Agenda and draft minutes

Cllr Lesley Clarke welcomed and thanked everyone for attending the meeting at Wycombe Arts Centre.

Apologies: Cllr K Wood, Cllr D Hayday, Cllr O Hayday, Cllr M Knight, Cllr S Guy, L Hurst (Buckinghamshire Council), R Andrews (Grow Together Bucks), J Roberts (SV2G), A Irwin (Oakridge Baptist Church) and S Sturt (Wycombe Food Hub)

Declaration of Interest: None

Minutes of Last Meeting: Previous meeting was held on 3 March 2024 at Hilltop Community Centre in the form of a community workshop with circa 80 members, residents and partners in attendance. Findings from these workshop discussions have been used to inform the priorities for the High Wycombe Community Board this coming year, with project proposals from the Action Groups to be presented at today’s meeting. 

·       Questionsfrom membersof thepublic canbe submittedin advance of the meeting to hwcb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

·       Buckinghamshire Council update

Three questions have been noted from the public in advance of the meeting, however they were received outside of the stated deadline. To allow the time to provide a comprehensive response, the response to these were to be provided at a later date. A copy of these questions and responses can be found below.

Public Question 1:

A key objective of High Wycombe’s Regeneration Strategy is to ‘create a vibrant and characterful town centre which celebrates local culture and heritage, offering a high-quality public domain’. To achieve this Buckinghamshire Council announced 3½ years ago a total investment of £15.4m including £11.8m of Future High Streets funding. This was to rebalance the town centre providing a diversity of activities not available in the Eden in the historic town centre, prioritising nightlife and creating more reasons to come into Wycombe than just to shop.

Buckinghamshire Council have now announced that ‘the Eden is the beating heart of Wycombe’ and £12.89m of which £11.26m is Future High Streets money will be spent on repurposing the first and second floors of the Tesco building on Denmark Street to accommodate the County Archive and rehouse council services now in the Queen Victoria Road offices so that these buildings can then be sold. The people of Wycombe and the Community Board have not been consulted on this as the regeneration of our town now belongs to remote decision makers. How will the Community Board strive to give our High Street a prosperous and sustainable future now that funds are being spent elsewhere?

Response:

The original Future High Street Fund (FHSF) regeneration programme dates back to the FHSF bidding process undertaken by the legacy Council (Wycombe District Council) in 2019. It required a defined programme of projects and outcomes, which the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) assessed against a Treasury Green Book benefit cost analysis (BCA). By identifying specific targeted vacant shops for ‘repurposing’ and potential ‘gateway’ buildings for improvement, a strong BCA was achieved, making Wycombe one of few south east towns to secure the grant. The programme has subsequently evolved, via FHSF’s ‘Project Adjustment Request’ process, as the market picked up some original targets and replacements came into being.

At the time of the bid, WDC did consult with Ward Members, High Wycombe Town Committee (HWTC) and external stakeholders, as doing so was integral to the strength of its case. There have been updates since, including regular reporting to the Council’s Regeneration Board, which includes both Members and external stakeholders. The FHSF programme is time limited (as was the bidding process) and as explained above, restricted to the availability of identifiable vacant shops/gateways, with very limited ability to spend on public realm (the Council is doing this separately, via its Capital Programme, in White Hart Street). Public consultation was not a FHSF requirement. The focus since the grant award in 2021, has been on delivery of the approved programme. The extent of the programme is set out in the attached Annex.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

·       Community Assembly

·       Wycombe Environment Refresh

·       Wycombe Community Church

•           High Wycombe Assembly

•           Wycombe Environment Centre – Refresh The Marketplace

•           Wycombe Community Church

A presentation was given by partners on the above projects and initiatives that have been supported by High Wycombe Community Board.

·       Partnership working (Community Board, Opportunity Bucks, High Wycombe Town Committee and Community Assembly)

Community Board Manager Fay Ewing provided an update on the Community Board:

•        Partnership Projects and Funding

A special thanks was given to Heather Morley and the team of volunteers of the newly launched High Wycombe Life Magazine. The High Wycombe Community Board has provided £15k of contributory funding to support the publication over a 1-year period, with 3 editions per year. This project aims to combat the negative reputation of the town and ‘shout’ about the positives that in turn aim to improve and drive the local economy. The first edition was published in June and reached 35,000 households. Content highlights Community Board activities as well as local news and events. The next edition will be published in November. If organisations would like to be involved, please contact Heather at hello@hwlife.co.uk

The Community Board also recently supported Talkback’s Festival of Fun and Sport, a learning disability games event at Wycombe Leisure Centre which was held on 8th July, Movers and Shakers club at The Vibe Church, the Woodland Trail at St. Francis Church with volunteer sessions starting in October.

This financial year the Community Board have provided funding to support the Royal British Legion Beacon Lighting event at Tom Burt’s Hill, Wycombe Swan’s Summer Youth Project and Wycombe Celebrates (see update below).

One of the Community Board’s flagship projects this year is Wycombe Celebrates delivered in partnership with the High Wycombe Community, Buckinghamshire Council Culture Team, Whizz Fizz and Partners and the Rothschild Foundation. This event aims to develop pride of place by bringing together food, environment, heritage and culture. In addition to the centre event on Sunday 8th September, in the lead up there will also be fringe events. Volunteers are needed for this event, please email hwcb@buckinghamshie.gov.uk

•        Activities and Events

The Community Board hosted a Dementia Awareness Event in the Eden Centre on 15th May, this was well attended by partner stall holders and received great footfall. The Thai Chi sessions were especially popular.

Proud of Bucks nominations for 2024 awards are now open and will close on Sunday 11th August. Categories include; The Good Neighbour Award, The Young Champion Award and The Outstanding Group Award. Shortlisting to be completed in September with an award ceremony for High Wycombe to be held in November. Details and invitations to follow.

•        Opportunity Bucks

Matt Everitt provided an update on the Council’s Opportunity Bucks programme which is now in its second year of delivery. The MEAM team, (Make Every Adult Matter) have been working predominantly in High Wycombe supporting vulnerable residents on a one-to-one basis.

There is also a focus on skills development.

(Minutes from priorities workshop from March 2024 can be found HERE)

·       Action Groups to present 2 potential projects that address the priority theme. Attendees will be invited to vote on ONE project to take forward this coming council year.

o   Recovery and Regeneration

o   Health and Wellbeing

o   Environment

(Minutes from priorities workshop from March 2024 can be found HERE)

•           From the workshop findings, Action Groups Chairs presented 2 potential projects that address their priority theme. The chair confirmed and agreed for the following projects to progress through task and finish groups.  

·        Recovery and Regeneration: Town centre pilot to increase accessibility. ?Focus on visitors with health conditions who require easy access to toilets. Encourage visitors to High Wycombe and reduce social isolation. ?Support local businesses by making High Wycombe more accessible,? increasing footfall and dwell time. 

·        Health and Wellbeing: Did You Know? (or similar) Greater public awareness of existing health and well-being, Early Years Services and Domestic Violence Awareness, support services.

·        Environment: A combined education and awareness programme, for schools and the public, which would also build in key community projects where they are missing to allow people to put their learning into action, and that is delivered in a way that builds a more cohesive community.

Cllr Lesley Clarke thanked all for attending and closed the meeting.

To be confirmed

13th November 2024 – Proud of Bucks event.

March 2025 (date to be confirmed).