Agenda item

While outcomes for people living in Buckinghamshire were some of the best in the country there were also parts of the county where residents experienced significant hardship.  The Council, in discussion with partners, had been exploring the potential for a local approach to ‘levelling up’ within Buckinghamshire designed to address disparities of outcomes experienced by particular communities within the county and promote community wellbeing and increased productivity.  The proposed framework attached at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report was designed to set the context for this approach, establish a shared ambition and a programme of work to tackle the underlying issues.  This framework would also form part of the negotiations with Government on a County Deal for Buckinghamshire.

At the full Council meeting in April 2022, Members had committed to producing a report on Levelling Up within 3 months which set out the initial plans for taking action to secure long term change.

RESOLVED –

(1)              That the proposals for a Buckinghamshire Levelling Up Framework be AGREED.

(2)              That the programme ‘Opportunity Bucks – Succeeding for All’ be SUPPORTED.

While outcomes for people living in Buckinghamshire were some of the best in the country there were also parts of the county where residents experienced significant hardship.  The Council, in discussion with partners, had been exploring the potential for a local approach to ‘levelling up’ within Buckinghamshire designed to address disparities of outcomes experienced by particular communities within the county and promote community wellbeing and increased productivity.  The proposed framework (“Opportunity Bucks – Succeeding for All”) attached at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report was designed to set the context for this approach, establish a shared ambition and a programme of work to tackle the underlying issues. 

At the full Council meeting in April 2022, Members had committed to producing a report on Levelling Up within 3 months which set out the initial plans for taking action to secure long term change.

The “Opportunity Bucks – Succeeding for All” framework would be underpinned by a programme of work focused on five themes:

-                     Education and Skills.

-                     Jobs and career opportunities.

-                     Quality of our Public Realm.

-                     Standards of Living.

-                     Health and Wellbeing.

Initially, the focus of the programme would be on 10 wards, as listed in section 2.4 of the Cabinet report, which were in parts of Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Chesham that experienced particular challenges in terms of outcome.

Local action plans to tackle the five themes would be developed for each area through engagement with the communities, led by the Community Boards. Each plan would need to be designed in a way that added value to existing activity in the area.  Depending on progress there could be opportunities to extend the programme to include other areas in the future, and this consideration would form part of the regular monitoring and evaluation.

A ‘Levelling Up’ Programme Board, chaired by the Chief Executive, had been established to bring partners together to help drive the development and delivery of the programme. This was a multiagency board reporting into the Growth Board, chaired by the Leader. As set out in Appendix 1, a series of metrics would be tracked regularly and reported to Cabinet in order to assess progress and impact.

In the discussion which followed, Cabinet welcomed the recommendations in the report which would enable the Council and its partners to come together with communities and draw upon collective resources to enhance opportunities and promote community well-being and in the long term improve the life of those residents within those communities.  The important role that partnership working would play in the delivery of the programme was emphasised. 

A comment was made on the need to push government centrally on projects especially around infrastructure to help tackle deprivation in Buckinghamshire. The Leader confirmed that the “Opportunity Bucks – Succeeding for All” framework would also form part of the negotiations with the Government on a County Deal for Buckinghamshire which would aim to secure more investment in Buckinghamshire.

In relation to the theme ‘Quality of the Public Realm’, a comment was made that as well as the big town centres, there were also local smaller centres in the 10 wards which could also benefit from improvement. A suggestion was made that on page 9 of the Framework, under the financially stretched header, 16% could be increased to 22% if urban adversity was included. A further suggestion was made that it might be useful to also reference the issue of relative poverty in the Framework.

In response to a question regarding who would be invited to attend the conference to launch the programme, Sarah Ashmead (Deputy Chief Executive) explained that in principle the Council would like to open the conference up to more councillors than just those from the 10 wards, but that this would be dependent on the capacity of the venue.

Cabinet thanked the Deputy Chief Executive, and the team for this important piece of work.

RESOLVED –

(1)              That the proposals for a Buckinghamshire Levelling Up Framework be AGREED.

(2)              That the programme ‘Opportunity Bucks – Succeeding for All’ be SUPPORTED.