Agenda item

Appendix 1 – Community Board Terms of Reference.

The Chairman stated that the Community Board (CB) would be the ‘eyes, ears and voice’ of the community.  The CB covered a large area of Buckinghamshire from Fawley in the West to the Wooburns in the East and had a population of approximately 38,000.  There was £129K available for funding local projects (this was based on the population) and £43K for infrastructure works.  The CB was keen to work with the PCs, stakeholders and community groups and would set up a number of sub-groups to review the applications.  The sub-groups would also look at other potential funding sources.

Makyla Devlin, Community Board Co-ordinator, provided a presentation, appended to the minutes, and highlighted the following points:

• The aim of the CBs was to bring the community together; the CBs had a combined budget of £3.9m which was significant resource to make a difference.
• The CB would find out what was important to residents and embrace collaborative working to enable use of the best expertise.
• The Covid-19 pandemic had highlighted the community spirit which had helped resolve issues; the CBs would build on the spirit.
• There would be a mixture of formal and informal CB meetings which would take place in various locations across the area.
• Positive public engagement was key; Facebook, online forums, video conferencing and other digital platforms would ensure a wide range of engagement.
• Everyone was welcome to attend; town and parish councils (PCs), the Fire Service, Police, voluntary and community organisations and members of the public; a wide membership would provide valuable intelligence and would vary depending on the topics raised.
• Informal sub-groups would improve the outcomes for residents.
• Valuable connections had been made during the pandemic and work was being carried out with voluntary sector partners to evolve the CB.
• Residents would be consulted to allocate the budget.
• £250K of the CB budget was allocated for urgent Covid-19 need in April 2020.
• Highways maintenance and planning issues would be discussed in dedicated sub-groups; Transport for Bucks Local Area Technicians and Area Managers would be included without having to attend the evening CB meetings.   However, a highways officer could be invited to a CB meeting if there was a relevant agenda item.

The following points were raised and discussed:

• It was agreed that input must come from the residents and that it was not for councillors to dictate how the budget would be allocated.
• The Chairman explained that the CB would decide on the funding proposals; the unitary councillors would each have a vote and PCs would have an indicative vote.
• Pothole issues should be reported via the online reporting tool – Fix My Street.
• A member was concerned that the CB could by-pass the PCs.  Some local issues required a speedy decision; PCs were an important part of the jigsaw and acted as a link to Buckinghamshire Council (BC).  Councillor D Barnes declared an interest at this point as he was a member of a PC and BC; he agreed that PCs had a strong role on the CB but the CB would have to be mindful of projects across the area but added that it would not be a problem if a decision was needed urgently.
• £10K had been allocated out of £16K allocated for Covid-19.  If the proposal was £2K or below it needed three councillors to agree; if it was over £2K it would have needed agreement from the CB.
• It was noted that some projects would be carried over from the Local Area Forum and clarification was requested on the process.  The Chairman advised that officers would work closely with the sub-groups and assess whether a proposal met the criteria.  The sub-group would also consider if funding could be obtained from another source.  It was anticipated that there would be a number of proposals/projects by September and the CB would be briefed on whether they had met the criteria.  Virtual meetings would be held in between the CB meetings if a decision needed to be agreed.

·       M Devlin would be involved in the all the working/sub groups.