Agenda item
Minutes:
The following hot topics were discussed:-
Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration
As the Council was in the discover and exploration phase of the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire a survey had been posted on Your Voice Bucks to obtain views on where new development should be located and what the Council should do to protect Buckinghamshire. The deadline for the survey was 11 February 2022. Included in this was how the Council could make the best use of sites that had already been built on (brownfield sites).
https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/planning/local-plan-2021/
Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources, Property and Assets
Reference was made to another consultation on the Winslow Sports Hub where the Council was proposing to build a new purpose-built sports hub on land at Redfield Farm. The deadline for the consultation was 21 December 2021.
https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/culture-sports-and-leisure/winslow-sports-hub/
Cabinet Member for Transport
Winter road maintenance was well underway with 27 gritting runs already undertaken.
Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services
The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) was a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 which invited people from across the United Kingdom to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee”. Everyone in the UK had been invited to plant trees and the service area was encouraging schools to play their part to enhance the environment by planting trees during the official planting season between October to March. Planting had commenced in Buckinghamshire schools.
Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment
In Buckinghamshire the Council was already leading on a major programme of woodland planting which with the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative would aim to see approximately 543,000 trees planted on large sites of council-owned land over the next ten years in a bid to address climate change in Buckinghamshire. It was planned that the scheme, which linked to the Climate Change Strategy, would see the council becoming carbon neutral by 2050 or earlier. This was the best time of the year to plant trees.
There would be a campaign in the New Year on car idling and also a litter campaign. With car idling there was no legal power to enforce this but it would be an educational campaign.
Cabinet Member for Communities
Through the Helping Hand Service the Council were distributing £30 digital vouchers for food and support (including fuel prices) to help families; these vouchers could be used in most supermarkets. Also available was support for financial insecurity where free online events were being held to provide information to residents. The first one was organised through Red Kite Community Housing and was held on 2nd December 2021. The Leader also referred to the £2.4 million grant given to the Council by the Government as part of the Household Support Fund and thanked the Helping Hand Service who was helping with its distribution.
Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Regulatory Services
The Council was undertaking a consultation on the draft Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Policy. Buckinghamshire Council, in its role as the Licensing Authority, was responsible for issuing permits and licences for premises where gambling took place. The final, amended version of the Policy would then go to the Licensing Committee on 2 February 2022, followed by Full Council on 23 February 2022 for approval.
https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/communities/gambling-act-policy/
Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure
The Chilterns Lifestyle Centre opened its doors to the public on Monday 6 December 2021. The new centre has a fantastic range of facilities to serve the entire community including a climbing wall, nursery, library, skateboard park, outdoor gym and spa.
https://www.everyoneactive.com/centre/chilterns-lifestyle-centre/
Deputy Cabinet Member for Public Health
The Government published the People at the Heart of Care: adult social care white paper on 1 December 2021 which set out a 10 year vision for adult social care and provided information on funded proposals in areas such as housing and home adaptions, technology and digitisation, workforce training, support for unpaid carers and innovation.