Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Dominic Barnes, welcomed everyone for attending the first face to face meeting. The Chairman explained the slight issue of the venue for the meeting but thanked everyone for attending to hear about all the work being carried out by the action groups, share their views and ask questions.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors David Johncock, Jocelyn Towns and Alex Hollingsworth, Dr Penny MacDonald, Marlow Medical Group, Geoff Pegg, Wooburn Green and Bourne End Neighbourhood Watch, Paul Bolton, Making Marlow Dementia Friendly, Nahida Latif, Red Kite Housing, Anna Ditta, Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and Richard Scott, Marlow Town Council.

No declarations of interest were received.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2022.

Resolved: The minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2022 were agreed as an accurate record.

To be presented by Sergeant Oliver Brixey regarding South West Chilterns.

Sergeant Oliver Brixey, Marlow NHPT, Princess Risborough NHPT, Chepping Valley NHPT, provided a presentation, appended to the minutes. The Sergeant informed the community of all of the areas that were covered by the Neighbourhood Policing Team which included fraud prevention, safeguarding, school talks, knife crime and serious violence, burglaries, anti-social behaviour, rural crime, violence against women and girls, licenced premises, night-time economy, social media and communication. The four priorities as agreed by the community were highlighted as being Anti-social behaviour, Speeding and Anti-social driving, Burglary and Rural Crime. Sergeant Brixey went through some statistics for the priorities, for the Marlow area but informed the community that this information could be found for any area on the Police.UK website (https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area).

The following points were raised at the meeting:

·       Crime Solving Rates – how many crimes were being solved and were these rates reported anywhere. The Sergeant informed all that there was a six-month backlog so any figures reported would be out of date as soon as published and therefore would be incorrect.

·       Rural Crime – there had been 14 break-ins in the past week indicating an increase in organised crime. Anyone reporting the crimes were not hearing back from the police and finding it very frustrating. Sergeant Brixey commented that increasing visibility was being investigated and an operation would be running over the weekend. Anyone that reported a crime was kept updated on changes, it was difficult to disclose information whilst cases were under investigation.

·       Fraud – How could action fraud be reported and stopped. Sergeant Brixey reported that fraud was not recorded by Thames Valley Police, it was recorded nationally. There was a specific team, the Fraud Unit, in place that dealt with scams and fraud, including overseas fraud.

·       Communication – It was suggested that Councillors, Parish Councils and Town Councils be used to disseminate information to the community as the channels were already in place. Thames Valley Police were looking to improving the ways for alerting the community. A quarterly newsletter for Parishes, Town Councils and Councillors was being designed. The Neighbourhood Watch team was going to assist with TV alerts.  

·       Parking Enforcement – when residents contact the police, they are informed that they need to contact the Council. Residents wanted to know who to contact. Sergeant Brixey commented that the Council were responsible for parking regulations and the police were responsible for dangerous situations caused by parking. The Chairman informed the Community Board that since this was a repeat offense, he had escalated to the Police Commissioner.

·       Nitrogen Oxide Cannisters – There were specific hotspots in the area, could these be patrolled, and fines issued to repeat offenders? Sergeant Brixey informed all that patrols had been directed to the risk areas.

·       Reporting – Was there a database where incidents from the area were recorded and residents could see these? Sergeant Brixey reported that minor incidents were not recoded but major, serious incidents that were being investigated were recorded. There was an online reporting tool for residents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To be presented by Group Commander Stuart Grosse on:

·       BFRS summer pressures 2022

·       National Fire Chiefs Council 2023 campaigns

·       Local Community Campaigns

Group Commander Stuart Grosse, Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, gave a presentation, appended to the minutes.

Group Commander Stuart Grosse made the following points in the presentation:

·       Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority made up of five councillors from Milton Keynes and twelve from Buckinghamshire. The Chair of the Fire Authority is Simon Rouse and the Chief Fire Officer is Jason Thelwell.

·       The four community safety priorities were Safer Homes, Safer Neighbourhoods, Safer Roads and Safer Environment.

·       The two service delivery areas were High Wycombe and Beaconsfield, both of which are wholetime stations.

·       The majority of the finances for the service are from council tax and the remainder from business rates and revenue support grant and other specific grants.

·       The summer pressures included the highest temperatures and dry weather declaring two major incidents at Kiddi Caru Nursery in Milton Keynes and the other at Whitehouse Farm in Wooburn Green, High Wycombe.

·       Future issues that may be a concern included HS2, climate change, development within Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes and the Fire Reform White Paper.

The points discussed at the meeting included comments on planning applications and the Fire and Rescue Service were sent applications to comment on, especially to ensure there were sufficient water hydrants and space for emergency vehicles. Members of the community board asked about how the Fire and Rescue Service was funded and they were informed that they were funded by the Council, and this was from council tax. The safety around rivers was discussed and Group Commander Stuart Grosse explained that they were proactive around swimming areas offering advice and educated people but did not look after the riverbanks.

Councillor Wilson personally thanked the Fire and Rescue Service for assisting so successfully with the field fire over the summer, which was handled so professionally and effectively.

The Chairman thanked Group Commander Stuart Grosse for attending and providing a very informative presentation.

To be presented by Chris Hurley.

This item was deferred to the next meeting.

To be presented by Councillor Carol Heap.

Councillor Carol Heap, Chairman of SWCCB Community Engagement Action Group introduced the Community Board Manager, Makyla Devlin and commented on all the hard work and efforts that she made with the community groups. Makyla informed all that there was a total of sixteen community boards, and she was lead for the area. There were weekly drop-ins at both Marlow and Bourne End libraries. Her role was to engage with the community groups through their local events by listening, generating projects and making connections. Makyla was in the process of developing a Facebook page and newsletter for the Community Board. The next two events were Autism Day on Saturday 18 March at Longridge Activity Centre, Longridge, Marlow and the Community Engagement event on 22 April 2023 at Higginson Park, Marlow.

During 2022, the Southwest Chiltern Community Board had funded 13 community projects with two more in the process and three highways’ schemes had been identified for funding. Of the 2022/2023 budget of £122,528, there was a current underspend of £1802. There were four active action groups, Community Engagement, Economic Development and Regeneration, Environment and Climate Change and Highways and Transport.

A Funding Summary Report was tabled, which listed some of the current applications, appended to the minutes. A short presentation was given for a recently funded walled sensory garden, which had benefitted so many children and young adults.

Other points raised my residents included:

·       There seemed to be a lack of engagement with the public, especially for major events. There had been engagement with the Parish/Town Councils, but further communication would be improved for the future. The Chairman suggested that residents took part in the action groups.

·       The Community Board were informed that project applications could be submitted at any time. If applications, up to £15000, were thorough and had been completed correctly, the turnaround was about four weeks. For smaller applications of up to £1000, these would be a lot quicker to approve. It was fine to have an application from an organisation that had applied before, just not for the same project.

·       Buckinghamshire Council update – to be presented by Steve Bambrick, Service Director and Community Board Champion.

·       Funding Update – to be presented by the Chairman, Councillor Dominic Barnes.

·       Proud of Bucks Awards – to be presented by Makyla Devlin, Senior Community Board Manager.

·       Public Questions (received in advance) – to be presented by the Chairman.

The item on Buckinghamshire Council update had been included in the agenda pack but was not presented at the meeting.

Funding Update

The Community Board Fund for 2022/23 was £122,258. The amount spent to date, as of 31/01/2023 was £70,674 and a further £50,052 had been allocated for potential projects to date (31/01/2023). The remaining amount was £1802. The Chairman reminded all that further applications could still be made.

Proud of Bucks Awards

The Community were reminded to submit their nominations for the Proud of Bucks Award. Nominations for young people in the community would be welcomed and great to receive.

No public questions had been received.

·       Community Engagement event – 22 April 2023, Higginson Park, Marlow

·       Board meeting – 12 July 2023 (tbc)

·       Board meeting – 18 October 2023 (tbc)

·       Board meeting – 7 February 2023 (tbc)

The Community Engagement event was on 22 April 2023 at Higginson Park, Marlow and the next Board meeting would be on 12 July 2023.