Agenda and minutes

Councillor Ashley Bond

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and provided an overview of the community board and its aims for the benefit of newcomers.

Members noted the appointment of Councillor Peter Brazier as the Vice-Chairman of the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board for the municipal year. The Vice-Chairman had been nominated by the Chairman and approved by the Cabinet Member for Communities in accordance with the Community Board Terms of Reference.

The Chairman thanked the outgoing Vice-Chairman, Councillor Chris Poll for his work for the Community Board during his time as Vice-Chairman.

Members heard apologies from Slapton, Ivinghoe, Mentmore and Watermead Parish Councils.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 16^th February, 2022.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 16th February 2022 be agreed as a correct record.

Members to declare any interests.

There were none.

Deborah Stevens and Beth Dormer

Beth Dormer (Ukraine Support Team Area Lead) gave a presentation to the Community Board detailing the work undertaken in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, particularly regarding the local support given to the Ukrainian refugees settling in the community board area. The following key points were made in her presentation:

·       The visa scheme for Ukrainian refugees launched in March 2022, with three-year visas being awarded to successful applicants.

·       Local authorities were awarded £10,500 per person supported.

·       23 people were working full-time as part of the project team, with approximately 150 other staff members helping as Sponsor Liaison Officers (SLO) in addition to their normal roles.

·       Refugees were supported by a dedicated SLO and had access to a general email inbox that could be used to contact the support team at Buckinghamshire Council.

·       There were 692 sponsors and 1354 refugees across Buckinghamshire, with 24 sponsors and 61 refugees in the community board area.

·       Key areas being tackled by the team included rural transportation solutions and housing. This was extremely pertinent as the initial six-month housing arrangements with sponsors came to an end, and some refugees decided to begin living independently. Where this was not possible or desirable, sponsors could apply to extent the existing living arrangements for a further six-month period. They would continue to receive the £350 per month support from the council for the second six months.

·       Beth confirmed that further support would be put in place to help sponsor families through winter in the context of rising energy costs.

·       Where existing sponsorship arrangements came to an end, a dedicated rematching team would try to rehouse refugees with other back up sponsor families. If a refugee decided to live independently, the team could support them to find social housing or private rented accommodation as appropriate. A rent scheme had been put in place to support those choosing this option.

Beth confirmed that the uplift funding for the second six-month extension period was provided by Buckinghamshire Council rather than Central Government.

Councillor Cooper shared his experience with the Ukraine Support Team as a reserve sponsor, which had been very positive. He highlighted that it was especially important to remember that in areas with fewer refugees, language barriers were more prevalent, though he was aware of cases where refugees had quickly developed their English-speaking ability. He had been encouraged by the willingness by sponsors and refugees alike to support one another and share resources and information to help those who had fled the war to restart and rebuild their lives, which it was his intention to do.

Members thanked Beth and her team for the work they had done to ensure that those displaced by the war had received a warm welcome in the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board Area.

Katrina with input from Youth Chairs

Claire Power (Wing Parish Clerk) informed the community board that recent discussions between Wing Parish Council, Overstone Primary School and The Cottesloe School to create a youth council had been positive, with large student interest. As of the time of the meeting, 50 students were involved in two projects related to improving the accessibility of the Long Spinney in Wing, and growing vegetables in the Wing allotments which would be used to cook food for the elderly residents of the village. The first meetings had taken place to elect Chairmen/Vice-Chairmen, Clerks and to adopt the terms of reference. The Youth Council would meet in school hours and operate under teacher supervision for safeguarding purposes.

It was hoped that the community board would work closely with the Youth Council to assist them with their projects, and to enable reciprocal influence from the youth council in the community board to develop projects and ideas. To this end, it was confirmed that the Chairman of the Youth Council would receive an invitation to all future Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board meetings. Stephen Lott (Ivinghoe Parish Council) informed the meeting that projects such as the Kendall Alphabet Sculpture Trail could be used as inspiration for similar activity projects with which the Youth Council could get involved.

Katrina Holyoake

Katrina Holyoake asked attendees if there was interest in setting up a course in the community board area to provide training to members of the public to support friends, relatives, and neighbours with dementia, and to raise awareness of the symptoms of dementia. Similar courses had been established in the Beconsfield, Beeches and Southwest Chilterns Community Board Areas.

It was explained that as communities emerged from coronavirus lockdown, it was easy to notice changes in behaviour among those in our local areas, and dementia training would be a worthwhile to identify potential signs of dementia to ensure that people were supported.

There was a general interest in establishing dementia training within the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board Area. Katrina had identified Wing, Watermead and Ivinghoe as three suitable places to hold sessions. These would be delivered from a bus which could travel between the three locations. It was hoped that a key topic for discussion at the sessions would be to establish support/activity groups for those with dementia to reduce social isolation.

Katrina requested that anyone with ideas for venues in Wing, Ivinghoe or Watermead that could accommodate the bus, ideally with at least three parking spaces and a debrief room, should contact her with the details. Once venues were confirmed, a funding recommendation report could then be circulated for comment.

Katrina Holyoake

Katrina gave an overview of the changes to the way the community board funding process would operate moving forward. A cap of £15,000 community board funding towards any project would be imposed, and contributory funding towards projects would become mandatory. For those small groups and Parishes without the ability to provide contributory funding towards projects, other sources could be approached, and Katrina encouraged those smaller groups with project ideas to discuss the details with her.

Katrina also informed attendees of the new small grants scheme which would provide £1,000 to fund grassroots projects, or to help with emergency funding requests (e.g. in the case of flooding). An online application form detailing the conditions for use of the funding, and who can apply was available on the council’s website.

Councillor Peter Brazier

Councillor P Brazier drew attention to the document which had been circulated as part of the agenda reports pack, and outlined a few of the key updates and pieces of information that may be of interest to residents within the Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board area.

Firstly, attention was drawn to the council’s Helping Hands team, who provided financial help to cover the food and energy costs to households in crisis, as well as helping to pay for other essentials like sanitary items and nappies. They could be contacted on 01296 531 151 or using the online contact form.

Secondly, Councillor Brazier highlighted the rollout of the Welcoming Spaces project which would be in operation throughout the winter. The Welcoming Spaces would offer a warm and friendly place for residents to meet, save on their heating bills and receive advice and support. Katrina Holyoake would be coordinating the introduction of more Welcoming Spaces in the Community Board area and would circulate further information in due course.

Finally, attendees were reminded that Buckinghamshire Council would be starting new highways contracts in April 2023, and this would impact community board projects that were yet to be completed by the outgoing contractor, Transport for Bucks (TfB). As discussions continued with TfB on the deliverability of outstanding projects under the existing contract by March 2023, relevant information and updates would be communicated at Community Board and Parish Council level.

Councillor Brazier confirmed that under the new contract, Local Parish Councils would be recognised by the ‘Fix My Street’ app and could submit and receive updates on devolved matters that were flagged by them on the system. Un-devolved Parishes would also receive a devolved services offer once the new contract came into effect. Further communication regarding this to further Parish Clerks would be circulated in due course following the meeting.

Concerns were raised that Parishes with existing devolved services had not been adequately consulted on the new contract coming into effect in April 2023, and that existing issues would carry over into the new contract arrangement. It was hoped that this could be rectified as soon as possible before April next year.

·       Warm spaces

·       Wing Market

Katrina reminded attendees that the community board was looking for more venues to act as ‘Welcoming Spaces’. Existing spaces had opened in libraries and children’s centres, but other venues could be used. Pitstone Memorial Hall for example, would soon open as a new Welcoming Space and could act as a model for other prospective venues.

It was hoped that the community board could support ideas for activities within the Welcoming Spaces. Those with ideas for Welcoming Spaces events were invited to discuss them with Katrina. Additionally, anyone with a venue that could be utilised as a new Welcoming Space was invited to discuss with Katrina and register it on the Bucks Online Directory.

Katrina also shared the success of the Wing Market with the community board. The Market was held at 9am every Thursday in the Wing Sports and Social Club car park and had seen increased attendances by traders and customers alike since opening.

The Wing and Ivinghoe Community Board would have a stall at the market once per month to promote the work of the board to the community, and it was hoped that similar community markets could be established in other locations within the community board area.

Katrina asked if there was interest in the community board supporting projects to improve and grow the market. An example put forward was funding for some gazebos which could be rented by market traders on a one-time basis to test the appetite for certain products/produce. This was a positively received suggestion.

The next meeting would be held on 6^th December 2022 via MS Teams. Further information would be circulated by Katrina in due course.