Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor Malcolm Bradford and Peter Kinson.

Councillor Ann Mayling declared an interest in Item 9, the application from Smartville Iver Heath as chairman of Smartville Iver Heath.

Councillor Jilly Jordan declared an interest in item 8, the Pinewood update as a member of Buckinghamshire Council’s strategic sites committee.

Councillor Peter Stanhope declared an interest in item 9, the funding application from Smartville Iver Heath as a member of Smartville Iver Heath.

The action notes of the meeting held on 3 November 2020 were agreed as an accurate record subject to an amendment inserting ‘(Wexham Parish Council)’ next to Geoffrey Spring in the attendance section.

The Community Board was provided with several updates:

·         The Census will be taking place on 21^st March 2021. This will be taking place online, if there was anyone the board knew who needed assistance, more information could be found about support online. https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/your-council/council-and-democracy/census-2021/

·         There were county-wide consultations open and could be accessed here: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/

·         The Town and Parish Charter consultation was open and community Board members were encouraged to provide their feedback: https://bucksalc.gov.uk/draft-town-and-parish-charter-consultation-have-your-say/

·         The Community Board was provided with an update on the floods that had recently affected Buckinghamshire. Concerns were raised over the current state of local ditches.

·         If any houses had been flooded, the Community Board was asked to contact the flooding team at floodmanagement@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Action:

·         Alice Williams, Community Board Coordinator to invite officers of the strategic flooding team to attend a sub-group meeting to discuss concerns with members in detail.

Katie Galvin, Localities, Support Hub Lead gave an update on Covid-19.

·         Calls were continuing to be made to those who were vulnerable and needed assistance. The befriending service was also continuing to make calls.

·         Assistance such as pharmacy deliveries, food bank referrals and food parcels were being provided to Buckinghamshire residents.

·         Various grants were available to provide financial assistance during the pandemic.

·         Issues such as payment shortfalls were identified with the Universal Credit scheme and enquiries were being made with DWP to establish what could be done to help affected families.

Councillor Wendy Matthews provided the Community Board with an update on the Ivers foodbank.

·         The Food Parcel scheme set up by the Iver Parish Council is to be made permanent. Following liaison with the Slough foodbank, the scheme will become an outpost of the Slough foodbank, this would be up and running on 5^th March 2021.

Philippa Batting from Bucks Business First gave an update on the economic outlook for businesses across Buckinghamshire.

·         Firms were disproportionately affected by Covid -19, with 79% of hospitality firms reporting reduced turnover compared with 26% of IT firms.

·         Just under a third of UK companies had less than 3 months cash reserves which presented a challenge for these  firms.

·         Approximately 660 registered businesses in the county were at severe risk of insolvency with a further 4800 at moderate risk. Businesses within hospitality were mostly likely to fall under these categories.

·         Buckinghamshire Business First provides a range of services and help for businesses - https://bbf.uk.com/

·         There had been 52,104 business assists performed by BBF as of the 9 months leading up to 31 December 2020. This compared with a target of 15,000. 712 jobs had been created.

·         Grants were available to businesses such as the Local Restrictions Support Grant.

Presentation by Cerys Williams, Senior Environmental Protection Officer

Tom Buckland and Cerys Williams gave an update on the Air Quality Management Area for the Community Board.

• With the broader mix of electric vehicle measures (including charging points) and the clean air campaign, the study showed there would be a reduction  in emissions across the South Bucks area.
• Concerns were raised over the effectiveness of the scheme in the Ivers regarding a proposed service station and HGV usage.
• A parking scheme had been designed by the Board’s Parking & Infrastructure sub-group to reduce parking on Iver High Street. This was currently out for consultation.

  Action:

• Alice Williams to invite Tom and Cerys to attend the Parking & Infrastructure sub-group meeting to look at the proposed measures in depth.

Updates from the sub-groups were received.

• Councillor Wendy Matthews for the Parking & Infrastructure sub group advised that the Richings Park parking scheme has been finalised and would be implemented in June. 2 further schemes for other areas were out for consultation.
• Councillor Ray Sangster for the Community Safety sub group advised that another PCSO had joined the team and there had been a significant drop in serious crime since the start of the lockdown. A virtual question and answer session from the Thames Valley Chief constable would take place 7PM on Thursday 25^th February.

Verbal update by Cllr Trevor Egleton

Councillor Trevor Egleton updated the committee on developments regarding the proposed planning application from Pinewood Studios.

• Suggestions had been received on the mitigation measures put forward for the pinewood development. Once signed off by the sub-group, these would be submitted to the Planning Officers to ascertain what would be considered under the Section 106 funding.
• The meetings had progressed well and Councillor Egleton thanked members for their contributions.

Recommendation to AGREE the following funding applications:

·       Active Travel Scheme- Cycle Racks

·       Shopping Parade Tree / Resident Garden Access

·       SmartvilleIver Heath

·       Multipurpose Meadow at Iver Environment Centre

Alice Williams, the Community Board Co-ordinator for the Wexham and the Ivers gave an update on funding.

·         A total of £23,350 had been allocated out of a total of £175,951. This did not include the funding applications being considered at the meeting. All Community Boards were under budget due to the circumstances surrounding this year.

The Community Board considered the 4 applications for funding submitted.

·         All applications were agreed for funding.

The Chairman, Councillor Jilly Jordan informed the Community Board that this would be their last meeting and thanked officers and members of the Community Board for her hard work.

The next meeting would take place 29^th June 2021.