Agenda and minutes

Venue: TBC

Contact: Katrina Kelly (Community Board Co-ordinator)  Harry Thomas (Democratic Services, meeting support)

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Chairman’s Welcome

Minutes:

The Chairman and Community Board Coordinator welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave an overview of the online meeting procedure rules and general housekeeping.

2.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were heard from Joanna Rose, Jan Walmsley and Trish Owen.

3.

Declarations of Interest

Members to declare any interests.

Minutes:

There were none.

4.

Petition – Westfield Road pdf icon PDF 406 KB

Minutes:

Attendees noted the Officer’s response to the Westfield Road Speed Limit Petition submitted by Mr Keith Phillips.

5.

Police Update

Minutes:

PC James Davies gave an update on the work of Thames Valley Police (TVP) in the Community Board Area. He clarified that the priorities for the Wing neighbourhood team centred around burglary prevention, tackling illegal drug use and rural crime prevention in relation to agricultural dwellings and wildlife. This team consisted of one Police Officer and four Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), making coverage across the area difficult at all times, however valuable partnerships had been established with local neighbourhood watch groups to help support and police local communities as effectively as possible. Efforts to deploy resources locally had been complicated by recent protests in neighbouring areas which had required the use of neighbourhood officers to maintain sufficient emergency response provision elsewhere as was legally required of TVP.

PC Davies expressed his hope that communication with those who provided intelligence or information leading to Police action would improve in order to foster continued community trust in TVP as an effective organisation. The Wing team had seen success in the prevention of Hare Coursing locally and were anticipating a rise in the number of anti-social behaviour reports as the weather improved and the school summer holidays began.

The TVP Aylesbury Vale Facebook Page was identified as a good source for daily news and updates on the work of the local neighbourhood teams.

TVP were continuing to work closely with Bedfordshire Police regarding rural crime originating from Travellers Sites along the eastern border of Buckinghamshire. PC Davies confirmed for Councillor Cooper that he was happy to be involved in future meetings concerning disruption caused by a particular Traveller’s site in Bedfordshire, though stressed that this was not under the jurisdiction of TVP, and that where planning matters were concerned, this was not something in which they could have extensive involvement.

PC Davies confirmed that TVP unfortunately did not have the resources to monitor speeding on every road, but were prioritising fatal and serious injury hotspots as a means to save lives. If residents or local community speedwatch groups could provide reliable, consistent data on speeding offences taking place in areas not currently being monitored by TVP, they were encouraged to get in touch as soon as possible. PC Davies explained that processing speedwatch data was halted during the peaks of the pandemic to protect the health of those assessing the data, but had now started up again.

Members thanked PC Davies for his time and updates. Anyone wanting to get in touch with TVP could use the contact information below:

How to contact the Police:

 

·         999 – risk to life, crime in progress.

·         101 – where a crime has already occurred, or it is non urgent in nature.

·         greatbrickhillwingivinghoeNHPT@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk – email address for the local team, again for non-urgent issues as it can take a few days to respond.

·         Report | Thames Valley Police – online reporting form for a number of different issues, including crime reporting and traffic collisions.

6.

Voting on Current Projects pdf icon PDF 235 KB

Minutes:

Katrina Kelly updated members on the procedure for considering Community Board funding applications. The Communities Team had set priority areas and action plans based on those decided upon by Members over the previous Municipal Year. These included the Corporate Priorities of Economic Recovery and Environment. Following the Local Elections, applications for Community Board funding for new projects was open, and anyone with ideas for a project was encouraged to contact Katrina to discuss, or attend an Action Group meeting. Applications for Community Board funding would formally begin once an online form had been completed. This could be found on the ‘Apply for Community Board funding’ section of the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board website. Projects that had been discussed but not finalised prior to the local elections would continue to be considered. Katrina would send a list of these applications to Members following the meeting.

 

Katrina confirmed that consultation and decision making throughout the application process would be conducted primarily through email correspondence or at meetings of the relevant Action Group in order to encourage input from Members throughout the process and maintain a record of comments before decisions were made. The full details of the funding applications process shared in Katrina’s presentation would be appended to the Minutes of the meeting for the benefit and convenience of Members.

7.

Communications 21/22 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

Katrina Kelly gave a brief presentation informing Members how the Communications Strategy for the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board had changed for the Municipal year, and inviting them to submit their feedback and suggestions to refine this further.

 

The Community Board Facebook page was now supplemented with a more engaging Facebook group, allowing residents to discuss and share localised initiatives and ideas, which was not possible on the more county-focused Facebook page. Members were encouraged to share the group with their friends to widen participation as much as possible.

 

Members were reminded of the E-Newsletter which had been discussed at the end of the previous Community Board meeting and informed attendees that this would begin as a quarterly newsletter. Members were invited to give feedback on the frequency of this medium for communications moving forward.

 

Katrina also informed Members that as social restrictions eased, it would be possible to physically attend community events in local parishes to promote the work of the Community Board. Anyone with an event that would benefit from the Community Board’s attendance, or promotion by the Community Board was encouraged to contact Katrina to discuss this.

 

Finally, Members were encouraged to network and communicate individually and to raise awareness of the Community Board independently. The Community Board could be contacted at wingandivinghoecb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk should anyone want to contact Katrina to discuss interesting community initiatives elsewhere that might work well within the Community Board area.

 

Katrina would explore the promotion of the Community Board through local radio stations and newspapers. The Community Board Handbook would also be distributed to Parishes in due course.

8.

Funding for 21/22 pdf icon PDF 843 KB

Minutes:

Katrina gave a breakdown of the Community Board’s budget for 2021/22. The budget had been allocated based on the population density, levels of deprivation and the amount of new housing in the Community Board area.

 

For 2021/22 the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board budget stood at £273,356 including £80,228 carried over from the previous financial year. The Board hoped to spend 15% of the budget each on the Corporate Priorities of Economic Recovery and the Environment, with 25% to be spent on highways-related projects. 10% of the budget would be reserved for small grants and a 5% participatory budget was also set aside.

 

The deadline for new highways projects to be considered for the 2022/23 budget was Thursday 30th September, 2021. Members were encouraged to attend the meeting of the Transport Action Group on Tuesday 27th July where this would be discussed further. An invitation would be circulated to Members following the meeting.

 

Katrina confirmed that invitations would normally be circulated two weeks before the Action Group meeting date, but that this was an exceptional circumstance owing to Peter Brazier’s availability to host the meeting. If Members expressed a particularly strong interest in an Action Group and communicated this to Katrina, it was suggested that meeting dates could be communicated well in advance in the quarterly E-Newsletter to Members.

 

Councillor Cooper confirmed that the next Health and Wellbeing Action Group meeting would be held at 7pm on Tuesday 10th August, 2021.

 

Councillor Chris Poll suggested 2nd August, 2021 to Members as a prospective meeting date for the Environment Action Group.

9.

Verges – Highways and Environment Discussion pdf icon PDF 35 KB

Minutes:

Rosie Tunnard from Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB), updated Members on the Wilder Road Verges project. The initiative had been supported by the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Natural Environment Partnership, Butterfly Conservation and the Chiltern Conservation Board and aimed to improve wildflower density on road verges, whilst lowering soil fertility, and reduce cutting on verges.

 

Members were informed that TfB currently undertook three junction and visibility splay cuts as well as a meter’s wave cut on all rural grass verges. It was hoped that on a pilot scheme of ten sites, removing the cut grass would have a positive impact on encouraging the growth of natural wildflowers. Initial results had been positive, though it was stressed that most benefits would not be noticeable at these trial sites for a period of between 18 months and 3 years. The resulting height of the grass remained safe for wildlife in the meantime, and would maintain good visibility for drivers.

 

Rosie informed Members that Community Boards and Parish/Town Councils were welcome to discuss further wilder verges pilot schemes in their areas with TfB, and trials had begun in more urban environments including Flackwell Heath and Amersham Town.

 

A site already existed in the Community Board area and was located on the junction between the A413 and the Weedon Road.

 

It was confirmed for Members that serious thought would be put into determining the location of future sites for the projects, and that this would be assessed against the need for driver visibility on sharp bends. It was also raised that longer grass often obscured animals at the side of the roads which may increase the amount of roadkill, and that where this grass was cut, debris from cars may damage the mowing equipment.

 

TfB would not be providing wildflower seeds to Parish Councils at present but it was hoped that Community Boards could do so where sufficient interest existed locally. Katrina Kelly suggested that this could be examined at a future Environment Action Group meeting.

 

Rosie informed Councillor Poll that TfB wanted to ensure that weeds did not take hold on the verge soil and that appropriate, native wildflowers from reputable wildflower seed sellers were used in the project.

 

Ed Turpin (Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust) expressed his enthusiasm for the project and informed Members that he would consider ways to promote wider public engagement with similar projects should the Community Board wish to do so, as well as source points of contact for ecological support in the future.

 

Rosie would discuss with her team the viability of involving local litter picking volunteer groups to help in preparing the verges on identified sites as they were selected. Their decision would be communicated back to Katrina and the Board in due course.

 

Members thanked Rosie for her update. Katrina would pass on any questions that had not been answered at the meeting due to time constraints and would provide written responses.

10.

Sub Groups and how to join – Discussion on topics and focus

Minutes:

Katrina briefly gave an overview of the four Community Board Action Groups and their Chairmen. These were as follows:

 

·         Economic Recovery – Chaired by Councillor Derek Town (next meeting date TBC)

·         Health and Wellbeing – Chaired by Councillor Peter Cooper (next meeting 10th August 7pm)

·         Transport and Highways – Chaired by Peter Brazier (next meeting 27th July, time TBC)

·         Environment – Chaired by Councillor Chris Poll (next meeting 2nd August, time TBC)

 

Anyone with an interest in attending a meeting or joining one of the Action Groups was encouraged to contact Katrina at wingandivinghoecb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk