Agenda item

To be presented by Alice Williams, Buckingham & Villages Community Board Manager.

· Funding Update

· Community Board Activity / Projects Update

Alice Williams, Community Board Manager provided an update on the activity of the community board since the previous meeting.

Community Board Priorities

Youth

Youth Café

Alice had been working along side the Buckinghamshire Council Youth team to progress the Youth Café Project.  The National Trust had offered Chantry Chapel in Buckingham Town Centre free of charge. Buckinghamshire Council’s Youth team were in the process of reaching out to youth organisations that would be willing to take the project on, including Buckingham Youth Centre and Project Street Life.  A project group would be formed with pupils as the goal was for local young people to have a sense of ownership over the project. 

Cookery Courses

The board was in the early planning stages of collaborating with Jedediah to deliver some cookery courses to local young people. 

Economic Regeneration

Town Centre Regeneration

Buckingham Town Council had been allocated funding to contract a consultant to carry out Last year allocated Buckingham TC some funding to complete a survey which went out to residents and local businesses, which has had a great response rate which will help the consultant to make a plan. 

Repair Café

The board was in the early planning stages of supporting the set up of an ongoing monthly repair café.  The aim of the repair café would be to provide social / volunteering opportunities, reduce waste and encourage local residents to repair their items instead of buying new.  The Centre on Verney Close had agreed to act as a venue for the café and Alice was in the process of putting together a project group. 

Road Safety

The Buckinghamshire Highways community toolkit was live.  Members of the community board were encourage to read the toolkit to familiarise themselves with the new process and ways of working: Buckinghamshire Highways’ Community Board Guidance Document | Buckinghamshire Council

Health & Wellbeing

Following the completion of Silver Sunday, members of the board were encouraged to put ideas forward around community projects themed around health and wellbeing.  Alice would follow up with Christopher Drake around how the community board could support volunteering opportunities with the national trust.

General Community Board Activity

• Informal town and parish council drop ins had now been scheduled, with a view to making the community board more accessible/ inclusive and an opportunity for colleagues to share knowledge and best practise.
• Newsletter had been launched and this would be issued twice a year.  Any feedback or suggestions for items for the next newsletter was welcome.
• Alice works “on the patch” where possible – Molly’s Community Café, Steeple Claydon on Wednesday mornings and Buckingham Library on Thursday mornings.  Members of the board were encouraged to email / phone Alice if they wanted to drop in to ensure that she’s there and visit isn’t wasted.
• Members of the board were encouraged to reach out to Alice directly if they wanted to schedule a 1-1 visit.

ACTION:  Following a request from the member of the board, it was AGREED that going forwards the slides containing community board updates would be shared with the board in advance of the meetings.