Transcript

Chair, we're live on YouTube. We'd like to go ahead and start the meeting, please. On Monday, 20, May 2024, my name is Councillor Mandy Briar, and shall we chair in this meeting? This meeting is being held in person and by Zoom and streamed live to the public on YouTube. I remind attendees that the participation in the meeting indicates consent to the audio and video stream live and acknowledgement that after the meeting it will continue to be available in public domain. Firstly, it will be useful if all panel members and officers could introduce themselves so that the public are aware of who is in the meeting and the role they undertake. Thank you. We start from Jackie. >> Hi, good evening, everyone. I'm Jackie Wheeler. I'm the Parks and Countryside Access Officer for the Royal Barrow of Windsor and Made in Head. All right. >> Good evening, everybody. I'm the Rembrandt of Democratic Services team leader and Clark to the panel tonight. Good evening, everyone. My name is Kim Woodley and I'm the Democratic Services officer. Hello. I'm Simon Weyerner, Councillor for Pinkie's Green. I'm Craig Boschville, also for Pinkie's Green. I have a room for Councillor. >> I have a room for the Councillor. Board. Councillor Karpeter. >> And I've got Councillor Hill online. Good evening. >> Good evening, Chairman, Councillor Jeffrey Hill for Oldfield Ward. >> Thank you, Jeffrey. All right. Apologies for absence. >> I'm just going to go in a sense of apologies. He's going to try and log in on teams. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. No other apologies other than that. >> Okay. Declaration of interest. Any Declaration of interest? No? Okay. Okay. We'll start with a gender item four. Sorry. Oh, sorry. Minutes of the last minute. Meeting. Agreed. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Now we are on a gender item four. I would ask, Jackie, will you let me introduce the report, please. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Barr. And thanks everyone for coming to this meeting, which is to request approval for this year's review of the milestone statement, which is public rights away document, and the review of the rights away improvement plan for 24-25. So this gives an idea of what the results were from the 23-24 year. And it's so that we can approve the review of the statement going forward for 24-25 with our priorities, targets, and service standards for rights of way work in the coming year. It gives us a framework to work towards and to help others understand their work. Hopefully, you've had a chance to read the milestone statement, which is shown in appendix B, I believe, of the reports, and the actual consultation responses from parish councils and the local access forum contained in appendix C. I wonder if there are any particular questions of a resident 21. >> Right. I'm pleased to introduce the 26th annual milestone statement for the raw borough, making 26 years since the council and highway authority became responsible for management and maintenance of the borough's public's right away in 1998. I hope the resident and the visitors to the borough will continue to enjoy these public rights away as a means of accessing the borough's beautiful country side and as a healthy and stress-free way of getting about. We will continue to work with all the partners, including the local access forum, parish and town councils, land owners, path users, groups, including the east part of your members, British society, and Susprins to achieve these goals. I wish to thank you all our partners for their continued cooperation, support and enthusiasm. >> Right. Thank you. Shall we stop? Yes, of course. You can come back. >> If there are any questions at this point from anyone, if you're happy to try and answer those, but I do have a PowerPoint of some photographs you might be interested in looking at. >> Thank you. I won't delay you too long, then. I just noticed an awful lot of time and hours coming from volunteers, but obviously you rely on them heavily. Has that amount of hours gone up until much in recent years? Thanks, Councillor Baskerville. Unfortunately, this year, the amount of hours that the volunteers have been able to put into public rights away networks has reduced, slightly because we've been unable to have any work done by what is called the conservation volunteers, which is a group called TCV, which we generally usually have doing a couple of projects on the network, but unfortunately this year, they weren't successful in the bid for the RBWM grant, which they normally get. There was some changes to the way that the funding is given now, which meant that this year, unsuccessful, but we are looking to work with them again in the future. >> I've got Councillor Cohen, would you like to introduce yourself? >> Yes, apologies for being slightly late. I'm in the middle of nowhere in Devon. We're having a few IT problems. My name is Councillor Coe. I'm a member for Maidenhead Riverside. I'm a member of the panel. >> Thank you, Councillor Coe. Right. Councillor Cohen. >> Yes, thank you. Just a comment. The comments made, one from Sunning Hill and Ascot Parish Council concerning, not too happy, the fact that Hurley has received nine interventions. I think it's a benefit to remind them that Hurley, with Wolf and St Lawrence, the whole parish, White Wolf and the Shattersbrook, has 90.469 kilometres of public footpath's bridleways restricted byways. This is just an example of how much we have in the ward and what has been done. I know Sunning Hill and Ascot Parish Council certainly don't have that amount. So I'd just like that to be noted. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do you not know that or please? >> Yes. Thank you. Right. Any other questions on the milestone statement? Oh, sorry, Councillor Baskerville. Sorry. >> One more point. I know this has been very wet winter. Has that affected your work at all this year? >> Thank you, Councillor Baskerville. Yes, if you note on the targets that we had, which is on, I think it's appendix six of the document, the milestone statement, if I just scroll up, it's on page 36. You'll note that the achievements for 23, 24, where we have a combined annual result, the first service, the first indicator, sorry, WM1, we had a combined annual result of 90%, we're normally our target for that indicator is 95% and we normally get closer to it. But unfortunately, when the conditions surveys are carried out, it is an autumn survey and a spring survey, and unfortunately, this year, it coincided with extreme weather events on both occasions, so we had trees down across paths. And if a tree is down across a path when the actual survey is undertaken, that means that the whole path, no matter how long it is, fails. So, unfortunately, that's the reason we think that we've got a lower result this year, the percentage length of the rights of Way Network that failed was due to these events. Thank you. Right, Councillor Wernher. Thank you very much. Just a couple of questions about the list of schemes on the back. First one, I noticed a particular favourite scheme of mine, which is taking the towpath from the end of Mill Lane through across to Oddney Common. We haven't gone back to the landlord since 2009 to see if there's any possibility of having the towpath actually going either across the Oddney Club or across Formosa called. I suppose the wider question to that is, when do we go back regularly to the land owner? I know there's been a change of ownership of Formosa called. I think George Young has given it to his son or something. Do we go back regularly? It's 2019 is a long time ago. Second point was, I couldn't see on the list, the footpath across to Sashis Island across the Weir in Cookham has been locked for the last two years, which means that part of our footpath network is completely inaccessible to residents, which isn't right. Sashis Island is quite historic importance. Should that be added to the list or have I just missed it as I've gone through the report? Okay. Thanks, Councillor MURNA. You're referring to Appendix 7, the long list of site-specific themes. Those actually are suggestions which came from the original rights-of-way improvement plan consultation with the local area and the local parish councils, which is probably why you don't see Sashis Island on it because it's not - I don't think it was raised at that time as an issue. With that specific issue, it has been discussed at the recent local access forum meetings, and I know it's been raised by Cookham parish council as well for answers. Unfortunately, at the moment, we're still in talks with the Environment Agency because the gates across the bridge there, that the bridge crossing is that two Sashis Island is permissive, and we don't have any way of forcing them to open that up. So, Sashis Island itself, the public right-of-way on there, we have had our contractor has had access from the Environment Agency that has been arranged through us to do some clearance work on the footpath so that we can continually make sure it's inspected and continue with our regime in that way, because our argument is that people could still get to the island via boats or a news path. Yeah, I know my colleague is in communication with the Environment Agency. I think they have problems with regards to - if I recall rightly, I think there are problems with regards to the water safety there because they've had issues with people with incidents in the water there. So, it is an ongoing issue with us, and we will be speaking with them again. With regards to the other one, could you refer me to the right page on the list? It's on the cupum list, the number -

1. Yeah, 20. I mean, yeah, the update is from March 2009. It is something that we could look at chasing up with the landowner again. I can check with my colleague to see when the last time was that we spoke to them, and if there is a potential for something to happen on that, then we can follow it up. But I suppose the wider question on that is, are there other ones that go back a long time that have, you know, should we be doing a review of them to see whether we can, you know, whether it's so long ago that we need to be coming back? Well, the whole point is that the list is in the milestones review on an annual basis. It's looked at, so parish councils can come forward with information if there's a development site in the future or that's coming forward, that would potentially affect any of these and that we could then get a contribution from the developer or some kind of new provision. So the reason it's the list is in the milestones is so that we can continually review it. So that's why we get things like there are updates from all the years. So, for instance, number 10 has March 2020 update. So it is something that we have in the list so that we can continually review it. Does that make sense? Okay, yeah. Thank you so much. Silent, the access from we, our two world councillors, Google Society, are talking to EA. They're supposed to open in March, but now they sort of said it'll be May's, and we're going to another meeting end of this month with them. So hopefully due sometimes they will open from 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. Well, if you need my help to sort of make things happen and let me know. Of course, we'll do. Thank you. Councillor HAT. Yes, thank you. Just following on from page 36, well on 36, to produce one new parish rights away leaflet. And we have that pretty much every milestone statement. What was the last one? I seem to remember it being eaten, was it? Last year, previous today's list, it was Ray'sbury, I believe, and Wolfson, St. Lawrence updated theirs, but it wasn't a new one. So what was, where was it? It's got total nil. What was the one that we were looking for? I believe this year it was, we were looking at Sunning Hill and Ascot. We're looking at a leaflet, but it didn't go through the process. They need to come to the public rights array team with suggestions as to what they want to put on it and the design we have facilitated. Yes, they are interested. It's on our list for this year. So hopefully we'll get a leaflet this year. Right. So what are we thinking of for this year? The Sunning Hill and Ascot one. Sunning from last year. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councillor HAT. Anybody else? Councillor Verner. Who pays for that, presumably the parish pay for it, and we create it? Yes, generally the parish pays for the leaflet. We facilitate and help them with the information on it and put them in touch with the designer that we use. I believe that's how it works. Okay, fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Right. The milestones. Oh, Jacqueline, do you like to come in? Yes, and you've got to, yeah. Can I share the PowerPoint? Okay, so if you just scroll through, this is a PowerPoint that put together of the volunteer work that we have had done on the network this year. So 23-24 up to the end of March 2024. So you'll see there, right away, five in Horton, which is particularly difficult because it continually suffers from fly tipping and it's right next to our boundary with SLOW and there is, I'm in contact with the community safety team at SLOW. We had about this issue and we had the Ways and to Work Park team doing a little picking task which just shows how much. That was not even the whole route, so was so useful. The next one is riders, sorry. First photo, was that rubbish? Deeper, not stones? No, that is rubbish. That's absolutely disgraceful. Good Lord, thank you. Yeah, the next one is Bridal Way 64 in Bray, which is known as Crutch Lane. At the north end, you've got Drift Road and it's a huge long Bridal Way which at the bottom end, I believe there is a farm shop near and Hawthorne Lane, if that's right, is there as well. We had the BCA Foundation students who regularly go out for us and clear sort of cut back vegetation and clear paths for us and that's what they were doing in those pictures. The next one is another one of the Foundation students who were working on the Thames path early, cutting back vegetation to clear that route, moving things off the path. The next one is again the BCA students who were working on those paths. Oh, hang on, the next one, sorry. The next one is number six, is Brayrick Park, where we had last July, a team of corporate volunteers for a day at Brayrick Park. We had a couple of tons of aggregate puts close by that they could wheelbarrow to try and solve these problems the before and afters. Unfortunately, it is still a problem because it just, the material that was put down kind of moves around, it gets used a lot and it does need some more material now, so it's a constantly moving kind of maintenance issue. But that was a really good day and they did some cutting back and painting out graffiti as well. The next one is the same group on the same day where we were cutting back vegetation which had overhung these steps, leading down to the Greenway at Braywick and on the other side, leading up to the nature reserve. I think they really enjoyed that day so we're trying to encourage groups, but it's a very difficult thing to find the tasks. It's a very labor-intensive thing to try and get volunteers on the network, but yeah, we do our best to try and do that. The next one is works on Hurley for Path Five, which were funded by East part Schiramblers. So we've got the improvement to the bridge and I think the bridge itself was actually funded by the borough, but the gates that replaced the style there in the final picture were actually funded by the ramblers, but installed by the farmer. Can I just ask the question about the bridge? At one point you were using composite material for bridges as in the bridge that we had made. I'm trying to think of the name of it now. Rights of Way, Lady. I think before your time. Do you mean Sharon or Sharon? No, no, no, no, this was a volunteer. She was in the public gallery all the time, and she was very prominent on the Thames path on various things like this. Anyway, the bridge is named after her. Oh, you do mean Margaret Baldry? That's it. Yeah, she was one of the disabled ramblers, I believe. No, she wasn't disabled. Oh, she was chair of... Yeah, I never met her myself. But the bridge was made was a composite material. It was, yes. Are you using the bath because this one looks like wood? This one is wood. We don't generally use that that recycled material. We do use it sometimes for benches on imparks and but not on any bridges that are in this kind of location. It doesn't stand up well because we were told at the time this material was excellent and would outlast wood. So, has that changed? To be honest, I don't know, but I can look into that and see if there's any reason. I think obviously the wooden material is easier for our contractor to get hold of. I don't know what the costs are like in comparison to each other, so that could be an issue. But it is something that I'll take back and look into. Thank you. And that's the end of the PowerPoint. Oh, sorry. Yeah, the final one is the kissing gate, which replaced the style on that footpath in Hurley. The reason it seems like a lot of things were done in Hurley is because it was just the perfect storm. The landowner was very amenable to doing the work himself, and we had this funding from the East Park Chorambolas who were happy to do the works and make the paths more accessible. Shall we get on with the milestone statement now? Is there any questions on the milestone? Or shall we take it as well? I'm sure everybody has read it. Is there any questions? Do you, Councillor Bernan? Thank you. It's really impressive all the volunteer action and all the help you're getting East Park Chor BCA using its training and the corporate volunteering sounds really interesting. But I think you said in answer to something Clive said that the volunteering is down over the last year. And sort of what can we do? And you said it was about ground funding for it. Can you expand a bit more on that? Because the volunteers are doing an amazing job. And if we have more volunteers, then we can do even more amazing job. Thanks, Councillor Ioanno. We are doing a lot of work. The volunteers coming forward for work in parks, which is the other part of my job as public rights away. The issue is more with the public rights away side of things. It's because the conservation volunteers weren't successful in the bid for the RBW grant. But the reason for that is because the grant process changed. And we are working with them towards a bid that they're putting in for heritage lottery funding, which will help overall management of volunteers in parks and public rights away in the borough. So there is a lot going on in the background for volunteers. But it just didn't coincide with last year's kind of targets. So it was a bit down because normally we have the conservation volunteers. There is also the issue of lack of staff time and resources, which is down as well. But we are hopeful for the future to do work with the conservation volunteers and get more people out there on the network doing work for us. I've been out a couple of times myself, and it is hard work putting stone down with the wheelbarrow. But yeah, we do have our normal teams doing the clearance works, and we're hoping to get more people out there from friends off groups and using parks. So I hope that answers your question. Yeah, fantastic. I mean, a major part of our new corporate plan is about, you know, involved in the community and volunteers and stuff. So, again, anything I can do to help let me know. Thank you, Councillor Verner. Councillor COW. Yes, it's fantastic all the volunteers are helping. Are we helping to facilitate them? I mean, do we provide things like insurance? You mentioned that we're not able to, we didn't grant fun at this time. Are we able to provide insurance and things like that, that will help them with actually coming out to volunteer? Thanks, Councillor COW. Yeah, that's a really good question, because I get asked that a lot. We do have any individual volunteers who work for the borough are covered under our Employee Liability Insurance and Public Liability Insurance, but generally, the groups that come through are ones which already affiliated with the groups, for instance, GoodJim, and they have their own insurance, which covers their volunteers. So, we do cover individual volunteers as part of the borough's Employee Liability Insurance. I hope that answers your question. Thank you, Jackie. Thank you, Councillor COW. Right. Moving on to the milestone statement, general induction. Do you want to run through it, or would you like to take it as red? I'm sure everybody have read it. Any questions from the milestone statement? Councillor Hunt? Following on about the volunteers. Are you putting anything in? I know we're not sending out around the borough, but we do do residence newsletters. Are you putting anything in the residence newsletters to, well, hopefully get some volunteers, because I'm sure there's a lot of people in the town, people want to get away into the countryside, would love to do this kind of thing. Thanks, Councillor Hunt. We have in the past put sort of adverts for volunteers to get in touch with the conservation volunteers group to do work on the public rights away. As I said though, we've also got groups forming now for parks, particular parks, and what have you in the borough, and I'm working closely with the community's team. So we are looking at sort of promoting it, and throughout all the communities in the borough, to do work in their local park, and hopefully by extension, the public rights away network as well. So it is something that we're working hard on this year, and we're seeing the fruits of it, because we've got a new friends of groups popping up, and being supported by Wild Maidenhead as well. So yeah. Thank you. I can see the budget is the same for 2324 and 2425, which is on page 20. Yep. So I'll be happy with that. Yeah, Jackie. Unfortunately, we don't have any capital budget. Revenue budget. The revenue budget remains the same. So, yeah. This is what I'm saying. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Would you like to - anybody wants to vote on the - do you like to - motion? Yeah. Second. Thank you. All those in favour? Thank you, everyone. I think that is the last item on the agenda. Yep. Thanks, everyone. I'll close the meeting. Thank you.