Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors: S Barrett, Majid Hussain and P Turner.

To appoint the Vice Chairman of the High Wycombe Town Committee for the 2022/23 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: That Councillor A R Green be appointed as Vice- Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year 2022/23   

To approve the minutes of the previous meetings held on 8 March and 18 May 2022.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the High Wycombe Town Committee held on 8 March and 18 May 2022 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman

To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest

To receive a presentation from Peter Lerner (Trustee of the Association)

This item was withdrawn

To receive a presentation from Tony Bull

Mr Tony Bull (Trustee) of the Citizens Advice Bureau Bucks conducted a presentation for Members, and tabled some presentation material for consideration.

Information was provided on the role of the organisation, its aims and ways in which it hoped to achieve success. The presenter stated that the organisation would welcome support from Wycombe Council in terms of it providing multi-year funding and advising constituents to access the website in the first instance. This would alleviate the pressure on volunteer staff and ultimately enable it to continue with its primary function of empowering people facing challenges in their lives via the provision of free confidential and impartial expert advice.

A number of questions were raised by Members at the end of the presentation.

A Member asked how they could assist groups such as the elderly who could not access the website, which was the preferred method of communication. Mr Bull responded by accepting that this was a difficult situation and a hard-to-reach group but that more funding would enable greater outreach activities to be undertaken.

Another Member raised a question on the empowerment model as summarised in the handout and queried the likely return rate of clients following the initial provision of coaching and guidance. It was agreed that the figures compiled would be sent out via email.

RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted and Mr Bull be thanked for his attendance

A report was submitted which detailed the revenue outturn positon for 2021/22 and the impact on working balances at year end for the High Wycombe Town Committee. The net outturn positon for 2021/22 was £280k a forecast underspend of £86k against a total budget of £366k.

The table on page 11 of the agenda pack provided the detail at activity level. The impact of the activities during the course of the year on working balances which was minimal was highlighted in the table on page 13 of the report.

A Member raised a query regarding the existing CIL funded projects under the Cemetery category which had £96,000 allocated towards the final fit out of the Penn Road Cemetery office. This was expected to be spent in full in 2022/23. Details on the fit out were requested.

Another Member highlighted the length of time that the CIL projects took to be completed and asked how this situation could be remedied. He sought clarification as to whether it should be Members or officers who needed to take a more proactive stance in terms of driving the projects forward.  The officer responded by stating that there had been staffing and resourcing challenges in recent times however now that Project Officers had recently been identified progress on CIL projects could now commence. Members could contact the named Project Officers for regular updates on progress.

Members agreed that in light of the Committee having control of only 15% of the total amount of CIL money there was a great deal of financial pressure with project costs. It was requested that the relevant CIL officer produce a report on the use of the remaining 85% of CIL monies not under the Committee`s control to confirm what it was being spent on. It was also agreed that it would be helpful for officers to provide estimated dates of completion for projects.

RESOLVED: That

(i)                  Information be provided on the £96k allocated to Penn Road Cemetery office fit out

(ii)                A report be submitted detailing 85%  allocation of CIL monies not controlled by this Committee

(iii)              Estimated dates for the completion of the HWTC CIL projects be indicated in future updates.

Members received the work programme for the High Wycombe Town Committee

RESOLVED: That,

(i)                  The postponement of the High Wycombe Transport Strategy be noted; 

(ii)                An item on the safety of scooters in the town be included and

(iii)              A follow up item on the Pine Trees Petition be included.

(iv)              The update report regarding cemeteries and 7 day burials be noted

20 September 2022 at 7pm

The next meeting was scheduled to take place on Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 6.30pm Queen Victoria Road Wycombe.