Maureen Hunt	Andrew Johnson
Email: cllr.hunt@rbwm.gov.uk	Email: cllr.johnson@rbwm.gov.uk

We are now in the season of Spring and all the joy this brings especially for us living in this beautiful part of England.

Over the last two years, we have seen the indomitable spirit of you all during the Covid pandemic which was of course a huge worldwide concern and it is thanks to all those who had the vaccine is this country now able to move forward.

We are now seeing the huge increase in gas prices which is a concern for us all but if you do have problems, please contact the council.

However, another huge worldwide concern is upon us with the invasion of Ukraine.  We are seeing genuine solidarity and compassion from so many countries to help with Humanitarian Aid and offer accommodation to all those displaced Ukrainians.    Locally, we have seen the overwhelming amount of aid donations collected and taken to distribution centres.  We are all hoping, the situation in Ukraine will look more hopeful in the very near future.

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Standing together with Ukraine 

We would like to express our solidarity with the democratic state of Ukraine and our deep sympathies for the millions of people whose lives are being so brutally affected by this terrible conflict, which is sadly bringing death, injury and separation from loved ones. 

Closer to home, our thoughts are with Ukrainians living in the Royal Borough, and the Thames Valley more widely, and especially anyone who has family or friends in Ukraine and has to endure the daily fear and uncertainty as to their wellbeing. 

As a symbol of standing together with the Ukrainian people, we are flying the Ukrainian flag on the Town Hall and Windsor Guildhall, and as a compassionate borough we will continue to play our part in any Government scheme helping refugees seeking sanctuary in the UK. 

If residents would like to help with the global humanitarian effort, we are encouraging them to give to the British Red Cross emergency appeal or the Disasters Emergency Committee humanitarian appeal.    https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal

https://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

You may also be interested in the article below which was posted by Daniela Shanly recently.

The Sanctuary Foundation an organisation set up by one of our Beech Lodge School parents Dr Krish Kandiah to support Ukrainian refugees to the UK. There was a lot of info about Community Sponsorship which we at Beech Lodge are committing to.

If any of you are able to offer accommodation or support to a Ukrainian family, we will help with transport, furniture, bedding, school places, trauma therapy, community support and funds.

Please let me know as we are keen to help in any way possible 

For info on the Sanctuary Foundation and the process of matching with a Ukrainian family see:

SANCTUARYFOUNDATION.ORG.UK

Sanctuary Foundation | Supporting New Arrivals from Ukraine

Below is some information from the council that we are sure will be of interest.

The Budget for 2022/2023

In February, the budget for 2022/23 was approved to deliver significant infrastructure upgrades, support our most vulnerable residents, and ensure the council continues to provide high quality services for all residents.

The budget, which was approved during Full Council, will significantly increase levels of investment and growth in key areas, and support delivery of the priorities in the council’s Corporate Plan.

Forming the basis of discussion at Full Council and in recent weeks was the public consultation on the budget proposals that amassed some 1,800 responses from residents, community groups and businesses.

Our key investment as part of our 2022/23 budget includes:

• £35 million in adult’s services;
• £27 million in children’s services;
• £18 million in town centre regeneration and improvements;
• £7 million in developing our school estate;
• £6 million in highways, road safety and active travel;
• £5 million in public health.

The portion of Council Tax which supports the Royal Borough’s council services will increase by 2.99% in 2022/23, made up of a 1.99% increase in the general charge and 1% increase in the social care precept. For a band D property, Council Tax will rise to £1,164.99, this equates to an increase of £33.82 – just 65p per week.

The Royal Borough remains as having one of the lowest Council Tax charges in England and is the lowest in Berkshire.

Learn more in our 2022/23 budget press release.  https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/news/investment-budget-ensure-high-quality-services-approved-full-council

St Marks Hospital update from NHS January 2022

Following a request from the Royal Borough, NHS commissioners for Maidenhead have reaffirmed their commitment to the town’s St Mark’s Hospital site. A wide variety of services is either provided at the hospital, in St Mark’s Road, or delivered by teams based at the site and in recent months service provision has even increased. NHS Frimley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) – which plans and funds the majority of health services provided to the local population – is aware of a story circulating questioning the future viability of the hospital. Caroline Farrar, the CCG’s Executive Managing Director for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, said: “Since we reiterated our commitment to the St Mark’s site in October last year nothing has changed to affect that support. In fact quite the reverse, in that we have worked with local GP practices to provide more services from St Mark’s, where a new GP-led urgent care service is helping to tackle the difficulties some people have been experiencing in accessing face-to-face appointments.”

Other services also operating at or from St Mark’s include hospital outpatient clinics, community midwifery, x-ray and blood tests, community services, mental health, physiotherapy, podiatry, frailty and specialist nursing services. There are also community inpatient beds. The new urgent care service – available through GP practices – can provide many more face-to-face patient appointments every week than were available previously through the urgent care centre at St Mark’s, which was suspended at the height of the pandemic.

Climate Change support with vehicle charging points

New electric vehicle charging points will support our climate change and sustainable travel ambitions

Almost 30 new electric vehicle charging points are being installed in Maidenhead and Windsor, increasing charging capability and helping reduce the need for carbon intensive travel.

The council is working with Connected Kerb on the pilot project, with the installation taking place across six sites, which are on-street parking bays:

St Leonards Road, Frances Road and Albert Street in Windsor and College Road, Cromwell Road and Lower Boyndon Road in Maidenhead.

Work is expected to be completed by the end of March and will include 29 new 7KW charging points. Once the installation work is complete, the bays will continue to operate as normal and will be available to all users, not just those with electric vehicles. This is a pilot project which will inform our broader strategy in development to roll out EV charging points across the borough. We want to learn from these sites to develop our plan for wider scale roll out based on usage data and feedback from residents.

Sites were selected based upon the OZEV criteria for funding, such as locations with limited access to off-street parking or charging, and sites which had appropriate electrical supply and which wouldn’t need significant upgrades.

Residents New Parking Discount Scheme

Reminder – join our Resident Parking Discount Scheme With a month to go until our new resident parking discount scheme gets underway, there’s still time to apply.

It offers one hour’s free parking in six popular car parks. Residents of the Royal Borough can apply for the virtual permits required, free-of-charge, ready to start using their discounted sessions from Monday 4 April.

You will first need to set up an online account with the RingGo cashless parking system. There is then a simple application process for the virtual permits to get the discounts in the car parks you wish to use. As the scheme is based on a virtual permit system, it is necessary to apply for each car parking zone you wish for the discount to be applied in. The application only needs to be submitted once and will last for up to two years.  You don’t need to have a smart phone to apply for permits or use the discounts.

Residents can apply for the discount at car parks in Grove Road and West Street in Maidenhead.

Drop-in sessions We’re running a number of drop-in sessions at libraries, offering extra help to those who need it with setting up their RingGo accounts and applying for their free, virtual parking permits. The first of these have proved successful and there are further sessions later this month.

Residents should bring the following supporting documents, vehicle ownership details and proof of residency, along with their mobile phone so library staff can assist them. Further guidance on the application process, dates of drop-in sessions and a full FAQ, can be found on our parking discount page.

Parking for fully electric vehicles remains free in any council car park.

Pubic Rights of Way

We deliver around 400 different public services and activities as a council. Everyone knows about roads and bins, but we do so much more to support our residents, businesses and communities.   If you enjoy exploring the borough it’s likely you’ve used our extensive rights of way network. But do you know how many footpaths and bridleways we have, and how we maintain them?

You can plan your visit by using our handy online interactive neighbourhood map.  This neighbourhood map not only shows all public rights of way in the borough but all other facilities you may want to use i.e.  libraries, allotments etc. etc:

In search engine:  https://mol.rbwm.gov.uk/mol/map/  and use all the various layers for whatever you are interested in.

The Royal Borough Museum in the Guildhall, Windsor – admission free to all

The Windsor & Royal Borough Museum has seen an increase in visitors since reopening after a break of nearly two years – now sharing its home at Windsor Guildhall with the Royal Windsor Information Centre. We’ve brought together these complementary facilities within a fitting destination location, meaning people can explore the fascinating exhibits and get expert visitor information all under one historic roof – with admission free to all.

The museum has been in the Guildhall for more than 10 years and previously there had been an entry fee. The Information Centre was formerly located separately, a short distance away in the Old Ticket Office at Windsor Royal Station. Work to create the new Visitor Information desk and reconfigure the internal space was undertaken while the museum was closed to the public during Covid.

As always, we are here should you wish any help with council services, so please don’t hesitate to contact either of us, preferably by email.

Maureen and Andrew