Sunninghill & Ascot Annual Parish Meeting

Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council held the Annual Assembly

on May 5 at the Ascot District Day Centre in Sunninghill. There were reports on crime, Council  matters, Heatherwood & healthcare, Village Design Statements and Conservation.

Local police reported that there are three priorities for tackling crime in this area - namely, burglaries (currently down by 8%)  anti social behaviour and speeding/parking.  A 14 year old, suspected of being involved in many local crimes, including burglary, has been detained.

Cllr Alison Knight reported (amongst many other items) that the Royal Borough is to put bollards on the corner of School Road and Sunninghill High Street, to pre-empt kerb parking, in the event of a shop opening in the former Stock Exchange/Tesco building.  She also said that £125,000 had been saved, thanks to the Council's green waste initiatives.

Cllr Lynda Yong reported that she, along with Cllrs Alison Knight and David Hilton, are to meet Heatherwood Hospital's Chief Executive shortly.

Viki Wadd, Acting Director Locally Commissioning - Berkshire East Primary Care Trust, reported that, after the recent public consultation exercise, there is to be a new 'Healthspace' in Bracknell, which will house extended GP services, an urgent care centre, minor day surgery, outpatient services and renal dialysis. More outpatient services have been approved at Heatherwood. The consultation results appeared to show that 70% of respondents supported a midwife-led maternity unit at Heatherwood. Radiotherapy treatment is to be provided more locally.

In repsonse  question from the audience, Ms Wadd said that A & E services would not return to Heatherwood as this is a specialist function, and that Heatherwood would concentrate more on in-patient and overnight stay cases unlike the new Bracknell Healthspace. 

Cllr David HIlton reported (amongst many other things) that the plan is to rebuild Heatherwood, to serve the local community.Cllr Hilton also reported that the Ascot FIre Brigade Trust has been helping the young and the elderly: £5,000 was donated to the Victory Fields Fundraising Group and £6,000 to the elderly. Money had also been given to the the Charters Youth Centre for summer activities. He invited local groups to apply for cash from the Trust.

Prinicipal Planning Office at the Royal Borough, Ian Bellinger, explained the concept of Village Design Statements (VDS), for which members of the public and local organisations, are  invited to volunteer their services.

He said that, because the VDS demonstrate public commitmentto quality design, Village Design Statements can be powerful tools in the fight against visully inappropriate development, at planning appeals. Their purpose is to manage change .

A Visual Design Statement (VDS) describes the things people like and it should be complimentary to the Borough's Townscape Assessment ( which works on a different scale). The Borough is currently preparing a Townscape Assessment and this will be publicly available in a couple of months. Further useful information is available about this on the Natural England website.

The process involves establishing a team and carefully establishing the terms of reference. At its simplest, the team then describes what's there, complimenting the Townscape Survey,( street patterns, historical evolution, popular building material, local landmarks etc), undertakes local workshops, surveys and public consultation., produces a Statement, undetakes more public consultation and modies the Statement, where appropriate. The document is then approved.

Mr. Bellinger reported that in Cookham, the team is a group of independent people, reporting to the Parish Council. It is expected to take 12 - 18 months. The VDS process requires considerable commitment from the volunteers. The Borough can advise but does not have the staff to be involved in detail. In Cookham , they are makingi it a Supplementary Planning Document, which is formal and takes longer, but is ideal, as it will carry more weight at planning appeal. 

Jane Wylie, Asistant Conservation Officer, then reported that the Borough is currently carrying out an appraisal of the Borough's existing Conservation Areas( only one in the AscotMatters area - namely Sunningdale old village) . However, anyone is welcome to submit a proposal for a new Conservation Area to the Borough Conservation Team for consideration. Conservation Areas must have  special architectural character or historic interest.

For more information visit www.rbwm.gov.uk  

Cllrs, Hilton, McBride and Story rounded off with an upbeat assessment of the Borough's current performance