Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Dominic Barnes, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Geoffrey Peg, Monica Bergh, Sgt Robin Hughes, Paul Bolton, Ibstone Parish Council and Nick Adkins.

Councillor Richard Scott declared an interest in item 10, Working Group - Transport, Infrastructure, Reopening of High Streets and Regeneration as he lived in Mill Road, Marlow.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2020.

This item was not covered, the minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2021 would be agreed at the next meeting.

A presentation will be provided by Mr Steve Bell, Waste Commissioning Lead Officer  Neighbourhood Services.

Mr Steve Bell, Deputy Head of Waste Management, Buckinghamshire Council, advised he was leading on the High Heavens Bio-waste Transfer Station project.  S Bell provided a presentation, see slides 3-14 of the slide deck appended to the minutes.  S Bell highlighted the following key points:

• A brief history of the project.
• An overhead photograph of the current High Heavens complex.
• The sites which were affected by the project.
• The preferred option showed the proposed layout; the dotted areas would be demolished.  The new food waste building would be moved to a new location on the site and would replace the existing Dano building.
• Fire tanks would be available in case of fire.
• The comparison to the previous project option and what had stayed the same/changed.
• The proposed timescales indicated the project should be completed by the end of 2021.
• The project would deliver significant improvements to the management of waste within the High Heavens Waste Complex, bring the facilities up to date with industry standards, ensure the site could continue to manage the waste produced from additional homes as the county grew and make it quicker and smoother for Council collection and contractor vehicles.

The following key points were raised in discussion:

• Cllr Mike Pack, Chairman of Great Marlow PC, was disappointed and unable to support the proposal as it did not provide the facilities to process all the waste streams in a sanitised inhouse environment.  He felt that it was not clear how the proposal provided environmental protection as 80% of the waste streams would be processed externally for the next 20 years which would be a retrograde, short-sighted step.  Cllr Pack stated that Great Marlow Parish Council would set out mitigation measures in their response.  Cllr Pack also felt that it was not correct to say there would be no change in vehicle movements; they would double.  There was also a request to increase the operating hours which he believed would affect the local community. 
• Following a query from Cllr Whitehead on how many dwellings were within 200 yards of the site and concern over the increased odour; S Bell advised he would have to check the number but stated that there would be no increase in the odour levels.  The new food waste building would be purpose-built with an air extraction system.  Other materials were dealt with on site and S Bell was not aware that there had recently been any odour issues; there were strict controls on how quickly the green waste was processed to prevent odour.  The new facility would not be treating any waste; it would be a transfer station.

ACTION:  S Bell

• Cllr Whitehead also requested confirmation on the number of vehicle movements and whether the facility would be large enough to cope with an increase in the number of dwellings over the next 20 years.  S Bell confirmed there would be no change, in the short-term, in the vehicle movements projected for the next 25 years to the previous application which had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To be presented by the Chairman, Councillor Dominic Barnes.

The Chairman, Councillor Dominic Barnes, provided a presentation (slides 15-27 of the slide deck appended to the minutes) and highlighted the Government roadmap out of Covid-19 and emphasised that there were strict policies/dates and the four test steps; the dates could be delayed at any stage if the tests were not met.  Slides 19-21 showed the key data for Buckinghamshire; all the geographical areas had decreased.  

Approximately 141,000 vaccinations had been carried out across the county by 14 February 2021; the map showed the locations of the pharmacy, local vaccination, mass vaccination and hospital vaccination sites.  The priority groups were shown and there were four lateral flow testing sites in Buckinghamshire.

Cllr Chris Whitehead stated that the dates outlined were dependent on Covid-19 numbers declining and asked if the dates could be brought forward if the results were better than expected.  The Chairman advised that clarification would need to be sought on that point and provided to Cllr Whitehead after the meeting.

ACTION:  Makyla Devlin

A presentation will be provided by Mr Carl Griffin, Control  of Pollution Officer and Ms  Anna Savage from AECOM Ltd.

Mr Carl Griffin, Control of Pollution Officer, and Ms Anna Savage from AECOM Limited provided an update on the Marlow Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Feasibility Study.  C Griffin stated that an Air Quality Management Area was declared in Marlow town centre in 2017 and an air quality action plan had been produced in 2018.  Funding had been sourced for a Marlow Low Emission Zone feasibility study and would look at measures that could be taken to improve the air quality.  Information on the Marlow Feasibility Study had been included in the agenda pack.

A Savage highlighted the following key points from the report:

• The feasibility study should be completed in Spring 2021.
• The focus would be on the High Street/A4155 area where the levels exceeded the objective.
• Some data was available from previous surveys.
• A survey would be carried out using 12 cameras across Marlow in March 2021 to gain information on the age/types/emissions/purpose of vehicles travelling through Marlow.  Traffic levels were currently 70-80% of pre-Covid levels.
• Evidence would be used to model air pollution in the town.
• The study would also look at parking, electric vehicle charging and heavy freight vehicles.
• It was proposed to hold a technical workshop at the end of March 2021.
• Other cities had implemented Clean Air Zones and vehicles not meeting the vehicle emissions were charged but this was unlikely to happen in Marlow as cars were likely to be the main source of pollution.

The following points were raised in discussion:

• It was noted that a carbon audit had been carried out for Marlow Town Council and the town bus accounted for 30% of Marlow Town Council carbon emissions.  Could a new bus be expedited?
• Marlow had double the national average of private cars; the survey should provide data on the age of the cars.
• The programme would take approximately 18-24 months to implement.
• The ANPR cameras would undertake a traffic count over a 24 hour period and provide information on the fleet of the vehicles.
• Concern was expressed that, due to utility works being carried out and people using alternative routes, the survey might not provide a true reflection.
• Dissatisfaction was raised that a survey, workshop and report were required before any action would be taken.  C Griffin explained that the first stage was to work out why there was an issue, then to discuss the issue with people who could do something about it, e.g. highways, colleagues, bus companies etc.  A report had to be produced on the options and ways to deliver the improvements.  The Council also had to consider all major projects on an equalities basis in order to decide if the proposal was acceptable.  The Chairman advised that previous reports and the Marlow Town Council carbon audit could be shared.  There was also the Transport, Infrastructure and Reopening of High Streets and Regeneration (TIRR) subgroup who could provide support.  C Griffin acknowledged that there could be ‘quick wins’ and the scheme could potentially take less than two years,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To be presented by the Chairman, Councillor Dominic Barnes.

The Chairman referred to slide 30 of the slide deck appended to the minutes which provided the budget information for the South West Chilterns Community Board.  The funding was broken down into three areas; the Community Area Priorities Fund, the Health and Wellbeing Fund and the Local Infrastructure Fund.   The Chairman emphasised that match funding or funding from elsewhere was sought, wherever possible, and confirmed that any remaining funding would be carried forward to the next financial year. 

To be presented by Councillor Suzanne Brown.

Cllr Suzanne Brown, Chairman of the Covid-19 Recovery Working Group, referred to slides 31-35 in the slide deck and highlighted that the census would be carried out in 2021. 

Cllr Brown listed the projects that had been funded since the last meeting:

• Chiltern Dial-a-ride - £500
• Seed 1 – £5,500  
• Chiltern Rangers - £13,650
• Box of Hope – £800

The following funding applications had been received and were proposed for approval:

• Transitions UK – The Aspire Youth Offending Project (£4,000)
• Lady Ryder Memorial Garden – All Abilities, All Communities Garden (£5,000)

RESOLVED:  Cllr Whitehead seconded Cllr Brown’s proposals; the Community Board members unanimously agreed to support both funding application.

To be presented by Councillor Alex Collingwood.

Cllr Collingwood, Chairman of TIRR, referred to slides 36-53 and listed the approved schemes which would be delivered by the autumn:

•       Pound Lane, Marlow – Bollards.

•       Bourne End and Wooburn Green – Various waiting restrictions including Watery Lane and Claytons Meadow.

•       Blind Lane, Bourne End – traffic calming.

The proposed schemes were:

•       Lock Road, Marlow – pedestrian refuge.

•       A community wide Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).

Combining several TROs would save approximately £20-25,000; detailed costings and designs would be provided by the end of June 2021 and implemented by the end of the year. 

However, the following three requests required public consultation and would take approximately one to two years to implement.

•       Outside Hunts, Station Road, Marlow – parking bays.

•       Outside no 6 Henley Road – Yellow lines.

•       Mill Road/Gossmore Lane, Marlow – residents parking zone.

Cllr Scott advised he was unaware of the proposed Mill Road scheme and requested more information before it went out to public consultation.  Cllr Collingwood advised that the regularising and legalities for the existing council-wide TROs for the five legacy councils needed to be finalised/approved; community wide TROs would then be possible. Cllr Collingwood had asked all the parishes in the Community Board area to put forward traffic schemes which would go forward as a combined TRO and save approximately £5,000 per scheme.  Any proposed schemes which were not junction protection required a consultation.

Active Travel

Trinity Road - residents would have full access to their houses.   A consultation was underway; feedback was due by 9 March 2021 with implementation of the temporary cycle path scheme due in mid-April for six months if it was taken forward.

Bike racks had been installed in Marlow; photographs were shown of the proposed locations in Wooburn Green and Bourne End after discussion with landowners.  Other cycle stands could be installed on the Council’s own highways.

Infrastructure – Marlow Bridge Protection Scheme - budget confirmation of £1.4million was awaited. 

Westhorpe junction improvement works – phase one was underway and more detailed designs would be provided to the working group at the end of March 2021.

Rural Broadband - Cllr Mark Turner advised that the remit of the subgroup was to assist the rollout of fibre broadband to the community and the main source of funding would be from the Government Rural Connectivity Gigabit Scheme.  Contact had been made with suppliers and several parish councils had received quotes for rollout schemes and some were underway.  The cut off date for the current funding was 31 March 2021 and information was awaited on the revised funding methods.  More information had been requested as it was a challenging task.

Regeneration – £23 million had been provided for the Local Grant Scheme for the self-employed and small medium enterprises.  A bid had been submitted to install an additional 33 electric charging points in the area. 

Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) – Councillor David Watson advised that, as a result of the pandemic, there was likely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The action plan is provided for information.

The South West Chilterns Community Board Action Plan was included for information.

To be presented by the Chairman, Councillor  Dominic Barnes.

·       Ward budgets.

·       Questions are invited prior to the meeting, please contact Makyla Devlin, Community Board Co-ordinator.

An individual budget had been provided to each Buckinghamshire Councillor and four councillors had deployed £1,000 each to the Seed One project.  It had previously been agreed that the budget needed to be used by 31 December 2020, however, the Chairman proposed that the deadline date be extended to 8 March 2021; this proposal was seconded by Cllr Tony Lee.  The Chairman advised that any applications needed to be submitted to Makyla Devlin, Community Board Co-ordinator.  The application would be checked and, if it met the criteria, it would be approved.

RESOLVED:  The Members of the Community Board agreed to extend the deadline date to 8 March 2021 for the submission of an application for the Buckinghamshire Councillor fund.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance.  The Chairman particularly thanked Councillor Chris Whitehead and Councillor Tony Lee for their contribution as it was their last meeting as members of the Community Board.

Wednesday 23 June 2021

Wednesday 22 September 2021

Wednesday 24 November 2021

All starting at 6.30 pm.

•       Wednesday 23 June 2021

•       Wednesday 22 September 2021

•       Wednesday 24 November 2021

Start time 6.30 pm.