Agenda item

The following hot topics were reported:

Cabinet Member for Transport

Cabinet were informed of two issues:

·                     Members were informed of the formation of the East West Rail Mainline partnership (formerly the EW consortium), that would be chaired by the Cabinet Member.  In line with the recent Notice of Motion discussed at full Council, the Council, Bucks LEP, England’s Economic Heartland and the EW mainline partnerships have all submitted bids to Government as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review which included the demand to build the Aylesbury link of EW rail, as had been originally proposed in the Act.  The CSR was due to be announced by the end of the month.

·                     The Grit’ Parade –a dry run of winter road gritting arrangements had been undertaken at the weekend.  This had included testing vehicles and drivers familiarising themselves by driving routes on the network.

Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment

Cabinet were informed that the current household waste collection arrangements would continue in the former Wycombe and Chiltern Council areas for another 4 weeks.  This was due to the HGV driver situation not improving sufficiently nationally to allow the service to revert to the usual arrangements.  The situation would continue to be monitored on a daily basis and communications provided to local residents.

Cabinet Member for Communities

Cabinet were informed of two issues:

·         Buckinghamshire had been allocated a grant of £2.4m from the Government’s £500m Household Support Grant.  The grant would support families with children and households in the most need with food, energy and water bills and other essential costs in the period October-March 2022.  The Council would need to submit a delivery plan to Government and were currently developing a scheme in discussion with voluntary and community sector partners and other agencies.

·                     The Cabinet Member highlighted the work of Community Boards, a number of which were engaging with young people on issues they felt were important in their areas.  For example, the Wendover Community Board had provided funding to the Wendover Youth Centre for a programme of physical activities for young people.  Chesham and Villages Community Board had funded The Theatre Shed for an inclusive community production. The Theatre Shed was a place where young people from every background and ability came together to use the power of drama, music and dance to have fun and build confidence and develop their creativity.

Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services

The Council had experienced some IT issues on the release of the secondary school test results on Friday afternoon.  This was a difficult time for parents and children affected and thankfully the system had been back up and running by 7pm, which meant that families did receive their results on Friday evening. A letter of apology had been issued to schools, and the Corporate Management Team were reviewing exactly what happened and the lessons learned to ensure this was not repeated in the future.

Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure

Cabinet were informed of two issues:

·                     The new pool at Chalfont Leisure Centre had opened to the public on 18 October.  The new pool was part of a major refurbishment programme to all facilities at that centre.

·                     The Council had successfully retained Green Flag Awards for 6 urban parks – The Rye and Hughenden Park in High Wycombe, Higginson Park in Marlow, Vale Park and Bedgrove Park in Aylesbury and Heartlands in Buckingham.