Agenda item

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

·         Funding Update – to be presented by Makyla Devlin, Senior Community Board Co-ordinator.

·         Court Garden Leisure Centre Pool Liner – to be presented by Makyla Devlin.

·         Public Questions, received in advance, to be presented by the Chairman.

·         The Action Group updates are attached for information.

Buckinghamshire Council Update – Steve Bambrick, Service Director for Planning and Environment and Community Board Champion, highlighted the following:

• The ‘Helping Hand’ team at Buckinghamshire Council were available to provide advice and support to those experiencing financial hardship; contact via the online contact form or phone 01296 531151.  A range ofInformation was available on the Council website in relation to the cost of living.   Central government was also providing a support package – information available here.
• The Council libraries would be used as a ‘Welcoming Space’ for anyone and would provide a warm, welcoming and supportive space for anyone who needed it.  Everyone would be looked after with dignity and respect. 
• The new highways maintenance contractor from April 2023 would be Balfour Beaty.  58 projects had been agreed but not completed.  22 were rated as green and should be completed before the handover, 10 were rated as amber and were ready for the new contractor to take forward.  26 projects were rated red and would be reviewed.  There were another 55 projects on which a decision needed to be made. All the community boards had been asked to keep schemes on hold until the new contractor was in place and there was more clarity around the new process.
• Support for the Ukrainian guests was ongoing; there were 700 hosts accommodating 1200 Ukrainian guests in Buckinghamshire.  Sponsor arrangements were coming to an end and the Council was working closely with the Government to manage the impacts for the Ukrainian guests and the residents.  It was likely that the numbers would continue to rise.
• The Local heritage listings was a new initiative in the Council and a phase one local list would be coming out in December.   Anyone could nominate important assets in the county.

The following key points were raised during discussion:

• John Laker, representing Marlow Energy Group’s Solar Together project enquired about future funding.  Steve agreed to check and provide a response to John.

Action:  Steve Bambrick

• Olwen Elliott enquired about the status of two projects.  Steve offered to contact Olwen for the details and to provide a response.

Action:  Steve Bambrick

• Makyla Devlin requested that any queries related to the Westhorpe project be directed through Councillor Mark Turner. 
• Steve agreed to provide the community board with a list showing the rating of each project.

Action:  Steve Bambrick

Funding Update - The Chairman advised that £21,469 remained in the CB budget for 2022/23 and requested committee members spread the word that funding was available.  Match funding was required for any funding requests and all bids were to be submitted by 31 January 2023. 

The Proud of Bucks awards highlighted local heroes and the chairman thanked the Clare foundation for sponsoring and supporting the scheme.  A similar event would held next year and nominations could be submitted between 9 January and 12 February 2023. 

Any Other Business

Makyla advised that the swimming pool at Court Garden Leisure Centre would be closed from 12-18 December 2022 in order to correct an issue with the pool liner.

With reference to the Environment and Climate Change action group report, Councillor Carol Heap confirmed that Sandygate School was in the process of preparing a funding application for a solar system to be installed.

The Chairman thanked all the contributors and wished everyone a happy Christmas.