Agenda item

The Action Groups will provide a verbal update to the Community Board.

Minutes:

Councillor Renshell informed Members that the following Action Groups had met since the previous meeting of the Community Board:

 

·         Roads and Highways

·         Public and Community Transport

·         Health

·         HS2 and EWR

 

At the first meeting of the Community Board, it had been agreed that young people and youth provision were important to Members and that an Action Group should be formed to explore opportunities to deliver this. However, no volunteers had yet been found to sit on this group. Anyone interested in volunteering to develop projects to improve the lives of local young people and promote youth engagement with the Community Board as part of this group was encouraged to contact Leone.

 

The Chairman then invited the Action Group leaders to give a brief verbal update on their work. Members heard from:

 

VronCorben – Health

 

The Health Action Group had examined the findings of the report presented by Dr. Shakiba Habibula at the first meeting of the Community Board on 16 July concerning specific health issues within the Community Board area. The group sought to increase the number of health checks in the region as recommended in the report. Advice was being sought from Norden House Surgery about the ways in which this could be achieved in advance of the next group meeting in February, where they would be discussed in further detail.

 

The group hoped to be able to provide regular future updates to the Community Board concerning the need for replacement healthcare facilities in Winslow. Councillor Monger informed Vron that a conversation had taken place with the Head of Primary Care at Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group in which it was indicated that views on the issue were welcome for future consideration with Buckinghamshire Council Officers. Further details would be shared with the group following the meeting.

 

Conversations had taken place concerning the health crisis’ ongoing impact on mental health, recognising that isolation and anxiety were already a greater risk in rural areas. The group hoped to take stock of the available befriending services in the voluntary sector, as well as the available services supporting residents with mental healthcare needs in the locality.

 

Youth groups and services would be contacted to explore avenues for promoting exercise as part of leading a healthy and active lifestyle. It was hoped that should a dedicated Youth Action Group be established, that this could be an area of close future cooperation, or a project they might like to take on themselves. Councillor Chilver reminded Vron of the Sports Hub development taking place on Great Horwood Road and encouraged her to pass on the findings of the group’s consultation with local services and youth groups for consideration as part of the development plans.

 

 

 

 

Councillor Stanier – Roads and Highways

 

Initial discussions had focused on issues relating to traffic and speeding as well as the use of MVAS systems. It was hoped that the group’s weight could be put behind future activities to mitigate these issues where they were most prominent. Anyone wanting to raise/discuss a traffic or speeding related issue was encouraged to contact Leone or Councillor Stanier for future discussion at the next meeting of the Action Group.

 

Trish Cawte – Public and Community Transport

 

A questionnaire would be created in both a digital and physical format to gauge the views and priorities of residents in relation to public and community transport. This would be run as a pilot by Great Horwood Parish Council and the ideas expressed by respondents would be analysed and discussed at the next Action Group meeting.

Vron informed Trish that the Community Cars scheme in Winslow would be happy to share their information with the transport group should a similar project be desired across a wider area.

 

Councillor Chilver - HS2 and EWR (joint working group)

 

Members were reminded that this was a Joint Working Group in collaboration with Members of the Haddenham and Waddeston, and Buckingham Community Boards.

Councillor Chilver reported that the previous meeting had lasted nearly three hours, indicating the level of interest and the amount of activity currently taking place in relation to the two projects concerned, mainly related to traffic issues and road closures. Questions that went unanswered at the previous meeting would be carried forward to the following meeting ensuring that no question would be forgotten or lost.

 

Members’ attention was drawn to the dedicated page set up to cover this Joint Working Group which was linked to the Community Board page on the Buckinghamshire Council website. Presentation slides and meeting agendas from previous meetings could also be found there.

 

Anyone interested in attending the next meeting on 10th December was encouraged to contact Leone.

 

The Chairman thanked the Action Group leaders for their contributions and encouraged anyone interested in their ongoing work, or with new suggestions for projects to contact Leone.