Agenda and minutes

Councillor Collins, Chairman of the Community Board, welcomed everyone to the meeting, being held online via MS Teams.

Apologies were received from Councillor M Baldwin, and Neil O’Leary.

There were no declaration of interest declared.

To review and agree the minutes of the meeting held 6 October 2022

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2022 be approved as a correct record.

Presented by Hannah Joyce, Buckinghamshire Council

Rupert Zierler (Principal Transport Strategy Officer) and Rebecca Dengler-Jones (Transport Strategy Manager), both from Buckinghamshire Council, attended for this item

Presentation on the proposed Wendover ‘On Street’ Electric Vehicle Charging Solutions pilot.  Presentation covered:

·               Aims of the pilot: included to trial innovative options for on street charging, for residents who do not have access to driveways to charge their vehicles, and that Wendover had been identified in the Buckinghamshire Council Electric Vehicle Action Plan 2022 as a priority area with no public EV charging provision.

·               Elements of the plan: that was to install approximately 10 in pavement cable channels and for 10 lamppost/bollard-mounted charge points.

·               That Buckinghamshire Council officers had met with ‘Climate Action Wendover’ (CLAW) and Parish Council representatives in January

·               The planning and licensing issues – lessons learned from Oxfordshire County Council.

·               Timescales for the pilot.

The Board sought further information and were informed:

·       That planning permission would only be required if charging cabling crossed a pavement or footpath to the road.

·       That something would need to be included in tender documentation and in agreements with Parish Councils on EV charging points that were connected to lamp posts used that were the responsibility of the Parish Councils.

·       That no safety issues were envisages with high voltage as it was intended for cabling to be housed in channels with a cover so that there were no trip hazards.  EV charging points from lamp posts would use the same power supply as the lamp post and draw down on it.

·       That the requirement for gullies for charging would be determined first, then for lamp posts, but the tender documentation would include for information on both.

·       It was suggested that an option instead of pavement cable channels might be to consider mini ramps with a cable in them, like those used by the Fire service.  This would obviate the need to dig up pavements.   

Completed projects:

·                Pete Swinford – Wendover Youth Centre Programme

·                Amanda Baricott – Chiltern Society – Chiltern Wildbelt

·                Emily Davies – Action 4 Youth – Mentoring

·                Michelle Parker – Smoke Free Playground

The Board received presentations on a number of projects that had been funded and completed during 2022/23.

Wendover Youth Centre Programme

(Pete Swinford attended for this item)

Details provided on ‘Project Engage’ which had consisted of Wendover Youth Centre (WYC) delivering two youth festivals during the summer of 2022, alongside running workshops (in art, baking, gardening, and music, as well as football sessions), to provide opportunities for young people to continue their engagement in activities that they want to do. It had been funded by £10K from the Wendover Community Board and had worked in partnership with local organisations to deliver the project.

The conclusion was that the project had achieved its main aims of engagement, providing new opportunities, partnering with others and benefitting the community.

Community Wildbelt Project

(Amanda Barnicote attended for this item)

Details provided on:

·               Initiatives undertaken within Aston Clinton Parish – including a Community Orchard, hedge planting, wildflower margins, chalk stream improvements and tree planting.

·               The work of Climate Action Wendover (CLAW) – volunteer work parties supported by Chiltern Society volunteers.

·               Wendover Canal Trust – help with wildflower meadow management and hedge planting.

·               Halton Parish Council – roadside verge wildflower, plug planting and seed sowing.

·               Barley Close Field – that the current owner wished to protect from development.

·               Contact had finally been made with Green Park, Aston Clinton, where there was the potential for lots of biodiversity improvements.

·               Canal and River Trust – Wendover Arm, identifying an important chalk bank.

·               Recruiting new Wildbelt volunteers.

Action 4 Youth

(Holly Meek attended for this item)

Details provided on the mentoring project (funded by £8.3K from the Community Board) with the John Colet School with aims to:  

–               Improve educational attainment

–               Provide strategies to young people experiencing low level mental health issues.

–               Provide a safe space for the young people to talk.

–               Help build self-esteem.

–               Encourage the young people to take part in outside interests/hobbies within the community.

–               Work as part of a multi-agency approach.

11 months into the project, it was anticipated that it would exceed the targets set for the Wendover and Mandeville area.   The expected caseload total had been 10 young people, but it was on track to deal with a caseload of 18 (7 finished, 7 current, 4 on a wait list).

Information was also provided on when and where the sessions took place, the difficulties experienced, how progress was tracked, and on a case study.

Smoke Free Playground

(Michelle Parker report for this item)

Details were provided of the Eskdale Park pilot.  The winner of the poster competition held with Stoke Mandeville School Key Stage 2 students had been posted in the park and had also now been used in the Coldharbour Park.

The Community Board thanked all projects for attending and presenting to the meeting.  The Board was particularly encouraged by the positive progress being achieved in so many areas.    

To be presented by Michelle Parker, Buckinghamshire Council

The Community Board Manager provided an overview of funding that had been awarded so far in 2022/23.  The report also detailed the budget position to date and Appendix 1 showed projects that were funded in previous years, detailing the ones that had been delivered and those that were still in progress.  A copy of the report is appended to the Minutes.

It was clarified that the Board had provided some initial funding to the Vineyard Church, Aylesbury, to kickstart their work assisting Ukrainian people but there had been no additional applications for similar funding.

In response to a question from the Chairman, the Board agreed that it was satisfied with the mix and types of funding applications that were being received.

To be presented by Stuart Grosse

(Stuart Grosse, Beaconsfield Station Commander, attended for this item)

Presentation on the Buckinghamshire MK Fire Authority (BMKFA) including on:

·       The makeup of the BMKFA, the organizational structure and resourcing.

·       Community Safety initiatives, that aimed to ensure that Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes were the safest places in England in which to live, work and travel.  The four main CS initiatives were safer homes, safer neighbourhoods, safer roads, and safer environments.

·       The Aylesbury Service Delivery Area (of which Wendover was a part) where the community safety priorities were a reduction in the number of accidental dwelling fires, reducing secondary fires (e.g. unattended bonfires, fly tipping), road safety and community engagement.

·       Summer pressures 2022, brought on by record high temperatures and dry weather, especially during July and August.  Two major incidents had been declared on 19 July in Milton Keynes and High Wycombe, triggering the declaration of a Service wide major incident, supported by the Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum, and requiring assistance from many of the neighbouring Services.  The Service had attended an unprecedented number of fires with the number of incidents attended on some days being five times the number compared to the previous 5-year average.

·       Future challenges which included HS2 (second longest tunnel in the UK beneath the Chiltern Hills, the continuing impacts of climate change with hotter Summers and wetter Winters, housing growth/development within Buckinghamshire and MK, and responding to a forthcoming Fire Reform White Paper.

The Board asked several questions and were informed:

·       That the risk of fires starting from compost heaps was extremely low.

·       That while there was a rolling programme of checking on working fire hydrants, if anyone knew of one that was damaged or not working then this should be reported to the Fire Service.

·       That Fire and Rescue Services could not insist that sprinklers were included in buildings where there was no current legal requirement under Building Regulations.

To be presented by Nick O’Leary

A Buckinghamshire Council Officer was not in attendance to speak on the petition.  It was agreed that it was appropriate for this matter to be dealt with by the Weston Turville Parish Council and as such it was referred to the PC for their action/attention.

To be presented by Nick Graham, Buckinghamshire Council

(Nick Graham, Service Director – Legal and Democratic Services, Buckinghamshire Council attended for this item)

The Service Director drew the Board’s attention to the agenda report which included information on:

·       Local Heritage Listing.

·       Funding for EV charging locations.

·       Local Plan update – following the wider call for sites last year, a list of other sites submitted would be available in the coming weeks.  Officers had started the process of evaluating each of the sites against the criteria of suitability for their chosen use, availability, and deliverability over the plan period to 2040.

·       Visitor Economy survey.

·       Current and upcoming consultations.

To be presented by Michelle Parker, Buckinghamshire Council.

No questions had been received from the public prior to the meeting.

To be confirmed.

The date of the next meeting had not yet been confirmed.