Haddenham & Waddesdon Community Board

Haddenham & Waddesdon Community Board logo; white and gold on blue background: “local voices, local choices, local action”

What? Who? How?

What? Community Boards are “community-led partnerships” designed to bring Bucks Council, groups, organisations and local people together to look at local issues and find ways of improving them.

Who? Each Board is made up of local (county) councillors (Grendon Underwood councillors are Micheal Rand, Angela Macpherson, and Frank Mahon) and representatives of each parish council. The H&W Board manager is Elaine Hassall. Elaine, who used to be a Road Safety Officer, is a font of knowledge concerning the area and local government. The Chair and Vice Chair are Cllrs Ashely Waite and Paul Irwin.

The community boards are all about taking action; working groups explore the local priorities, set up local projects and find creative ways to make local changes. Cllr Steven Judge is Brill’s representative on the H&W Board.

How? Priorities are determined by what matters most to the local area, as suggested by data and local intelligence gathered from residents, partners, local groups and organisations. Priorities for 2023/24 are: Health & Wellbeing, Road Safety, Environment. Each board has an allocated budget to fund local projects and initiatives in line with these priorities (money for which parish councils and/or local groups can apply). There are five public meetings each year. You do not have to be a parish councillor or similar to be involved; subscribe to the Board’s newsletter and come along to a meeting.

Parish Workshops This is a new Board initiative for 2023; groups of neighbouring parishes getting together to support each other and feed back into the main Community Board meetings. The first meeting will be held in Brill in September.

 

Funding for local action

These are some of the projects funded in 2021 by H&T Community Board:

  • Ashendon, Kingsey, Upper Winchendon: speed reduction projects

  • Bucks Mind Mental Health First Aiders in schools

  • Cuddington Plant a Tree for the Jubilee

  • CHAT Respite Charity: to provide respite grants to families of Special Educational Needs children

  • Stone (community) Cafe in the Park   

  • Berryfields MUGA

  • Dinton Orchard: help to establish a community pear and apple orchard with pollinator plants and meadow grasses

The chart shows projects approved by late summer 2022. We are particularly interested in neighbouring Oakley’s Village Stores and Community Café - and are pleased that Wotton Underwood have at last got their traffic calming funding.