INTRODUCTION
Both of us attended the election count at Braywick Leisure Centre. It was fascinating seeing the process and the many many checks there are in the system to ensure accuracy. We got home around 7am so a restful following day. Due to the election period, known as Purdah, many meetings were postponed and have now taken place, so lots of meetings over the month.
ROCK THE REC
The Clewer & Dedworth Together music festival took place on Saturday 6th July – the weather wasn’t kind but we had a great turnout. Helen wasn’t able to attend due to a personal event but Alison, as one of the organisers, was there all day.
Here is Alison with her fellow trustees, Lee & Amy and the team from Busy Buttons.
GARDEN IN BLOOM
We’ve had a large number of entries, over 70, by far the largest, and will be whittling these down to 1st and 2nd prize in August.
The photo is of Helen’s garden – she didn’t enter but Alison reckons it looks good!
VALE ROAD PARKING
The situation re badly parked cars is much improved. One of the car dealers has moved out, which has helped considerably, as well as that area being used to park Friday worshippers cars. Parking Enforcement officers have been visiting and this has no doubt helped. It’s not perfect but a big improvement. We recognise we’ll have to keep an eye on this to ensure it doesn’t revert back.
AGE CONCERN
Helen attended their Summer Fair at Spencer Denney The home made cakes were delicious. It raised several hundreds of pounds which is vital for this charity.
PARKS AND OPEN SPACES
Helen took the new Cabinet Member responsible for Parks and Open Spaces and other areas, Cllr Jack Douglas, for a whistle stop tour round the three allotments, five Parks, four childrens/young people’s play areas and one cemetery, whilst pointing out community assets such as the NWCA in Hanover Way.
Alison is still asking the council officers about playground inspections and will continue to pursue this until she gets a satisfactory answer.
ELLISON HOUSE
Helen is a Trustee of the New Windsor Municipal Charities and attended a regular Trustee meeting. Ellison House is the Alms House in Victoria Street. She is impressed by how well it is run.
The photo in the header is of Ellison House.
VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR PARTNERSHIP FORUM
Helen attended this at Pug Yard, Windsor Castle – a lovely setting!. The theme was on successful fund-raising. There were about 40 attendees so a good opportunity to network and find out whats going on.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Helen continued liaising with Centrica – this month they run two litter picking sessions across Windsor including our Ward. She also met with the relevant RBWM officer to commence discussions on how our suppliers (there are many both large and small) are going to deliver social value and support our local communities. This is very exciting and has great potential.
NUMBER 22
Helen attended its AGM in Maidenhead Town Hall, as she has done in previous year. It is a registered charity providing free and confidential counselling to adults and young people in Windsor, Maidenhead and Slough, supporting those in distress where clients can feel valued and heard. Helen is very impressed by how professionally it is run and believes it can provide an example to others in the charitable sector.
COUNCIL
This was a packed agenda due to the previous one being postponed due to the election. Two items concerned our financial situation. Helen raised her concerns that it appeared we haven’t had robust financial systems in place and yet it is the legal duty of the S115 officer to ensure there are. https://youtu.be/b7QUxTCxuNU?t=5553
Alison put forward a motion to ask the Leader of the council to write to Thames Water about the numerous issues we are experiencing with floods and burst water pipes in Clewer Hill Road and Winkfield Road. The motion did finally carry after a couple of amendments. You can watch it here https://www.youtube.com/live/b7QUxTCxuNU?si=0q4XGZibmwGFIDF0
CABINET
Helen attends most Cabinet meetings in person. She makes points and asks question with the aim of ensuring improvements. This meeting she was a jack-in-the-box as you will now see. She gained agreement that future minutes would reflect what residents had stated, not just what they spoken. https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=266. She questioned why the CIPFA Report was not yet on the Forward Plan. It will be. CIPFA are the accounting body for local authorities and are currently looking at our financial situation. Our CEO delivered a grave statement about our financial situation https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=257 Helen posted widely about this separately on social media such was the seriousness of his statement. At the Cabinet meeting Helen responded asking about a contingency plan https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=4247 . She also questioned re the renewal of insurances https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=4665 Helen was publicly thanked for championing the Equal Opportunies over her years as a Councillor. https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=5570 She sought clarification as to why we had two suppliers for the dry mixed recycling. https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=6095 She expressed delight that it appears the Property Company was to be brought in house https://youtu.be/0kbSB6KcvgE?t=7149
CORPORATE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY PANEL
Helen is now Vice Chair so liaises with the Chair before the meeting on items to be discussed and how the meeting can be more effective. At this meeting we had two subsitututes and one new member so shedeliberately kept quieter than usual to encourage new members to contribute. She asked about our temporary housing and asked for clarification about the capitalization direction in layman’s terms https://youtu.be/L3HywpnfWRU?t=2769 . She asked about the shortfall in parking income compared to budget, and whether the increase in price for public car parks was just too steep https://youtu.be/L3HywpnfWRU?t=3433 She asked about the impact of being short staffed https://youtu.be/L3HywpnfWRU?t=4501 She also made comments re how CIL is managed https://youtu.be/L3HywpnfWRU?t=7547 which was following up on what she had raised at the previous meeting regarding CIL and Heatherwood Hospital.
RESIDENTS ISSUES
Damp and condensation, overgrown hedges, refuse bins, ASB, fly tipping, housing issues
CONSULTATIONS
Have Your Say on the Residents’ newsletter – closing date August 16 https://rbwmtogether.rbwm.gov.uk/residents-newsletter-consultation
MEETINGS
Sawyers Close Residents re new development, Independent Cllrs meeting, Full Council, Ellison House, Cabinet, Windsor Forum, Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Panel, officer re social value, VCS Forum, Windsor and Ascot Development Panel.