I’m so sorry for the late update, it’s all been a little mad this week! So last Thursday I went up to Maidenhead to meet Mr Dudley at the Town Hall. I was very pleased to be able to have a face-to-face meeting and get the chance to put our questions across as well as hear Mr Dudley’s side of the story. The meeting was productive in many ways, and I was pleased to see that Mr Dudley seemed open to some of my suggestions & ideas for partial solutions, including: • Secure storage facilities where people can safely put their belongings, rather than leaving them unattended when they need to go elsewhere. Mr Dudley suggested a local council-owned building called York House, which is currently being renovated might work for this, and said he will look into this further; • Expanding existing shelter provision at John West House in Maidenhead, potentially with the help of local charity, The Brett Foundation. I've emailed them for more information on whether they've been approached about this yet, as well as a potential timescale; • A positive marketing campaign, providing the public with information of how they can help, rather than simply a list of "what not to dos"; • The reintroduction of a travel warrants, so that those in Windsor can travel to Maidenhead to access support services such as Resilience - a drug and alcohol support service run in conjunction I believe with the local CCG. Mr Dudley even suggested an Uber service might work instead...although I've heard nothing more about this since; • The council grants programme that voluntary organisations can apply for and potentially setting up a sustainable local enterprise in association with the wonderful charity, the Windsor Homeless Project. Results so far: • In terms of where we’re at with the above, Mr Dudley wrote to me yesterday to say that he has asked officers to look into locker provision – yay! • I’ve got the details of the grant application and I’m going to look into this further. I ACTUALLY HAVE A REQUEST HERE: If anyone has any experience in writing a business plan and wants to get involved pro-bono, then that would be INCREDIBLE. My Twitter is @HollyFishwick • He’s also put me in touch with his team who attended our meeting, so that we can further discuss a potential marketing campaign, which is excellent news. ANOTHER REQUEST HERE: If anyone is/knows a graphics designer who would like to get involved pro-bono my Twitter is @HollyFishwick All of this felt really constructive and positive and I am grateful to Mr Dudley’s team. Further concerns: HOWEVER, I am still hugely concerned that the council is going to try to criminalise homeless people through an 'Anti-Social Behaviour' paper, due in March. I'm worried that as part of this, Mr Dudley is going to opt for a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), which will allow the council to prosecute on the basis of certain "behavioural attributes", e.g. urinating in the street, leaving baggage unattended, drinking in the street etc. All of which, without additional safeguarding measures put in place, could be used to persecute the vulnerable who are reduced to such behaviour at times through no fault of their own. If a PSPO is broken, then a person can be fined and if they do not pay this, then they can be sent to court. (I'm in touch with a lawyer to find out how this all plays out in reality, so will let you know!) For now, we must sit and wait until the release of this paper in March, but I might be needing everyone to BANG THE DRUM A LITTLE HARDER when this comes out… but I think we can do that ;) Press: Brilliantly lots of super journalists have been getting in touch to find out more about what can be done to help, including the Independent, Press Association, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Windsor Observer, the Windsor Express and both French and Dutch international media – we’re spreading the word! On Monday morning I had a chat with BBC Berkshire, you can listen here (apologies for the nervous laughter!): https://www.facebook.com/holly.fishwick.9/videos/10155787328651311/ And The Big Issue were kind enough to let me give them a rundown on the meeting too: http://bit.ly/2CeHPSL Fundraising: Ending on a happy note, so far we’ve managed to raise £2,050 to help young people facing the prospect of a night on the street, thanks to the amazing work Centrepoint do. If you want to donate too, here’s the link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/holly-fishwick Or text WICK83 £1 to 70070 Alternatively, if you’d like to donate straight to the Windsor Homeless Project (who do wonderful work in the area!), the link his here: http://www.windsorhomelessproject.org/ Sorry – so much information!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!