Agenda and minutes

Matthew Walsh [MW] (Chairman of the North West Chilterns Community Board – NWC CB ) welcomed everyone to the meeting.  MW said that he was happy to be re-elected into the position of Community Board Chairman and was looking forward to working with all members of the Board for a further year.

Apologies for absence were received from Buckinghamshire Council Councillors Carl Etholen and Paul Turner; Councillor Simon Cope, West Wycombe Parish Council; Councillor James Cripps, Great and Little Kimble Parish Council, Councillor Helen Holman, Ellesborough Parish Council and Makyla Devlin, Senior Community Board Manager

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2023.

The minutes of the meeting, dated 7^th February 2023, were approved by the NWC Community Board.

Reports for each group are included in the agenda pack.

Priorities 2023/2024:  To confirm priorities agreed by the Community Board for this year:

·       Community Resilience

·       Economic Regeneration and Development

·       Environment and Climate Change

·       Transport and Road Issues

To be presented by Councillor Matthew Walsh.

To provide an update on the key activities of the action groups.

To be presented by the Chairman of each action group.

MW informed the NWC CB of the Priorities agreed for 2023/24 as follows:

• Community Resilience
• Economic Regeneration & Development
• Environment & Climate Change

·       Transport & Road Issues

The leads of each Action Group presented their report.

Community Resilience: see the briefing report in the agenda pack. Valerie McPherson [VMc] (lead) confirmed that meetings were held every two months (approximately) and the next one would be on 9^th August 2023. The group consisted of Buckinghamshire Councillors, Parish Councillors and residents and that it was a good mix.

VMc gave an overview of the projects that the Action Group were working on (as detailed in the briefing report). In particular, VMc mentioned that a funding application had been sent from Hughenden Manor (National Trust) to the Community Board on a walking project for young and older people, especially with those suffering with loneliness and vulnerability.

VMc said that the Community Garden was progressing well and that a meeting had been held with the Horses Trust in Speen to discuss a proposal in terms of young and older people with disabilities that required therapy with horses. The Trust were interested in the project but said we needed to find a facilitator because they only managed the horses.  This was proving to be difficult but the group were pursuing.

VMc highlighted the success of the Party in the Park event which was the idea of Councillor Shade Adoh’s. VMc confirmed that there were a number of food stalls, arts and crafts, a fair, tractors, and entertainment, especially with a singing group of disabled young men and women, and she thanked the team (Shade Adoh, Jackie Binning and Josephine Biss) for all their hard work. MW also thanked VMc and said the Crew Café had their busiest day ever.

Economic Regeneration & Development: see the briefing report in the agenda pack. MW (lead) confirmed that the action group were now working on their second networking event on the back of the one held last year at Orchard View Farm. The Bucks Film office, business groups and voluntary organisations attended the event last year and it went very well.  MW said he wanted to build on this so plans would be formalised over the summer and all would be invited.  Ideas on how to promote and engage this event would be greatly received.

Environment & Climate Change: see the briefing report in the agenda pack. RC (lead) advised that the next meeting was on 7^th August where we would be reviewing Jaaganroop Marshall’s excellent spreadsheet which listed a number of aims/objectives. To meet these the group hoped to find some interesting projects and volunteers. The group were also looking at e-bikes (Buckinghamshire Council initiative) for towns (not rural areas) and if anyone had any interest please contact the group.  Tree planting was another initiative and RC advised that Jackie Binning (JB) had been contacting the Board about this for two years and that this would continue.

Sharon Henson stated that West Wycombe Estate were considering  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This is included in the agenda pack. 

Jim Stevens to present the report for Community Board approval.

North West Chilterns Active Travel Aspirations Report

JS stated that this document was the work of the Transport and Road Issues Action Group, which had been undertaken over the last two years and was about the North West Chilterns Active Travel Aspirations – see report in the agenda pack and the NWC Active Travel Aspirations document and presentation attached.

JS informed the Board of the recommendations which were being presented tonight to the Board for decision – these were:

• To support and adopt our document – so it had a different status and held a greater weight and was not seen as an action group document.
• Formally request Buckinghamshire Council to:

Ø  Use the document to help develop the Countywide Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

Ø  Adopt the document as a supplement to the Countywide LCWIP and make it readily accessible on the Council’s Website – so there would be more coverage and publicity.

Key highlights from the presentation:

The format of the document was textural information around the geography of the North West Chilterns, including reference to the recent consultation and policy context.  In addition there were nine maps showing aspirations for improved cycling and walking infrastructure.  An overview of these were as detailed below.

Map 1 – Inter-settlement routes: Buckinghamshire Council (BC) officers were working on inter settlement routes across Bucks as part of developing the Countywide strategic Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. BC officers had recently engaged directly with BC local Members on this specific subject, and in order to help Members with this task, Map 9 had been sent to them by the Community Board Manager along with what the action group felt should be the top 3 priorities, namely:  (1) A4010 active travel route (2) the A40 West Wycombe to Stokenchurch and (3) the links between Princes Risborough and Longwick.

Map 2 – A4010 Active Travel Route: This was an important active travel route and JS had promoted this as such to Buckinghamshire Council many times. JS stated that the A4010 was more than a cycling and walking route between the settlements that were situated on the route itself, but it would also act as a feeder route to five  existing promoted cycling and walking routes within the Chilterns which crossed the A4010, four railways stations, many local places of interest and villages either side. For example Bledlow Ridge via Haw Lane. Risborough was also due to expand so having the A4010 Active Travel Route something in place prior to or during the expansion would encourage more people to walk and cycle from the outset.  In addition, there was expansion in Aylesbury, HS2 were building a new bypass in Stoke Mandeville and Buckinghamshire Council had approved a HS2 funded cycleway along the A4010 linking the proposed Stoke Mandeville bypass with Terrick roundabout, so the jigsaw was coming together but much more focus was required by Buckinghamshire Council on the A4010.

Map 3a – Links between Princes Risborough and Longwick: These  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

·       Funding applications – to provide an update on applications received and 2023/2024 budget

·       Community Board Action Plan – for information only (included in the agenda pack)

·       Community Board Annual Report 2022/23 – for information only (included in the agenda pack)

To be presented by Jackie Binning, Community Board Manager.

JB gave a funding update – see information attached.

Vicki Smith from West Wycombe Parish Council asked where their funding application was in the system (ie PID – Project Initiation Document).  JB advised that it had been assessed by Atkins and had now been submitted to Buckinghamshire Councillors for a final review. Councillor Vicki Smith and Sharon Henson (Parish Clerk) both thought they had already been agreed. MW confirmed that there was a list of PID’s, some would continue because they were within in budget, some had drastically gone up in cost, so conversations would have to be had between Town/Parish Council’s and the NWC CB, and some had been withdrawn. JB advised that the information was sent to each local Member just under two weeks ago so MW requested that local Ward Members respond.

The NWC CB Action Plan was presented which JB confirmed was an evolving document and was held on our webpage. The plan detailed our priorities and aims and objectives which had been agreed (or were being agreed) by each action group  – see information attached.

JB tabled the NWC CB Annual Report – see document attached. JB advised that this had not been created in a template you would expect it to be and explained that it was in a format that we could show residents and groups of the work we had completed over 2022/23 with a few key projects detailed within.  JB requested that everyone take a look and if anyone was interested in joining the Community Board, that they should give them this document to demonstrate the work that the Board had completed. MW added that it was worth a read to see the amount of work we were doing which did not exist three years ago and we had Covid to deal with in between, so if anyone was interested, MW asked it be passed on.

·       Buckinghamshire Council Update – to be presented by Sophie Payne, Service Director, Culture, Sport and Leisure, Buckinghamshire Council (included in the agenda pack)

·       Question Time – to respond to questions received.  To be presented by the Chairman.

Sophie Payne (SP) presented the Corporate update – see information attached. SP highlighted the following:

• Play Street scheme – which allowed residents to open up their streets for their children to play safely outside on their doorstep. Residents could apply for a Play Street session to temporarily close their road. SP advised that there were a number of benefits and case studies which can be found on the Play Streets website.
• Love Exploring App – this detailed local parks in the County and was interactive with dinosaurs and fairies to enable children to follow trials around a park.
• Summer Reading Challenge – now live in our libraries and was also linked to a theme for physical activities for children. Lot of activity cards and events and things going on in local libraries, a vast majority were free.
• Better Points App – which is about encouraging people to be active where rewards could be earnt with vouchers to spend in retail outlets. Great offers and competitions.
• Cost of Living – reminder on the Helping Hands team at Buckinghamshire Council and Holiday Activity and Food scheme which was currently running. Hughenden, Monks Risborough and West Wycombe schools all had schemes.
• Welcoming Spaces – our libraries had continued with this initiative. Although it is not cold, it has continued as spaces for all families and people to interact.
• Subsidised bus fares – more information can be found on Buckinghamshire Council’s website.
• New national fund to support local community organisations, to support people with cost of living issues.

Post meeting information:Councils are being asked to help spread the word about the government’s £76 million Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund to support communities most affected by the increased cost of living. The fund will distribute grants to frontline services that have been impacted by increased demand and support low-income households and individuals. Eligible organisations can apply for grants of £10,000 - £75,000.

The closing date for applications is noon on 16 October. Further information is available from the National Lottery Community Fund website.

• Ultrafast Broadband – this has been delivered in Radnage and Stokenchurch within the North West Chilterns.
• Bucks Rural Business Grant – which provides financial support and helps create opportunities for rural businesses in Buckinghamshire. The scheme would run until March 25 for organisations that employ fewer than 50 people. Funding was available for a variety of projects such as investment in net zero infrastructure projects, as well as financial support for farm businesses diversifying outside of agriculture.
• Film Office – the locations database had gone live and would be presented at the networking event in October.
• Open Weekend ((29/30 July) – venues offering lots of activities for all ages.  Hughenden Manor were doing crafts sessions for children.

·       Ward Boundary Consultation – Ward boundaries were due to be published. Councillors would reduce from 147 to 97. Wards would remain at 49, with new boundaries coming into effect at the local elections in May 2025.

Question Time – There were no questions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

23 November 2023 (rescheduled from 7 December 2023) – The Princes Centre, Clifford Road, Princes Risborough.

22 February 2023 (rescheduled from 1 February 2024) – Microsoft Teams.

• 7 September – Petitions meeting on Microsoft Teams
• 23 November 2023 – Princes Centre, Princes Risborough
• 22 February 2024 – Microsoft Teams (subject to change)

·       Post meeting information: 31^st August – NWC Active Travel Aspirations Document meeting on Microsoft Teams