Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Hilary Martin, Marlow Town Council; Lorna Coldwell, Hambleden Parish Council; Jennifer Parr, Doctors House, Marlow Medical Group; Joy Morrisey, MP for Beaconsfield and Councillor Jean Teesdale.

Councillor Dominic Barnes, Chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised that the meeting was being recorded and would be available on the Buckinghamshire Council website.  The Chairman explained the voting procedure which would be used if there was not unanimous agreement on a proposal.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Community Board Terms of Reference are provided for information/pre-reading.

The Community Board Terms of Reference had been included in the agenda pack for information.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held  on 14 July 2020.

Councillor David Johncock proposed that the minutes of the last meeting were an accurate record; Councillor Mark Harris seconded the proposal.

RESOLVED:  The minutes of the meeting held on 14 July 2020 were AGREED as an accurate record.

A video message will be provided from Cllr Martin Tett, Leader, Buckinghamshire Council.

A YouTube video from Councillor Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, was shown regarding the launch of the Community Boards (CB). 

https://youtu.be/f0i722j79hw

Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health, will join the meeting as a guest speaker.

Councillor Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health, stated that he echoed Councillor Tett’s comments.  The CBs were a high priority and the primary mechanism for interacting with the local communities and the power of partnership working had been evident during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.  Over 1800 volunteers had come forward and been placed by local charities and Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations.  Funding groups had worked with charities and approximately £1.25 million had been distributed.  The town and parish councils, along with the VCS, had played an integral part in providing support to vulnerable people; there were approximately 17,500 ‘shielded’ people in Buckinghamshire; 4,500 of which were unable to obtain food, medical supplies without the help and support of the community.  The 16 Community Boards’ budget was £3.9 million; the Public Health team had produced a profile for each CB area which would help inform discussions and decisions on budget allocation.  The working groups would be a critical part of the process and Councillor Williams advised he was looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the CBs.

The following points were raised and discussed:

• In response to a query on whether a request for funding which covered multiple CB areas should be sent directly to Councillor Williams; Councillor Williams advised he was happy to receive requests. ‘Cross-border’ applications should be discussed by the co-ordinators; Kama Wager, Localism Manager, dealt with funding foundations but there was no central allocation for multi-area applications.
• Steve Baker, MP, thanked Councillor Williams and everyone involved for serving the community during the recent difficult times.

Councillor Williams thanked Steve Baker and other MPs for their help in removing obstacles to expedite requests.

To be provided by the Chairman, Cllr Dominic Barnes.

The Chairman provided a budget overview and stated that funding totalling £172,422 was split between three areas;

1. Community area priorities
2. Health and wellbeing
3. Infrastructure 

£12,000 had been deployed since the start of the pandemic as follows:

Cllr Richard Scott - Brand Events Limited (£2K)

Cllr Alex Collingwood - Marlow Age Concern (£2K)

Cllr Alex Collingwood - One Can Trust (£2K)

Cllr Suzanne Brown Seed 1 – (£2K)

Cllr Alex Collingwood Seed 1 – (£2K)

Cllr David Watson – Marlow Lighthouse (£500)

Cllr Alex Collingwood – Marlow FM radio station (£1500)

The Chairman emphasised the importance of the funds being spread evenly across the CB; the funding would be agreed at the CB meetings.

A presentation will be provided by Mrs Jo Cook from Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Joanna Cook, Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager for Bucks Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS), provided a presentation on the new Public Safety Plan 2020-2025, appended to the minutes.  Joanna explained the work carried out by the Service in a number of areas.  BFRS had needed to adapt during the pandemic and conducted welfare visits to those people who had been ‘uncontactable’.  As BFRS was a recognised, trustworthy organisation, people were willing to open the door and provide updated contact details if needed.   BFRS had also delivered food parcels and pharmacy supplies to those in need as identified by Social Care.  In summary, BFRS was working to provide a joined up approach to build a resilient community.

A presentation will be provided by Mr Sam Ovens, Buckinghamshire Council.

This item was deferred.

The action plan is provided for information.

The South West Chilterns Community Board action plan had been included in the agenda pack for information.

An update will be provided by Cllr Alex Collingwood.

Councillor Alex Collingwood, Chairman of the Transport, Infrastructure, Reopening of High Streets and Regeneration (TIRR) working group provided a presentation, appended to the minutes.  Cllr Collingwood advised that there were 22 members of the group consisting of Buckinghamshire councillors, town and parish councillors, Transition Town and the Chamber of Commerce.  Cllr Collingwood outlined the work being carried out in each of the four areas.  He also explained that there were four categories under the Transport Section; 23 applications had been received and three were recommended for approval as follows from the budget of £48K:

•  Safety bollards in Pound Lane, Marlow - £3,503.68

•  Blind Lane, Bourne End - £1,918.36

•  Bourne End – Various Traffic Orders -£8,432.82

A total of £13,854 to be match funded by the relevant town or parish council.  If match funding was not available, the money would be put back into the central pot for reallocation.  The group would meet monthly and make recommendations to the Board via email or scheduled meetings.

The following points were raised in discussion:

·       Could Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) be combined from various community boards in order to spread the cost?  Councillor Collingwood advised that the preference would be for the community board to produce a combined TRO for the CB area as the process could be held up if the TRO covered multiple CBS and one part of a TRO was in dispute.  The local residents would understand the area and know which TROs to put forward for the CB and avoid any local objection.  There could, however, be the ability to add one onto a county-wide TRO if need be.  TROs, or any other application, needed to be raised with the relevant Buckinghamshire councillor, provided match funding could be supplied (if applicable).

·       How did parish councils become involved in the process?  Councillor Collingwood explained that all town and parish councils had been invited to participate in the working group.  Residents, the Chamber of Commerce, Bid-cos and landlords had also been included. 

·       The road from Bourne End to Marlow was a popular cycleway and cyclists often caused a queue of traffic resulting in a serious pollution problem.  There was a fully signed cycleway for part of the route; how could the problem be resolved?  Councillor Collingwood advised that a CB plan would be put forward to Councillor Nick Naylor, Cabinet Member for Transport, with suggestions for temporary and permanent cycle paths as part of the Active Travel plan to improve the locality.  Transition Town were part of the working group and would help produce the plan.

·       A councillor commented that it was difficult to compare traffic schemes and make a decision and suggested using a matrix.  Councillor Collingwood stated that all traffic schemes were signed off by Transport for Bucks and that a ranking system would be provided.  There was a template form to be completed for every scheme.

·       Concern was expressed regarding the timeframe for the parish council to provide the match funding and recommended that the CB  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

An update will be provided by Cllr Suzanne Brown.

Councillor Suzanne Brown, Chairman of the Covid-19 recovery, young/older people, environment and anti-social behaviour working group referred to the presentation, appended to the minutes, and advised that five applications had been received; two proposals were being put forward for approval by the CB.

Lane End Youth Club, a non-profit organisation, had bought stock worth £240.00 before the pandemic which had now perished and needed to be replenished.  The Youth Club had also submitted an application to recover the cost of hire of the hall from 7 September 2020 at £20 per week but this proposal had not been put forward as it was not known when the club would re-open.

The One Can Trust had submitted an application for a total of £1875.00 to be split between three CB areas (SW Chilterns, Beaconsfield and High Wycombe); if agreed, the SW Chilterns CB’s contribution would be £587.50.  One Can Trust had already received £2,000 but had submitted another application for funding to replace 10 tables on which to stack the food as the tables which had previously been donated had been returned.  The Trust had seen an increase in demand due to people losing their jobs.

RESOLVED:  The Community Board AGREED to fund the two proposals by the Covid-19 recovery working group:

• Lane End Youth Club - £240

One Can - £1,875 split between three Community Boards. (£587.50 from SWC Community Board)

Public Question - The following question had been received from Dave Faulkner, Marlow Climate Action Network, and would be discussed by the relevant working group(s):

Levels of nitrogen dioxide in Marlow Town Centre have been in breach of air quality standards since 2010, and are showing only marginal improvement despite tighter emission standards for diesel vehicles. We think this situation is totally unacceptable, as well as illegal, and that more radical effective solutions need to be considered. We would suggest that an investigation and public consultation should be launched looking at both full or partial pedestrianisation of the High Street, options for making surrounding streets one way to optimize traffic flows, provision for cycle lanes which this would allow and local parking provision to either maintain or increase footfall in the High Street. Is this something that the Community Board is prepared to support?

A CB member queried whether ‘environment’ should be included under the Covid-19 recovery working group; the Chairman agreed to include an item on the number/composition of the working groups on the agenda for the next meeting.

ACTION:  Makyla Devlin

It was also noted that Marlow High Street was not a high pollution area; however, other roads such as Spittal Street and Chapel Street were of concern.  A number of groups were already discussing the air pollution/climate in Marlow; there was a downward trend and it was expected that the air quality would be below the limit by 2023.  Concern was raised over directing traffic into residential areas; it was a complex area and needed careful consideration.

Any Other Business - The Chairman advised he had been approached by Councillor Chris Whitehead who had proposed that some of the CB funds be deployed to the Buckinghamshire councillors.  The use of the funds would have to comply with the funding rules but would empower local members.  The Chairman proposed that £1,000, to be used by 31 December 2020, be deployed to each councillor, a total of £16,000.  If the money was not spent by the end of the year it would be returned to the central pot.  Councillor Whitehead seconded the proposal.

However, not all councillors were in agreement; an objection was raised as it was not a significant amount to be of use and would be better to stay in the main budget.  Another issue was that the funding criteria process was tedious but the Chairman emphasised that it was public money and the correct process needed to be followed.  If agreed, the deployed funding would need to be made known to the public.  A member of the CB queried whether the item was listed as a specific item under any other business as normal practice was that a board was unable to make a decision unless it was an agenda item.  The Chairman advised he had used his prerogative as Chairman and suggested having a vote and then seeking clarification.  However, another councillor stated it was an accurate comment under parish council regulations but was not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

5 November 2020.

24 November 2020.