Councillors review activities at The Old Court and look again at park lighting

ROYAL BOROUGH: Councillors received an annual report for The Old Court and an update on a request for lighting in Osgood Park this week, writes Georgina Bishop.

The agenda items were discussed during a communities overview and scrutiny panel over Zoom on Tuesday.

The Old Court report, which covered activity for the year up to April 2020, was presented by managing director, Martin Denny, who has run the art centre since 2017. The venue in St Leonard’s Road is an art space for live music, cinema, creative events, community organisations and health and wellbeing classes.

The report referenced the centre’s achievements in 2019, which includes 100 live events and unique experiences such as the ‘Living Advent Calendar’ and performances of The Snowman with live orchestra.

Overall, The Old Court had 57,290 attendees walk through its doors, well surpassing the 28,000 target.

Mr Denny did touch on the centre’s activity in recent months, which includes the development of online technology and the ‘various events very successfully live-streamed’.

He also said that the centre has developed communication with the Arts Council and been successful in securing ‘emergency funding, and since then, ongoing viability funding’.

However, Mr Denny noted that in the current year the Royal Borough’s grant has been reduced and so The Old Court will ‘need to look at the level of activity that we can promote given that reduction in funding’.

He said it was the ‘aim to increase the corporate hires with a view to helping reduce that gap in budget’.

Head of communities, David Scott, presented the report on a resident scrutiny suggestion for lights to be placed along the path in Osgood Park in Windsor.

He said it was something that had been raised previously and been the subject of capital bids but has ‘been unsuccessful’ and therefore had not progressed.

Mr Scott told councillors the process was to ‘note the report and accept that there isn’t any further action to take on this occasion’.

Cllr Jon Davey (WWRA, Clewer & Dedworth West) said ‘the reality is, that we’ve been told and told, time and time and time again, there is no money’.

“If that is the situation, we have to respect that situation,” he said.

“Around that park there is pavement on at least three sides of four sides of the park with street lighting going all the way round,” Cllr Davey added. “Bearing that in mind there are safe routes to get to where you want to go at night-time.”

Councillors voted in agreement with the recommendation.

‘We’ve been told time and time again, there is no money’