ownership of the project, helping the overall success.

Buckingham Repair Café – the first session was opening on Saturday 10 February 2024 from 10am -1pm and going forwards would operate on the second Saturday of each month.  Special thanks were given to local resident Chris Gardener for his contribution in voluntary time which had been fundamental to the success of launching this project.  It was emphasised that this had been a great example of partnership working in the community and shows the positive impact of the community board.

Priority Setting for 2024/25  

A review of the existing priorities was proposed, with recommendations for the following priorities to be taken forwards for the community board in 2024/25:

·   Enhancing the Local Community

·   Championing Young People

·   Enriching Health and Wellbeing

A discussion was held around whether the priorities should be more focused / prescriptive, the benefit being that it would provide a clearer focus for the direction of the community board.  The drawback would be that it could limit the types of external applications and projects that the community board was able to support.

It was decided that feedback on the proposed priorities would be collected via email, before coming to a final decision in March 2024.  This would mean that the priorities were set ahead of the start of the new financial year 2024-25, giving the community board a clear direction from the beginning of the year.

Opportunity for members of the public and the board to raise questions and matters of interest to the local community.

General thanks were given to the local voluntary groups within the community for their efforts and the positive impact it has for local residents.

It was suggested by the Chairman that the item was moved further up the agenda for future meetings and all attendees be invited to update the board on matters of local interest.

Dates for meetings in 2024-25 to be finalised in due course.

Dates for 2024-25 to be confirmed in due course.