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13th November  Democracy in Action – Make A Change and Be A Councillor

Next year there are elections for Town, Parish and Unitary Authorities in our area.  

This event promotes the idea of standing for elections as a councillor – be it at Parish or County level.

The event is called Democracy in Action – Make A Change and Be A Councillor. It is already being advertised on the HPC website (https://www.hughenden-pc.gov.uk/council_events/democracy-in-action/) .

The event is free, but you do need to register.

Democracy in Action – Make A Change and Be A Councillor

Do you want to give something back to your community? To empower your place in uncertain times? To use the momentum from the recent general election to renew your local area?

This NALC Make A Change (https://www.nalc.gov.uk/campaigns/becoming-a-councillor.html) and LGA Be A Councillor (https://www.local.gov.uk/be-councillor) event aims to promote the idea of standing for election as a local (parish, town and community) and principal authority (district, county, borough or unitary) councillor at the May 2025 local council elections. We need people from all backgrounds and experiences who reflect the communities they serve to put themselves forward for election. Join us to hear from experts in the field who have become brilliant local councillors at various local government levels, from all quarters.

Whether you live in a parished or un-parished area, this unique free event will provide a valuable opportunity to learn about the work and role of local councillors in your community and answer your questions about standing for election as a local councillor in May 2025.

A diverse panel of experts will share their insights, experience, and advice. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussions with representatives from areas which held local council elections in May 2024 and elsewhere, to find out how you can change your place for good.

Speakers: Tamsin Hewett, advisor at the Local Government Association, Cllr Jackie Drake, Ulverston town and Westmorland and Furness district councillor, Neil Wedge, chief executive of the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils and Cllr Chidi Nweke, Loughton Residents Association representative on Epping Forest District Council.

Register (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/democracy-in-action-tickets-947971106097)

12.00 – 13.15 on Wednesday 13th Nov

Bucks History Festival returns to celebrate our history and heritage

Buckinghamshire History Festival returns next month for its ninth annual celebration of the county’s history and cultural heritage.

The festival, organised by Buckinghamshire Archives, sees the Archives team come together with partner organisations from across the county to present a huge range of events to see and do throughout November. Buckinghamshire’s past will be brought to life and the untold stories of its people and places will be uncovered.

Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure Clive Harriss commented: “We’re delighted to be once again joining with partner organisations to showcase our county’s fascinating history and rich culture through the Buckinghamshire History Festival. There’s something for everyone, ranging from tours of the Buckinghamshire Archives, historic walks through High Wycombe, to traditional corn milling demonstrations – and there’s even some pub quizzes where you can show off your historical knowledge! I’d encourage everyone to check out the full listing of events happening throughout November.”

Find the full listing of festival events at: https://histfestbucks.co.uk/whats-on/

Money Matters – at Bucks Council

Money Matters – say how you want your council tax spent

Buckinghamshire Council is preparing its spending plans for 2025/26 and is asking residents, businesses and other local stakeholders to give their views on which services should be prioritised.

The ‘Money Matters’ survey is the opportunity for residents to have a say on what’s important to them and they you would like to see the council’s budget distributed.

Councils across the country continue to experience significant financial pressures due to rising costs and added demand on services. In particular, Buckinghamshire Council has seen social care costs escalate even further in recent months due to more vulnerable residents needing help.

With continuing pressures on household budgets after a period of high inflation and other turbulence, it’s important that residents tell the council how they want to see their council tax spent during the next financial year.

Council tax is the main way that local council services are funded – from bin collections to road repairs to looking after adults and children who need care. The council has ongoing costs to provide these services and also draws up capital spending plans too – ‘one-off’ spends on particular projects or schemes such as extra money invested into the local road network for repairs and improvements. The money received from council tax covers 79% of the cost of providing our 700 services, with the rest of our funding coming from Business Rates (13%), the New Homes Bonus (1%) and other grants (7%).

The council’s ‘Money Matters’ survey is now live –and takes just 10 minutes to complete. These views are then fed into the final budget proposals which are scrutinised after Christmas in a series of special meetings. The final budget will then be voted on during February ready to ‘go live’ on 1 April 2025.

Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, commented:

“Budget setting in recent times has become extremely difficult for all councils, including our own. Since becoming a single unitary council we have made significant savings and efficiencies already, totalling £75.4 million to date, with a further £41.3 million of savings earmarked for this year. This means we’ve taken more than £100 million out of our budgets over the first five years as a council to deliver efficiencies and to pay for key services for our most vulnerable residents. The cost of providing these services – namely social care, temporary housing and providing school transport for children who need it – eats up around 71% of our entire budget, leaving us with less than 30% of our expenditure available to pay for everything else that we do.

Therefore it’s never been more crucial for our residents to tell us where they want their money spent – please let your friends and family know too that they can have a say.”

The survey is accessed via the Your Voice Bucks website.

If you’re unable to complete the survey online, you can access a paper copy of the consultation in libraries and family centres. The Money Matters survey runs until 13 October 2024.

HAGA meeting 28th July

Meeting – Friday 28 June 2024 at 8.00pm

Looking forward to seeing as many of you that can make the HAGA meeting on this Friday, 28 June 2024 at 8.00pm.   

Edwin Rye, who was booked to talk to us on “Colour in the Garden for the Summer”, can’t now do his talk.  However, Edwin has promised to give his talk in 2025.

As an example of colour in his own garden, Edwin has sent some photos of his Dracunculus, attached.  Edwin calls it fabulous!

This Friday, therefore, we will be having a social evening.  As the Committee is beginning to plan our programme for 2025, we thought it would be a good opportunity to get ideas from you, the members, as regards speakers, day visits and holidays and have a general chat about HAGA.  Also, there will be time to talk about our own gardens/allotments and our successes and struggles!

We will also be having a raffle so please bring some cash.

2024 Visits     Thenford – Saturday Saturday 3 August 2024

                Wisley –  Saturday 14 September 2024

As we have to pay for our visit to Thenford in early July 2024, we need to finalise our list of attendees this Friday.  Please contact me if you want to check if you have put your name on the list for this trip to Thenford.

You can also sign up for our trip to Wisley on Saturday 14 September 2024.

Lacey Green and Loosely Row Horticultural Society

The Lacey Green and Loosely Row Horticultural Society has a talk on Wednesday 17 July 2024 on “Peat-Free Gardening” at 8pm in the Lacey Green Millenium Hall.

As government legislation is due to come into place banning peat use by the end of 2024 for amateur gardeners and by December 2026 for professional growers, this is a very timely talk.

Non-members are welcome at their talks.

Regards and hope to see you on Friday.

Diana

01494 862032

07871 825 271

High Wycombe Society events

Dear Members

We’ve all been invited to a wonderful event at Bucks New University.

A special concert: ‘The World of the Orchestra’.
To be held in The Atrium, High Wycombe Campus.
 MONDAY 24th JUNE – Time: 7:30-9:30pm

This event is more than just a concert; it’s a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together and enjoy an evening of beautiful music.

We would love for you to take your family and friends along.
Admission is open to everyone. To secure your place, please reserve your tickets in advance using the following Eventbrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-world-of-the-orchestra-a-musical-concert-experience-tickets-906023258957

Next up from the Society, is our ever popular Pann Mill open day.
 SUNDAY 14th JULY – 11am – 5pm 
This coincides with the National Mills Open event. Admission is free and there will be refreshments, flour ground by our Millers, information and other stalls.

HS2 Across the Chilterns – 8th Update (Online Presentation & Discussion) 13 July at 10:30 am until 12:00 pm

Brought to you by the Chilterns Society. Book here

We are pleased to invite you to the 8th in a series of updates, showing the impact as construction of the HS2 high speed railway line continues across the Chilterns.

Construction will soon be completed along certain sections of the route across the Colne Valley Regional Park and the Chilterns.  The Colne Valley Viaduct will be finished later this year as will the Chiltern Tunnel. The five tunnel shafts will all be complete early in 2025.

Beyond the north tunnel portal near Great Missenden, construction is nowhere near complete with much more disruption to come.  Construction of the Wendover Dean and Small Dean viaducts is now well underway.  Construction of the Wendover ‘green’ tunnel has been delayed for various reasons but is also now underway.

Using a mixture of maps, pictures, visualisations and, most importantly aerial photographs. The update will show the impact at a number of locations across the Colne Valley Regional Park as well as the Chilterns.

The talk will last for about 60 minutes with plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Keith Hoffmeister has been photographing the route ever since the plans were first revealed in 2010.  He covered the whole route from Euston to Birmingham and published a DVD in 2012 as part of the stop HS2 campaign.  He was also instrumental in establishing the HS2 Photo Diary which appears on our website.

Hughenden Parish Council – Open Spaces – Little Burnham Meadow

From Cllr Stan Jones.

On Thursday July 11th, from 10am to 1pm, the Parish Council are sponsoring a Community Ragwort Pulling event at Little Burnham Meadow, next to the allotments above Hughenden Valley Village Hall.  The event will be led by the Chiltern Rangers and their Green Thursdays volunteer group. There will be other conservation tasks available around the meadow and spinney for those who don’t fancy pulling ragwort all day. If you’d like to join us, please bring good rubber gloves, as the ragwort is strongly alkaline. If you have your own specialised ragwort fork, please bring it along.

The objective is to make the grass that is cut later in the summer usable for livestock. This, in turn, means we can remove the cuttings, which promotes greater diversity of wildflowers and insects in the meadow.

This is part of our broader plan to promote greater sustainability and biodiversity on the land the Parish Council owns or manages. Please join us whether for an hour or the full session. Please meet John Moorby in the Village Hall Car Park at 10am and he will lead you to the Meadow. We’ve had great turnouts at recent events at Cockpit Hole, in Great Kingshill, and we’d love to see members of the local community join us on July 11th. This will make an immediate positive difference to one of our most ecologically valuable locations.

HVRA – vacancies

Following the AGM at the end of May the roles of Chair & ViceChair are vacant. Any resident who is a member of HVRA can take up one of these roles, subject to nomination & approval by the committee. Please contact the Secretary (secretary@hughendenresidents.org) for more information if you are interested.