Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will provide a brief introduction to the Community Board as well as an overview of online etiquette

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave a few updates. This included the following key points:

·       Leone Dale (Co-Ordinator for the Winslow and Villages Community Board) would be transferring to the Buckingham Community Board. Elaine Hassell would act as an interim until a new, permanent Co-Ordinator was appointed.

·       Winners of the recent Proud of Bucks Awards had been chosen and the results would be communicated in due course.

·       The Community Board’s budget for the coming fiscal year had been agreed at the Full Council meeting held on 23rd February 2022. The £150 energy rebate for band A-D properties in Bucks would help mitigate recent increases in energy costs. Details concerning help for those properties that did not qualify were still to be made clear.

To note any apologies for absence

Martin Dickman, Nick Primmer (Dunton) and John Gilbey (Great Horwood) gave apologies.

To discuss any actions and agree the notes of the meeting held on 14 October 2021

Resolved:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 14^th October 2021 be agreed as a correct record of the meeting.

To note any declarations of interest

There were none.

Martin Dickman, Service Director, Neighbourhood Services, will deliver updates from Buckinghamshire Council

In Martin’s absence, Leone Dale gave an overview of the information document circulated with the agenda. The report provided key updates and opportunities for residents and Members of the Community Board to provide feedback on the following topics:

·       98 councillors proposed for Buckinghamshire

·       Buckinghamshire Local Plan

·       A helping hand for those struggling financially this winter

·       Children’s Service updates

·       Buckinghamshire Online Directory

·       Community Cafes

·       Jubilee Celebrations

·       70 trees for 70 years

The report would be appended to the Minutes and circulated again for the convenience of those wanting to find out more.

Police Sergeant David Kuttner, Aylesbury Vale Rural Neighbourhood Team, will provide a verbal update.

Inspector James Davies gave a brief verbal update to Members on the work of Thames Valley Police in the Community Board Area. Members were informed that one of the PCSOs working with the team in the Winslow area had left to join Bedfordshire Police as a Police Officer.

Overall crime rates had risen slightly, though not significantly, and TVP remained confident that the levels were under control. Since April 2021, 14 residential burglaries had been reported, which was comparatively low compared to the national picture.

There had been a larger spike in rural crime in the area including agricultural burglaries and theft. Inspector Davies confirmed that the total number of offences was approximately 30. TVP in co-ordination with Bedfordshire Police had made 8 arrests to combat this and had seen no further related offences since.

A Cannabis Factory had been identified in Winslow and TVP were in the process of dismantling it.

Following the verbal update, Inspector Davies made the following points in response to questions:

·       TVP were aware of the misuse of e-scooters in the Winslow area. Trying to stop them had proven difficult logistically as well as owing to limited resources. Many people who had bought them were not aware of the legislation in place to prevent their misuse, and TVP had been making efforts to educate people about this in response. Inspector Davies informed Members that the best way to ensure a lasting solution to the problem was through greater public knowledge of the law surrounding e-scooters, or legislation change. TVP had the power to impound e-scooters if their users had no insurance or were using them anti-socially.

·       Inspector Davies informed Ian Whipp that informative signs were helpful in deterring cyclists from using the pavement, and that wider public engagement and education about the dangers of doing so were an appropriate way to combat the issue. Any abuse or harassment on the matter should be reported to TVP.

·       The Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002 gave the Local Authority the power to issue fines to cars idling improperly outside schools and causing traffic congestion.

Aldo Simone, Trading Standards Officer, will give a presentation on scam awareness and how to prevent it

Aldo Simone and Lee Ormandy gave a presentation highlighting the work of the Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards Team. The presentation slides covering the details would be appended to the Minutes of the meeting.

Members were asked to use their contacts and networks to spread awareness of Trading Standards to local residents and to encourage people to report suspicious activity or scams directly to them or TVP. In addition, Members were asked to promote the devices highlighted in the presentation such as Doorbell Cameras, Call Blockers and ‘No Cold Calling’ door stickers to residents that may benefit from them. These could be fitted free of charge by Trading Standards.

Anyone wanting literature or digitised information to be shared and circulated in a local parish newsletter or magazine to promote Trading Standards was invited to contact Aldo who could arrange this. Aldo could be contacted at the following email address: trading.standards@surreycc.gov.uk 

If anyone wanted to forward suspicious emails or provide evidence of suspicious activity for further investigation, they could do so by sending it to the National Fraud Centre. They could be found at the following link: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/about-this-website/contact-us

Lee confirmed that he would like to see Trading Standards working more closely with Crimestoppers in the future to provide assurance to those who wanted to report something anonymously.

Inspector Davies informed Members that if they noticed legitimately suspicious activity by door-to-door salesmen or cold callers, to call 999, as this would enable a faster response than 101.

Martin Connor, Head of Property Transformation & Regeneration, will provide an update on the Winslow Town Centre Development Project

Martin Connor, Head of Property Transformation & Regeneration provided an update on the Winslow Town Centre Development Project. The following key points were noted:

·       Redevelopment of the Winslow Centre site required the reconstruction of the sports facilities currently present in the area. The new facilities would be constructed on the Redfield Farm site.

·       The Winslow Centre site would be redeveloped with a new library, community access point, office accommodation, extra care housing, general needs housing, and enhanced green public amenity space.

·       The Sports Hub redevelopment would see the reprovision of 3 tennis courts, 1 Multiple Use Games Area, 1 grass rugby pitch, 1 3G football pitch, an amenity building with community space, a skatepark, and 8.3ha of community green space.

·       A public consultation on the proposed sports hub development closed at the end of January 2022. 86% of respondents supported or strongly supported the development of the site. Martin and his team would consider amending the proposals to address the feedback by respondents where possible.

·       The business case for the proposals would be submitted to Cabinet in May 2022. The planning application would be submitted in June 2022 and the estimated completion date of all construction was August 2024. Mark stressed that these were part of a rough timeline and were subject to change if necessary.

Following questions for Members, Martin clarified the following points:

·       The proposed medical centre replacing Norden house Surgery that had formed part of the initial plans would now not go ahead as planned. Following negotiations with the NHS and CCG, the decision had instead been taken for the existing surgery to expand into the neighbouring building instead.

·       Mr Connor felt that the proposed sports hub development was in keeping with the draft Winslow Neighbourhood Plan 2022-2033 which was out for consultation. Meetings with Winslow Town Council had taken place to take feedback on this.

·       Topographically, it would not be feasible to build housing on the Redfield Farm site, and it would make more logistical sense for the new library and other facilities to be moved into the Winslow Centre site to allow for greater public access.

·       An operating model for the Sports Hub had not yet been designed.

The Community Board Coordinator will provide an update on funding.

Action Group Chairs to provide an update on:

-   Economic Recovery

-   Environment

-   Health and Wellbeing

-   Highways

-   HS2/EWR

Leone drew Members’ attention to the information that had been circulated with the agenda, and gave an overview of the funding updates for the Community Board. The funding cycle from the previous fiscal year had finished and would re-open in April. If anyone had any queries about the contents of the update, they were encouraged to contact Leone. The key figures from the funding update were as follows:

·       £211,482 total budget

·       £128,528 spent so far

·       £82,954 remaining

·       £82,954 in pending applications (36)

Leone also gave an overview of the projects that had been funded over the previous fiscal year. This had also been circulated as part of the update information included in the agenda report.

It was noted on behalf of Winslow Town Council their concerns that unspent Community Board Grant Funding would not be carried over into the following year’s budget, and the impact this decision had had on the funding for Winslow Town Council's skatepark application. Leone confirmed that she would discuss the application with Winslow Town Council after the meeting and stressed that improvements to the overall funding process were being considered as part of the service review currently underway in the Community Boards team. It was hoped that these could be communicated to Members when the review had finished.

Reports containing funding applications for consideration and comment would be circulated in due course.

Members also heard updates from the leaders of the Community Board Action Groups:

Phil Gomm (Health and Wellbeing) – Phil recognised that there had not been enough meetings since May 2021, and those that had taken place had been infrequent. This would be put right for the coming year.

John Chilver (EWR/HS2 & Environment Sub-Groups) – The EWR/HS2 group had met on 18^th January and would meet again in March 2022 (date TBC). The Environment Sub-Group met on 17^th November to consider applications submitted by Chiltern Rangers and the Padbury Millennium Woodland Project. It also discussed updates on the Winslow Green Space Group, electric vehicle charging, wild verges and tree planting.

Billy Stanier (Highways) – Billy apologised that the proposed meeting in January did not take place. A new date would be confirmed and communicated. Anyone was welcome to attend and suggest topics for discussion.

David Goss (Local Economy) – an Economic sub-group meeting date was TBC. David expressed his hope that the service review would ensure a robust Terms of Reference for the group moving forward, and that the nature of meetings would closely reflect a task and finish group.

Opportunity to ask any questions and provide answers to any pre-submitted questions.

Updates to be given by the Community Board Coordinator

on the following:

•            Public questions

•            Consultations

•            Petitions

Leone encouraged members to look at the open public consultations listed on the Citizen Space and provide feedback. Anyone interested could find the consultations at the following link: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/

Opportunity to discuss topics for consideration at future Community Board meetings

Members were encouraged to consider ideas to discuss at future meetings of the Community Board and feedback at the next meeting.

To be confirmed

The date of the next meeting was to be confirmed. Communication would be circulated to Members concerning possible future dates in due course.