Royal Borough Budget approved at Full Council The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead’s budget for 2021/22 has been approved which will ensure the council can continue supporting our most vulnerable residents and invest in the borough to support the local recovery. The budget aims to provide a stable footing for future years following additional financial pressures on this year’s budget as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. A consultation was carried out on the budget proposals where 850 residents, community groups and businesses responded. Councillor Andrew Johnson, leader of the council, says: “There have been some difficult decisions that we have had to make but by taking and delivering difficult decisions this year, we will have successfully put the council’s finances back on a more sustainable footing and delivered much-needed and long-overdue transformation of key frontline services. “We are continuing to invest in supporting our most vulnerable residents and this year due to the coronavirus pandemic we will invest in the borough to support the local recovery.
Read more: RBWM Budget 2021 / 2022 ApprovedHave Your Say on RBWM Budget CLICK HERE for BUDGET SURVEY
As a council, the Royal Borough want to continue supporting our most vulnerable residents as well as investing and supporting the local recovery following the coronavirus pandemic.
The Council has had to propose very difficult options as we developed the budget for 2021/22 to ensure the Council can deliver a balanced budget.
They have to provide some services by law – these are called statutory services and include areas like education, children’s services, adult social care, waste collection, planning, housing services, road maintenance and libraries. There is some flexibility in how these services are delivered.
RBWM wants to continue providing high quality but vital services for adults and children and spend nearly £46 million on adults and nearly £24 million on children’s services each year. We are proposing to invest an additional £1.5m in our children’s services to ensure that we can continue to support them.
In the proposals RBWM has set aside further spending in the Borough through the capital investment programme and are proposing to invest £11.5 million in affordable housing over the coming years and £16m for Maidenhead redevelopment. Our highways work programme looks to invest £1.6million.
They also provide some additional services which we don’t have to by law – these are called discretionary services and include things like sports and leisure facilities, maintaining parks, promoting tourism and the arts, and supporting charities, some of which pay for themselves, some of which are subsidised by council tax payers.
To provide these services, we are primarily funded by central Government grant allocations, Council Tax, business rates and income from some services we provide, like parking charges.
Over recent years all councils have faced significant spending reductions as part of government efforts to reduce the national budget deficit. The amount councils receive from central Government has dropped significantly as a result.
This year has been a difficult year and had it not been for COVID-19 we would have been in a much better position. COVID-19 has limited our ability to bring in income through a variety of ways – parking being the main issue. However, we have adapted during the pandemic and we plan to continue using virtual technology for meetings across the whole council. This will allow us to look at our office space and potentially reduce our carbon footprint.
Many other councils up and down the country are in a similar position with the additional pressures on services during the pandemic and we don’t know the full extent of it yet – the economic and health effects on our borough are still to be realised and we will need to be mindful of that in the coming years. This is the single biggest economic impact in local government, the entire sector is coming to terms with it and how it will impact our residents and our councils going forward.
We are limited to the council tax increases because of government limits but we do need to increase them to continue to support high quality services.
The council’s current central Government allocation, plus level of support from COVID-19 funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is not yet known. As such, estimates and assumptions have been used to calculate the 2021/22 budget, based on allocations so far this year.
These are only proposals and for the first time we are asking for your views. We are open to viable alternatives to ensure we deliver a balanced budget.
Papplewick School, Windsor Road, Ascot. www.papplewick.org.uk Registrar, Mrs Rebecca Lindley , on 01344-621488 or registrar@papplewick.org.uk
No need for Pru Leith or Paul Hollywood to be in attendance, when Papplewick Headmaster, Tom Bunbury challenged the boys to a bake off (via Microsoft Teams) adhering to his favourite chocolate cake recipe - care of his Granny ! Boys from all over the world took part - 111 in total and were provided with the basic recipe, asked to log in at a certain time, and then "BAKE!" together......with of course Mr Bunbury in full chef's apparel - baking from his home kitchen on the school site. The results were quite phenomenal and the mini-bakers rose to the challenge with characteristic enthusiasm and with quite spectacular results !
Headmaster, Tom Bunbury said " I have to admit there was an unusually large take up for this challenge worldwide - but of course our boys are renowned for their appreciation of cake so I should not have been surprised. I was hugely impressed with the boys' professional attitude and I can’t help but wonder if 111 chocolate cakes all baked at the same time represents some sort of world record!"
Read more: Papplewick | International Granny's Chocolate Cake Bake
A four-week public consultation has launched around proposed additional cycling and walking improvements in the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead.
The improvements are being funded by a grant of £335,000 from the second round of funding from the Government’s Active Travel Fund, which was announced in December.
The first round was primarily aimed at installing temporary interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second round aims to support the creation of longer-term projects, to be delivered in the first half of 2021.
The council put forward five schemes across Ascot, Maidenhead and Windsor for public consideration, with each based on the council’s Cycling Action Plan. Unfortunately, the allocation is insufficient to deliver all of our intended projects though we are seeking public feedback on all schemes.
The consultation website shows all the schemes in detail. The funding currently allocated will enable the delivery of a number of the following:
- low traffic neighbourhoods in Ascot, Maidenhead and Windsor
- school streets near local schools in Ascot, Maidenhead and Windsor
A further two schemes are still on the council’s longer-term plans and therefore we are keen to obtain views at this time on the following:
Read more: Have Your Say on Proposed Cycling and Walking Schemes
It’s been a strange year for the entire planet, but that hasn’t stopped a group of students trying to spread a little Christmas cheer to the residents in a local care home.
Sahib Sidhu, who is a Year 7 student at Charters School in Sunningdale, read an article in his local newspaper asking the community to write Christmas cards to the residents of St. Mark’s Bupa care home in Maidenhead. Sahib went a step further and roped in his entire Tutor Group to get behind the project. He assigned a resident to each of his friends so that they could write a personalised card and encouraged them to supply a small gift.
This project really embodies Charters School’s motto of Unity, Respect, Excellence.
Mr Espensen, Sahib’s Tutor said, “I am incredibly proud of Sahib for wanting to do something positive for the older residents in the borough. This has been a difficult year for everyone and it is wonderful to see the entire Tutor Group get behind the project and spread a little Christmas Cheer.”
‘They told me he died, but I never believed them. I’d have known,’ she says, her voice little more than a whisper and her eyes searching mine. ‘A mother would know if her child died, wouldn’t she?’ The phone call comes in the middle of the night, rousing Danni from her safe, warm bed. The police have found her mother Diana wandering along the main road, miles from her house, confused and lost. Danni races to her mother’s side, but when she arrives, as always, her mother doesn’t seem to care. ‘Go away, Danni,’ she says. ‘I don’t want you.’
When she was a child, Danni would lie awake at night wondering what she had done to make her mother so cold. Now she is determined to put the past behind them and make Diana as happy as she can in the time they have left. But as some of Diana’s memories are slipping away, others are forcing their way to the surface. One night Diana breaks down in tears and reveals her heartbreaking secret. Years before Danni was born, there was another baby who never got to see the world. Now there is one last thing Danni can do for her mother. She will find her brother’s resting place, and bring Diana some peace.
But good intentions can have unexpected consequences, and soon Danni’s life will be changed forever. Are some secrets best left buried?
A completely heartbreaking and compelling story of families, secrets, and the fierce love between mothers and children. Fans of Amanda Prowse, Ali Mercer and Jodi Picoult will smile through their tears.
Readers are absolutely loving My Mother’s Secret:
‘Such an emotional read, so much love, loss and secrets to uncover… The emotion is poured out into every single page!’ Goodreads Reviewer
‘Brilliant… So beautifully told I just couldn't stop reading… I can thoroughly recommend this book.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.
Author bio
Covid-busting nasal spray begins UK trials January 11th | SaNOtize Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) kills 99.9% of coronavirus in lab tests
- Nasal spray blocks viral entry into the body, destroys virus and prevents it from multiplying
- Nitric oxide blocks ACE-2 receptor essential for the virus to infect cells, destroys Covid mutant variations
- Clinical trials already underway in Canada and approved to start in the USA
- London University professor conducting trial hopes for ‘significant advance in our therapeutic armoury against this devastating disease’
London, January. 10, 2021 - The first UK clinical trials of a nasal spray proven to kill 99.9% of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 will begin on January 11th at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in Surrey.
The SaNOtize Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) is designed to kill the virus in the upper airways, preventing it from incubating and spreading to the lungs.
Read more: Covid-Busting Nasal Spray Begins UK Trials at Local Hospitals | January 11th