Cabinet - Tuesday 10 March 2026, 10:00am - Buckinghamshire Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Tuesday, 10th March 2026 at 10:00am 

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  1. Cllr Steve Bowles
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Peter Strachan
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Thomas Broom
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Thomas Broom
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Steve Bowles
  8. Cllr Peter Brazier
  9. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  10. Cllr Steve Bowles
  11. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  12. Cllr Robert Carington
  13. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  14. Cllr Isobel Darby
  15. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  16. Cllr Carl Jackson
  17. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  18. Cllr Carl Jackson
  19. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  20. Cllr Adekunle Osibogun
  21. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  22. Cllr Mark Winn
  23. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Glenn Watson
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Thomas Broom
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Questions
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Peter Strachan
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. Cllr Peter Strachan
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Carl Jackson
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Carl Jackson
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Isobel Darby
  6. Cllr Carl Jackson
  7. Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  11. Cllr Thomas Broom
  12. Cllr Carl Jackson
  13. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  14. Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care
  15. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  16. Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care
  17. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  18. Cllr Carl Jackson
  19. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Carl Jackson
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Jennifer Ricketts - Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Thomas Broom
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Carl Jackson
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. Craig McArdle - Corporate Director for Adult Social Care
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Peter Strachan
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Isobel Darby
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Robert Carington
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Mark Winn
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Mark Winn
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Isobel Darby
  6. Cllr Mark Winn
  7. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  8. Cllr Mark Winn
  9. Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  11. Cllr Mark Winn
  12. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  13. Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability
  14. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  15. Cllr Mark Winn
  16. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Peter Strachan
  2. Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability
  3. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  4. Cllr Carl Jackson
  5. Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Thomas Broom
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. Cllr Adekunle Osibogun
  10. Cllr Mark Winn
  11. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  12. Cllr Isobel Darby
  13. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  14. Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability
  15. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Robert Carington
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Robert Carington
  4. Richard Barker - Corporate Director for Communities
  5. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  6. Cllr Steve Bowles
  7. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  8. Cllr Isobel Darby
  9. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  10. Cllr Isobel Darby
  11. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  12. Richard Barker - Corporate Director for Communities
  13. Cllr Isobel Darby
  14. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  15. Cllr Peter Brazier
  16. Cllr Robert Carington
  17. Richard Barker - Corporate Director for Communities
  18. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  19. Cllr Peter Strachan
  20. Cllr Robert Carington
  21. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  2. Cllr Robert Carington
  3. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Steve Bowles
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. Cllr Robert Carington
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. John Reed - Service Director (P,G&S)
  6. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  7. Cllr Mark Winn
  8. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  9. John Reed - Service Director (P,G&S)
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Webcast Finished

Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:00:00
Thank you very much and good morning everybody watching to this cabinet meeting of Buckinghamshire
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:00:14
Council on Tuesday the 10th of March 2026.
Just some preliminary comments to remind members and the public present to use the microphones
when you're speaking and that everyone should be aware this meeting is being
webcast. Please of course do sit in the area to the side of the room which will
not be filmed if you prefer not to be captured on those images. That being said

1 Apologies

I will now commence with item one which is apologies for absence. I have not
received any apologies from cabinet members who are here in full and I don't
believe we have any others. Deputy cabinet members we have Councillor Carol Heap
here and Councillor Peter Martin. They are most welcome to contribute to the
debate if they wish and the discussions but in accordance with the Constitution
are not able to vote when we get to specific decisions on items. Item 2 and

2 Minutes

minutes of the last meeting. These are on pages 5 to 32 of the published pack. Are you,
does anyone have any questions about or comments about the minutes given you would have seen
them in advance? No. And are cabinet members therefore content for me to approve these
minutes as a correct record? Great. Thank you all. That is agreed. And we will sign

3 Declarations of interest

those later. Item three, declarations of interest. Obviously cabinet members are registered
interests are available on the website but are there any further declarations of interest for today?

4 Hot Topics

No, non -recorded, thank you and therefore moving swiftly on to item four, hot topics. So hot topics
is an opportunity for cabinet members to update cabinet and the watching public on anything
pertinent and I will ask for it to be pertinent please about things that we need people to
to know about.
Obviously, I know Thomas Broom later will reference roads
and highways.
So I won't lay to that point for now.
But that is clearly a big focus of the activities
at the council as we speak.
And one major point is that within the last couple of weeks
the full council met and approved our budget
for the coming three years.
We continue to get further detail on grants and grant
conditions in the impact that may have on services, particularly where grants have been
cut by the government and we will communicate with relevant parties and those impacted by
that in the coming weeks. And also given global events, we're also keeping a close eye on
inflation and cost assumptions in the impact that may have both in the short term on the
current budget but also in the NTFP over the period.
Obviously, that is work that changes quite regularly
at the moment, but we will keep an eye on that
to make sure that we remain in strong,
robust financial position.
And to that end, the growth plan that we have launched
during the year on our economy continues to be delivered
and continues to seek the attention of government.
I, myself, have discussed this with ministers
just this week in Parliament,
but also we look forward to a future visit
in the next few weeks from Lord Valance
to really push Westcott and Silverstone
and the impact that has on our county's economy
through the Oxford -Cambridge Growth Corridor
and UK PLC as a whole.
So, Buckinghamshire is a unique place and has an economy approaching £22 billion and
something that is a net contributor into Treasury.
And obviously, we do everything we can to achieve that 2 % uplift in productivity that
we need through the growth plan for everyone's benefit.
So that being said, I'm going to go around the cabinet table asking if you have a hot
topic.
There is not a requirement to have one, but please, given it's the first time you speak
in the meeting, introduce yourself,
and then any pertinent hot topic you have.
Peter Strachan.
Good morning, everyone, and leader, thank you.
Cllr Peter Strachan - 0:04:47
Peter Strachan, deputy leader
and cabinet member for planning.
If I may, leader, I'll have one brief hot topic.
Today concludes the recent central government consultation
about the new national planning framework.
The consultation itself took the form
of over 200 questions which we answered completely and robustly and we send that response in
today.
So I just thought colleagues might just wish to be updated about that.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:05:20
Thank you Peter.
Obviously we are planning things on the agenda later but at the same time as government talking
about local plans, special development work, they're also changing or proposing to change
national planning policy. So it is important given there are some
fundamental changes in those proposals that the council give a full and robust
response. I know UN officers have been working on that. So thank you for that.
We will see in the future months which of the proposals flow through into the
Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:05:57
actual formal changes. Okay thank you. Thomas Broome. Thank you leader. Thomas
Broome, deputy leader and cabinet member for transport. Two quick updates on the
road network. Obviously the first thing to point out as you said is that having
delivered the budget the week before last we are now taking forward those
plans and starting to programme out the work as part of our 120 million pound
road programme. We've obviously had a very difficult start to the year because of
the weather and have surged our presence on the network by more than 50 % in order
to try and make sure that we are filling potholes as quickly as we possibly can.
We are now getting to the point where weather has improved enough that the vast majority
of those are now long -term rather than temporary repairs, which we were required to do while
conditions were still bad.
But obviously the next step after that, and hopefully people will start seeing this throughout
the county is to get back into the capital resurfacing works that are the long -term solution
to stop potholes forming in the first place.
I'd also just like to give Cabinet an update on some network management issues.
I'm sure everybody would have noticed at the end of last week, we had three major A -roads
that were closed in the south of the county because of emergency utility works.
We've been engaging with those companies,
Thames Water and Cadent extensively over the period.
I'd like to say thanks to the Street Works team
in particular who've been making sure
that they are keeping compliant
with what they're supposed to be doing
and making sure that they are taking the steps
they needed to take to get those roads open
as quickly as possible.
I completely appreciate that there has been
some significant disruption,
but the council has been very much advocating
for residents in making sure that those works have been completed as swiftly as
they possibly could be. Thank you Thomas obviously on that on that latter point
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:08:06
when you have three A roads all impacted at once all for good reason with gas
leaks and the like then there's a lot of unseen work done by the street works
team but I have to say my impression this time on that was the communications
trying to alert the public were very good and it gives me an opportunity to
remind people to use either their sat -nav or they can use one dot network to see,
because road closures will be alerted on both and you can plan your way around
it, even if it's a route you do every day, it's just well worth doing that because
obviously you want to be as in -convenienced as little as possible.
And I do know it's good to see some of that capital programme work given the
of 270 road surfacing schemes we've got in a year,
really being designed up so that as the weather improves,
we can get on with that.
Can you just confirm for me,
we start the winter service back in October,
and that mainly means getting ready for gritting and things.
That draws to a close soon.
Are we confident we won't need them again?
Although you've got a weather forecast.
Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:09:21
No, exactly, my job moonlighting at the Met Office.
No, so our winter service is basically us standing up our gritting capacity
to make sure that we can get out on the network.
It has been very much in demand this year with over 50 ,000 miles of road gritted.
But the fact that we come to the end of our winter service
does not mean that that capacity will not be there.
It's more about focusing our efforts to make sure that it's ready to roll out in the autumn.
but that service will be very much available whenever it's needed.
Although hopefully not.
Excellent. Thank you, Thomas.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:09:56
Yeah, 50 ,000 gritting miles done in the year shows just how frequently
the road surface temperature got below zero.
So thank you for that.
And to the crews who do it, because, you know, there's no planning with that.
It's what the weather forecast says, where the temperature goes,
and if that means 4 p .m., 6 p .m., or more likely 2, 3, or 4 a .m.,
then that's when they go out to do it.
So thank you for the team for that.
Peter Brazier. Good morning, thank you. Peter Brazier, Cabinet Member for Culture and
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:10:26
Leisure. I have two hot topics. Library Flex, it continues to do well with well
over 5 ,000 people inducted now and we're now tracking usage
figures and it's been used well over 15 ,000 times but I've got some
interesting news. We've decided to run a pilot this summer so from the 7th of
from 8 a .m. to 8 p .m. on all our library flex libraries with the exception of
Amershon every weekday. So obviously Amershon is in the Children Lifestyle
Centre so it's got different opening hours but that's we're going to see a
near doubling of the hours so residents can access our libraries throughout the
weekdays so that's good news and it continues to go well. Sorry Peter when
When was that commencing?
Cllr Peter Brazier - 0:11:15
7th of April.
So basically we're going to run it through the summer.
It's a pilot, it's a trial, we'll see how it goes.
But as I say, we're tracking usage for you.
And just for the members of the public watching, Library Flex
is where you can access the library through your own swipe card,
a bit like an out of hours gym, where you can go to the library
even when it's not being staffed.
So 15 ,000 visits means 15 ,000 people have gone to the library
outside of those staff hours.
Yes, exactly.
Thank you.
And the analogy to a 24 hour gym is exactly right.
So thank you.
Secondly, I'm really pleased to share the news
that for the first time,
our filming income has surpassed 1 million pounds.
This is just a testament to the successful work
of our film office.
When we look back to 2021 year,
The income was about 195 ,000.
That was built up by the film office, and it peaked in
2324 at 893 ,000.
It's just a remarkable performance in such a short
period of time.
The main contributors to this income were, of course, the
country parks, which contributed just
under £460 ,000.
And the property assets were contributing just under
£360 ,000.
Thanks, thanks, Robert.
Also the film office, we've just negotiated a six -digit sum for filming at Farnham Park
for two productions, and those fees are going to be shared between the Farnham Park Trust
and Softball UK for the use of their facilities.
So this just highlights the importance of a professionally run film office and underlines
the growing commercial success of filming in Buckinghamshire,
which is one of the best counties to film in in the UK.
So lastly, I just want to highlight that the film office is now working with parishes and town councils.
So to get them goodwill payments to ensure that local communities benefit from filming in their area.
Thank you. Thanks to the film office.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:13:27
Thank you, Peter, and congratulations to Film Office for achieving that.
I mentioned the budget a moment ago, and of course, seeking revenue in different ways
is a key element to making sure we can fund other vital services.
You've outlined there what's happened over a few short years to hit a million revenue
in a year.
We are a very film county, but we're not the only county.
There is a competitive market out there.
So to have people choose Buckinghamshire is helpful.
and that's fees that so often people when they're on location there may be a
spend in local shops and local pubs and so on and of course that's captured
elsewhere in the economic ecosystem I think so this is yeah this is good news
overall and something that obviously the Film Office should be proud of and
continue to expand.
Steve Bowles.
Thank you, leader.
Steve Bowles, cabinet member for communities.
I've got three hot topics.
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:14:30
Firstly, parking enforcement changes.
As you know, a paper has come and gone through cabinet.
So following the decision last year,
I'm really pleased to report that positive progress
is being made with the outsourcing
of our parking enforcement services. This approach will ensure that enforcement is delivered
consistently across the county, that the service remains sustainable, local enforcement needs
are addressed and new technology is deployed to strengthen enforcement at priority locations.
We've made the decision to award the parking enforcement contract to APCO Parking UK Limited.
They're a well -established national provider and have significant experience in this field.
It's anticipated that the new outsourced arrangements will realise a number of benefits, including
comprehensive approach to parking enforcement, ensuring high levels of compliance across
all areas of the county through an agreed enforcement plan, full recruitment, civil
enforcement officers ensuring improved resilience and greater capacity, use of
electric vehicles, e -Mopeds and ANPR vehicles to enable rapid and flexible
enforcement and use of technology to carry out effective enforcement and
enable efficient and direct deployment and comprehensive performance monitoring.
Now these new arrangements are on schedule to commence in June, June this
year. My next topic is West Chiltern's Community Board, Frackleheath and Woburn's ward. Our
community boards are continuing to help support delivery of a wide variety of local projects
and priorities. One example is a volunteer fair that took place last month at Bournend
Community Centre. The event was delivered in collaboration with Woburn and Bournend Parish
Council and Bournon Community Association.
The event welcomes 17 stallholders,
including the local guiding group, residents association,
sports clubs, and local charities.
The project aim is to sustain existing volunteer involvement
while attracting new volunteers of all ages
by bringing together a wide range of local groups,
showcasing diverse opportunities in one accessible community
focused event.
Now, the aim of sort of promoting volunteer involvement
follows on really nicely from the volunteering workshop
that we had ran by the High Sheriff Pippa Cope -Bride.
So yeah, really pleased to see that that's working out.
Opportunity Bucks.
Our Opportunity Bucks programme continues to go from strength to strength.
Just one example of some of the local workers in the Disraeli Ward,
which joined the programme in May 2025.
The board partnership has launched
the Hueindom Boulevard Project,
an ambitious collaboration with Hueindom Garden Village,
the Royal Star and Garter Care Home,
Chiltern Rangers and local volunteers.
Together they're transforming
an underused riverside footpath along the River Wye
into an attractive, welcoming,
and nature -rich community space.
Phase 1 began on the 2nd of February with volunteer sessions led by Chilton Rangers,
including enthusiastic young people from Disraeli School, who helped clear vegetation, improve pathways,
and create the foundations for a greener environment.
Next stage will be to introduce new seating to provide accessible places for rest social connexion.
This project is a significant step forward for the area,
powerful example of what strong partnership working and active community
involvement can achieve. I look forward to sharing further progress as the work
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:18:34
and similar projects continue. Thank you Steve. Yeah a lot's going on there about
in volunteering through our community boards and obviously the work that you've
just outlined through Opportunity Bucks. You know, opportunity bucks been a
core programme to us to help some of the more challenged areas of the county so
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:18:52
thanks for that. Robert. Thank you very much Lisa. Hello I'm council Robert
Carrington cabinet member for resources which includes regeneration and I have
one hot topic which relates to regeneration. A couple weeks ago I was
delighted to be able to attend the reopening of the Tesco store in High
Wycombe in the town centre there along with the chairman of the council
Councillor Raja and my deputy Councillor Julie Ward. The reason I raised
this is an exciting event for High Wycombe, particularly,
I mean, seeing Tesco come back after so long being away
and now seeing the new repurposed store being reopened
and the opportunities now that allows us to proceed
with the upstairs floor of the work on the new council offices
and the relocation of the archives.
The plan is still the offices will be opening
at some point next year.
And this just once again, I think shows our ambitious programme
for High Wycombe and our commitment to investing
in our town centres and our regeneration programme.
Great. Good to highlight that, Robert,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:20:01
because clearly there's several factors to regen
and it's good to see some development and some delivery
of each of those bits that add up to a greater sum
than the individual part.
So thank you for that. Isabel.
Thank you very much, Lida.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 0:20:15
Isabel Darby, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.
Just a couple for me today, Lida.
One on public health.
I attended the launch of the new Children's and Young People's Drug and Alcohol Service
at the Roundhouse in High Wycombe.
This has now been delivered by our partners Change, Grow, Live.
And it was a really vibrant event.
It had lots of different partners there.
And I met some of the young people who are now working in the service, as it were, with other young people,
people who had had issues with drug and alcohol in the past and now have chosen a different path for their lives.
I think the other important thing, which I hadn't really thought about very much,
was this service also works with children and young people whose lives are indirectly affected by drug and alcohol use of family members.
And they have clients as young as seven that they work with.
But it's really encouraging that there is that help and that support there.
And I wish them well and will be following the progress.
The other more adult social care issue is the Baroness Casey, who is chair of the Independent
Commission on Adult Social Care.
She did a speech at the Nuffield Trust Summit on the 5th of March.
and I've already sent you the transcript of that speech.
So she is looking into the thorny issue of adult social care and how we fix it.
And I think one of the really interesting things in her speech,
she sort of wound back to 1946,
where adult social care wasn't really a thing
because people didn't actually tend to live that long
and their families looked after them because women didn't work.
And it was just a really interesting insight for me
as to how we've got to where we are now.
And she has also written to the Secretary of State
the health and social care.
And he has replied to her.
And she's raised a lot of issues.
But having read the report, I think
she really gets what councils are dealing with in trying
to deliver social care.
She absolutely understands that it's not funded.
She doesn't actually say where the funding's coming from.
but she says that there needs to be a really adult conversation
about how this is going to be funded in the future
and that the population are going to have to decide.
It's such an important issue.
But she does raise some issues which the Secretary of State
has taken on board.
One is safeguarding and where a lot of authorities
are very, very good at safeguarding.
And everybody does try their best.
There are times when it doesn't go according to plan.
And the Secretary of State said he's going to create a new National Safeguarding Board
and have an urgent review.
So that's, I think that's positive.
The other issue of course is dementia, which is rising exponentially and absolutely wedded
to the Secretary of State is looking at having trials and looking at different ways of treating
dementia and preventing dementia.
And the other one, which is very close to my heart because I lost a very good, very
dear counsellor colleague to motor neuron disease a couple of years ago, Counsellor Rush, who
was counsellor at this council.
And she, Baroness Casey, has identified the fact that too often somebody gets a diagnosis.
Their prognosis is possibly 12 or a few more months, but the care, the support doesn't
go in because there's too much red tape.
And it's to look at a fast track to make sure that people
who get that devastating diagnosis get the care
and support that they need and deserve.
So the case review is by no means finished,
but we are well on the way.
And I was quite encouraged by what I read.
Thanks, Isabel.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:24:12
Yeah, I think that's the kind of thing
that won't get necessarily highlighted
as frequently as it could be.
I mentioned again, I mentioned the budget earlier
and adult social care,
Your portfolio is the biggest single spending area
of the council.
Adult social care being one of those critical areas
that accounts for 76 % of our spend
by the end of this financial period.
So I know you and I have been in discussion
because it's really important that the Casey Review
and government here on the particular challenges
of a county like Buckinghamshire
and the relative costs of delivering the right levels
of service for people when they present and have a need.
So, I know that's what you'll be doing to make sure
that we're heard and hopefully can input into
and have a positive influence on that work.
So, thank you for that.
Karl.
Thank you, Lita.
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:25:08
I'm Karl Jackson, cabinet member
for Education and Children's Services.
One hot topic since we last met,
the government has published its school's white paper
on special educational needs
and disability reform or SEND reform.
The White Paper makes a series of proposals
to reform the SEND system.
And so the brief headlines would be that by 2035,
only children with the most complex needs would qualify
for any HCP.
Children who already have them will keep them
until they finish whichever phase of education they're in.
It's not entirely clear what difference
that would make given they're supposed
to be reviewed annually anyway at the moment,
but we'll await further detail.
All pupils with SEND, whether or not they have any HCP,
would have new individual support plans.
which would set out their needs.
And then the government plans to sort of split support
into three layers.
One which it calls targeted, which would be sort
of lower level support.
Small groups, reasonable adjustments.
The middle layer would be a proposal called targeted plus,
which to me sounds a little like an over -the -counter painkiller,
but I don't make the rules.
And that would give a child access to specialists
like speech and language therapists
and educational psychologists.
And then the top layer would be children
with the most complex needs, which is called specialist support.
There's a strong focus on supporting pupils with,
send within mainstream schools as far as possible.
That's very much carrying on an existing direction of travel.
The proposed reforms, I think this is crucial in terms of how,
what approach we take, they would require a change in the law.
They're not expected to come into effect, the reforms, until September 2029.
And until then, the current system remains in place.
no changes to support through HCPs are expected to come in before at least
September 2030. The consultation which is live closes on the 18th of May so I
would encourage Buckinghamshire residents to respond especially if they have
experience in this area and given that everything's been sort of kicked back
beyond the next general election the in the meantime I think this makes it even
more important that we continue our work as a council to improve our SEND
services, including by pressing on with the £3 million EHCP
recovery plan to cut waiting times for EHCPs and get support
to children and young people and the schools more quickly.
We've also, I just mentioned finally, submitted representations
to the government to ask them to reconsider plans to cancel
our new special school that would provide 152
specialist placements for children.
With SEND, we really need it.
It's a crucial part of meeting the need in this county.
We were promised it by the Department for Education,
so hopefully they will change their mind on that.
Yes, thank you, Karl.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:27:55
I know we've been very strong in pushing the government
to say a key part of our sufficiency meeting,
the demand we have is that school.
And so the broken promise to take that away
is not acceptable in my view.
And as you say, we are bearing down on EHEPs
through the extra investment that this cabinet put in.
If I've taken your comments correctly,
because there was a consultation,
your advice to parents at the moment is, I think,
contribute to that consultation
and continue with the system as it currently is,
given as you say, changes won't come in until 2029
and beyond, is that fair?
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:28:42
Yeah, I think that's right. I mean the consultation is open till the 18th of May.
I think people with experience and an interest in this area should respond if they'd like to.
But this is, these reforms are still, it's an early, the proposed reforms are still at a very early stage.
This is effectively some high -level proposals and a consultation. Nothing's been set yet.
The detail is yet to be sort of hammered out. So I think there's no reason to sort of
panic and change course in terms of how we're approaching
this issue with the council or how parents are approaching
this issue at the moment.
It's an early stage, but it's an opportunity to start
to shape the reforms through the consultation.
Yes, I think one of the key bits is,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:29:25
and to be fair to government, I think they're trying
to do the consultation here, but what qualifies
as the complex need, and the best way for anyone
doing the consultation to hear that is for those responses
Cllr Adekunle Osibogun - 0:29:42
to be put in. So thank you for that. Ade. Yes thank you leader, I'm Councillor Ade
Aschbogen, cabinet member for environment climate change and waste. One hot topic
during the great British Spring Clean from the 13th of March to the 29th will
be encouraging residents, parish and town councils and local businesses to get
involved with cleaning up their local area, organising or joining a litter pick.
This year's theme is Love Where You Live, and focuses on cleaning up places and spaces where we care most about.
If anybody's participating in a Little Pick activity, we do encourage you to please read the guidance on our website,
because the safety of everyone and anyone taking part is of utmost importance.
Thank you, please.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:30:36
Thank you and I know doing litter picks is coming back to the volunteering point is something
lots of residents do all year round but and I thank them for that but getting
out there during the spring clean is a really helpful activity as well but as
you say do so safely and and of course I'm reminded to everyone don't throw the
litter in the first place particularly out of your car window in our verges but
anyway thank you let's hope that promotion goes well on litter picks. Mark Wing.
Cllr Mark Winn - 0:31:02
Good morning, and good morning everyone at home listening.
Mark Wynn, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regulatory Services.
I'll butt the trend and I don't have any hot topics this morning.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:31:11
Thank you very much, Mark. Good to hear from you and appreciate you helping keep us back on track a little bit.
We'll come to item 5 then, which is Question Time.

5 Question Time

This is an opportunity for all councillors of the council who are not in the cabinet
or part of the executive to submit questions, come and present a question to cabinet members.
This time we have received two written questions.
The first from Councillor Chris Chilton and the second from Councillor Robin Stutchbury.
Chris Chilton unfortunately is advised he can't be here today, so what we will do instead
is ask for Glenn Watson, one of our officers from Democratic Services, to read out the question
in lieu of Councillor Chilton and then the response will be provided by Thomas Broome.
So Glenn, if you could read the question please. Thank you, Leader.
Councillor Chilton prefaces his question as follows. The BBC One panorama special on 8th
of December 2025 about the pothole problem tried to answer the question why councils seem unable
to get on top of them despite record government funding.
Councillor Chilton says he was shocked to discover that road defects and debris contributed
to around 20 deaths and over 500 serious injuries in Britain last year.
Councillor Chilton says the programme's key insights were there needs to be much more
use of innovative new technologies to map road conditions and to carry out preventative
maintenance to stop potholes occurring in the first place.
Blackpool Council was highlighted as a leader in that regard.
Glenn Watson - 0:32:50
This approach of utilising preventative maintenance programmes to minimise the need for emergency repairs
had been very prevalent in the private sector industries for many decades, the programme said.
He also cited the programme as saying there was concern about the number of potholes that were being filled multiple times in a single year,
one example being repaired 19 times in 2024,
particularly by councils who use exclusively contractors
to carry out their road repairs.
There were strong suggestions in the programme
that the contractors sometimes had divided priorities
between maximising their own profits
and making permanent fixes.
Coming to Councillor Chilton's actual question, it was,
has Buckinghamshire Council recently benchmarked
its performance when using contractors for preventative maintenance and pothole repairs
versus that of other councils who use an in -house workforce for the same tasks in terms of total
cost, cost per pothole, percentage success rate, speed of response, and the success of
the preventative maintenance.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:33:55
Thank you, Glenn. I think it's fair to say that's not actually a single question. There's
an awful lot of multifaceted parts in there. So Thomas, I assume your response will have
to pick up multiple parts, but over to you, please.
Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:34:06
Yes, thank you, Lida.
And I think Councillor Chilfzen's original question,
the premise of it was suggesting
that there was a substantial amount of government funding
coming to Buckinghamshire for roads.
So the first thing to point out is that
while some areas may be experiencing
significant funding increases from government,
Buckinghamshire is not one of them.
This government has cut 44 and a half million pounds of funding to Buckinghamshire.
Despite that, we are delivering the biggest roads investment in the history of the county.
The recent prolonged period of wet and freezing weather has significantly accelerated the
emergence and escalation of highways defects across the country.
That is why we have increased the number of teams out on the network making repairs by
more than 50%.
In the first two months of 2026 alone, the team have made more than 3 ,500 repairs.
Buckinghamshire Council has been proactive, not passive, in addressing the issue.
It is a substantial, deliberate political choice by the Council to protect and improve
our road network, despite significant external pressures.
We are not simply maintaining the status quo.
we are investing heavily with the aim of delivering
long lasting improvements rather than short term fixes.
This council has passed a budget that delivers
on our commitment to a 120 million pound road programme
with investment of 220 million in the wider highway network.
The recent assessment of local highway maintenance
made by the Department of Transport has given top marks
to both the level of investment we're making
and for best practise in deploying these resources.
Buckinghamshire was rated in the top category of green
for two of the three measures.
Best practise for which Buckinghamshire is one
of only 21 councils ranked as green,
of the 154 assessed across the country,
demonstrates the volume of work achieved
and how this has been focused particularly
on long -term preventative maintenance.
It showcases innovation such as our early adoption of AI
to analyse road condition as far back as 2020,
the application of new treatments such as thermal
and MASTEC and our use of agile traffic management to reduce congestion.
The department also recognises the prioritisation this council gives to highways funding, particularly
the level of our own investment in capital road repairs above that provided by central
government, which was higher than most other authorities and at a level where we were again
assessed in the top category of green.
It is important to note that government funding is a minority of our investment in roads.
The Council takes a balanced but strategic forward -looking approach to identifying work
for our capital programmes.
This means that we make repairs when we need to, while ensuring that we are investing in
a good value preventative treatment, such as surface dressing and micro asphalt treatments,
which can extend the life of a road before it needs to have deeper and more extensive
treatment.
All of our capital works are competitively tender as part of our framework contracts,
and we regularly cheque and challenge our contractors to drive increased value for money for Buck's
taxpayers.
The Council proactively monitors the quality and timeliness of repairs carried out, acknowledging
that when conditions are bad, temporary repairs are sometimes necessary.
We do benchmark against other highway authorities, which shows that the rates we pay in Buckinghamshire
are below that of other authorities.
This is reinforced by a wider benchmarking exercise conducted through the Future Highways
Research Group, which looks at the highway service as a whole and benchmarks against
around 38 other authorities.
Their most recent assessment confirms that the overall value for money position is strong
and compares well to other FHRG members.
So despite 44 and a half million pounds of government cuts, we are delivering on our
commitment to 120 million pound road programme,
a record investment in Buckinghamshire roads.
We know there is much to do,
but we are determined through careful investment
and continued best practise to improve our roads.
Thank you, Thomas.
As I suspected quite a lengthy response,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:38:27
but I think that picked up a lot of points,
including highlighting the preventative maintenance work
and use of innovative treatments on our network.
And the fact, you know,
the pot hole occurrences are a national issue,
but we are very well placed with our best practise
and investment, given that record level of money
to overcome that better than a lot of other areas.
So thank you for that.
Councillor Robin Stutchbury,
if you could come forward please.
You're welcome to the meeting.
Robin, good to see you.
You changed the name plaque though,
because it's still got Councillor Chilterns there.
Thank you.
Good to see you, Robin.
Please ask your question. Thank you very much. Good morning to everyone and these different
Questions - 0:39:12
times we're all living in. Thank you. In June 2022, a response to the Cabinet question,
it was stated that there was a working group looking into the Buckinghamshire
local plan and they met quarterly to discuss emerging and important issues that we relate
into the form of the workability
of the Buckingham's development plan.
In July, 2023, there was a motion put to Buckingham Council
seeking opposition members to gain place on the subgroup
to ensure that cross -party working.
The vote was not carried by the controlling group,
the council at the time.
Therefore, can the cabinet member explain the structures
and processes the council has established
to enable members engagement in the preparation of the Buckinghamshire Local Plan, ensuring
appropriate political representation within those arrangements with members in processing
and preparation of the emerging Buckinghamshire Plan. Well, this is following up with scrutiny
of previous questions. Thank you, Robin. I appreciate that. Cabinet Member of Planning,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:40:24
Cllr Peter Strachan - 0:40:25
Deputy Leader Peter Strachan will respond.
Thank you, Councillor Stutchbury.
First, I would like to provide assurance that the draught local plan has been complied in accordance with,
has been complied in accordance with the Council's Constitution and National Regulations.
In line with those requirements, members of all political groups have been engaged throughout the process by a variety of methods.
Within the last six months, these include regular updates on progress on our website,
presentations, and questioning via the planning member forums, most recently on the 10th
of September and the 11th of February.
And more recently, the team held members individual surgeries for all wards
between the 11th and the 20th of February, 2026.
as well as my regular updates to cabinet and full council
on significant milestones reached by the plan.
It has also been scrutinised by the growth,
infrastructure and housing select committee
on several occasions, most recently on the 26th of January.
And I think Rob and you were present there.
All concerns raised by members are being considered
within the Regulation 18 process,
and if you mail the appropriate mailbox,
and I've included the address and the full answer,
all of your concerns and questions will be responded to.
Thank you Peter, thank you Robin
for coming and asking that question.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:42:00
Obviously you might be interested in the LDS item
to do the local plan later on the agenda.
So thank you for that.
Most likely will be, yeah.
Leader, there is a related subject
that it might be appropriate to mention now
if you're happy for me to do that in short.
Yes, please do.
Cllr Peter Strachan - 0:42:14
So a related subject, the legal requirement
for a statement of consultation
is for this to be published at Regulation 19 stage
when the final version of the plan
is published for consultation.
Whilst all the responses at Regulation 18 stage
have now been considered,
how these issues will be dealt with remains under review
until the final version of the local plan
is published at Regulation 19 stage
in the summer of this year.
I just thought that was worth adding
to give a bit more context, leader.
Thank you.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:42:51
Yeah, so it's happened to Councillor Stosvig's question,
but you know, other queries that get raised
about the consultation elements itself.
So I think that's helpful, thank you.

6 Forward Plan (28 Day Notice)

Let's move on then to item six, which is the forward plan.
Members are asked to comment and note the forward plan
on 28 day notice.
This is on pages 35 to 46 of the pack.
And for people watching, this is where there's indications
coming forward of future business.
This is taking a snapshot in time
when this pack is produced.
The more up -to -date, I was gonna say live version,
but near time version probably,
is available via the council website.
But for the purposes of today with the version
that is included in the pack,
Are members content to note?
Thank you very much.
That is noted.

7 Select Committee Work Programme

And item seven works in a very similar way,
but this time is the forward plan
of the select committee work programme.
Again, members are asked to comment and note.
This can be found on pages 47 to 52,
inclusive of the agenda pack.
Anyone have any comments or questions on this?
Okay, members happy to note that.
Thank you very much. That is agreed. So we'll come now to the first full substantive item

8 Ofsted ILACS Recommendations Improvement Plan Update

of the meeting, which is item eight. This is the Ofsted's ILAC's recommendation and
improvement plan update. And I'll go straight to Carl Jackson on this as a relevant cabinet
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:44:27
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:44:29
member. Thank you, leader. Sorry, Carl, if I just say for those watching, this is on
pages 53 to 74.
And of course, I know you know you have officers here,
including Alison Munt, who's the service director
for Children's Social Care.
Should there be further questions?
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:44:42
Thank you, leader.
As members will know, Buckinghamshire Council
is responsible for providing services
for children in need of help and protection
for children in care and for care leavers.
And we are inspected regularly on the quality
and consistency of those services by Ofsted.
Our first inspection came in 2021, not long after the council was established,
and OSTED found the council services required improvement in the five key areas which were assessed,
namely the impact of leaders on social work practise with children and families,
the experience and progress of children who need help and protection,
the experiences and progress of children in care,
the experiences and progress of care leavers, and overall effectiveness.
The council was inspected again at the start of 2025, as the report explains,
and Austed reported encouraging signs of improvement,
upgrading our rating for the experiences and progress
of children in care from requires improvement to good.
More specifically, Austed found that most children who come
into care do so at an appropriate time
to ensure their safety and well -being
and receive reliably good care.
They praised our ambitions to enhance placement sufficiency,
which includes the good progress we're making
in recruiting more foster carers and opening our own house,
own in -house children's homes to keep more children in care in Buckinghamshire and in
loving homes.
They recognise that referrals to the multi -agency safeguarding hub about children at risk of
harm are responded to in a timely way and at all times of the day and night.
They praise the quality of children's assessments by our social workers and the fact that most
children have positive and stable relationships with their social workers.
That's a key point coming from our work to reduce the number of agency staff there and
They welcome that disabled children in need of help and protection are supported by social
workers who understand their needs, that the council works effectively with other agencies
to track and reduce the risk of harm to children at risk of exploitation.
And it was also noted that children in care have good school attendance and that the council
is ambitious for our children and young people to fulfil their potential in education and
pursue their interests and hobbies.
We should be very proud of that progress
and of those achievements.
However, of course, they'd also identified areas
where the council needs to improve its services.
In particular, there was a focus on support for care leavers,
especially those aged over 21,
with a call for more consistency.
And I think that's the theme of this inspection
and also the recent SEND inspection, recognition
that there's a lot of good practise,
a lot of good service.
It's about making sure it's done to a high standard every time for everyone.
The OSTED report, the Council prepares an improvement plan to help us make progress
in the areas where OSTED says we need to improve and where we know we can.
The report provides an update, not the OSTED report, this report we're looking at now,
the Cabinet report provides an update on the key areas within our improvement plan.
Just a quick summary of the key areas.
They are improving management oversight of social work
to improve consistency, including a move
from quarterly supervision sessions to monthly.
Improving services to children at risk of neglect,
including clearer guidance to help social workers
or family support workers spot the early warning signs.
More timely and consistent work to involve the child's
by the family network in their care.
This is another key area of work,
and seeing if children can be cared for by family members,
rather than coming into care where it's safe
and appropriate to do so.
More effective planning for young people in care
to transition to adulthood and independence.
This was picked up quite strongly by Austed.
It's a real area of focus for us.
I think the key is getting rid of any feeling
that there's a cliff edge where support drops off in care
as children and young people move towards adulthood
and independence.
And finally, better support for care leavers,
including sharing more information about social events,
employment and training opportunities, and housing.
And finally, I just want to thank everyone
in the Council's Children's Services Team for their work
to support and care for our children and young people
in care or leaving care.
There is no decision to take today, but Cabinet is asked
to note the update on the improvement plan.
Thank you.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:48:54
Thank you very much for that, Carl, and outlining, you know,
areas of strength and areas of improvement,
but do recognise the progress being made.
Members have questions? Isabel.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 0:49:12
Thank you very much, leader, and obviously transitions is something which affects my portfolio as well.
I note that you've got the redesign of this team which has gone live on the 1st of March.
So I just wondered, it's obviously very early days, but from the children's services perspective,
how you feel that this is going to improve things,
and is there anything that we and adults can do
to make that even better?
I'll come in first then, Alison,
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:49:39
if you want to add anything afterwards.
So I think, yeah, you're right about the,
there is a new model now which involves kind of,
there's a proposal, well, the plan is an under -16 team
of support, and then a 16 to 25 under -team,
so we don't end up having a cliff edge
where suddenly a child is told they're an adult.
and the support changes overnight.
It's about making sure that those young people
don't suddenly transfer from one person to another,
from a social worker to a personal advisor,
from one day to the next.
It's about making it a gradual transition
so that there's a constant level of support there.
Obviously, it's early days for the new model,
so I think there's probably,
we will have more information probably in due course
about how that's working and more feedback
from children and young people, which is crucial.
But it was a really strong recommendation from the offset report.
And it is a big area of focus for us in improving.
Alison, I don't know if you wanted to add anything.
Thank you, Councillor Jackson.
Alison Mundt, Service Director for Children's Social Care.
So, yes, I mean exactly as Councillor Jackson just mentioned there.
Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care - 0:50:46
The opportunities that we've got within those over 16 teams is to have a mixed team of social workers and personal advisors.
So, it allows that smoother transition between the teams.
So those small teams will be able to get to know those young people prior to 18.
PAs get involved a lot sooner.
And that transition into, or that cliff edge that's described at 18 is no longer
than in place because there's a merged way of working.
I think the point around adult social care, we've got very close links with adult social care.
Myself and Tiffany work very closely together.
And we're looking at different areas of work that we can work differently in order
to be able to improve the outcomes and the service available to these young people.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:51:32
Great, thank you, fella. Just on that point, Alison, slightly earlier, there's the reference
in the report where we're talking about the transition planning for older children in
care and disabled young people in care, and you're considering the independent review
officer role, which will obviously help with transition. This doesn't give me any sense of
how time bound that is. When do you think the active exploration of the potential to extend
Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care - 0:52:08
the remit will be determined? Thank you, leader. So what we're looking at with the
independent reviewing officers is to consider a pilot programme where they undertake a further
review post -18, so that will be one additional review at this stage.
And reviews take place every six months if we looked after children, so we're looking
at doing that within our current IRO numbers, if you like, so that they will then be able
to ensure that the services for those young people post -18 are then in place and they
can then step away.
We're piloting it because we think that's manageable within our current budget,
but we're also looking at, you know, that that would have to be with those young people's consent
because they would be 18 at that point, so they would need to agree to that additional review.
And there may be some young people that may require further reviews post that initial one.
So we're just going to pilot it and look to see what that looks like,
and then benchmark it to see whether there's anything else that's needed.
Excellent. That's really helpful. Thank you. Tom.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:53:13
Cllr Thomas Broom - 0:53:15
Yeah, thank you, Lita. So one of the things that sort of jumped out to me when I was reading this was that there's, we're talking a lot about early intervention and trying to sort of get in ahead of the curve.
Now, I'm sort of assuming that that's a part of our overall strategy.
But is that an integral part of sort of the smoothing those transitions that you're talking
about, getting in ahead of time, getting in early and making sure that we're engaging
at the earliest possible moment so that we can sort of smooth the transition between
these various stages later?
It's an element of it.
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:53:51
So there's the point of transition from sort of into adulthood and towards independence.
But there's also the part of it which is intervening early to avoid a child or your person having to come into care at all and
this is
It's a big focus for our work because obviously it's a better outcome if it can be done safely and effectively
For the child young person to stay with the stay with the family even if it's not with their parents
Maybe it's with another family member who can can care for them and that's something Buckinghamshire Council can support with and
Obviously, it has advantages of not only being a better outcome for the children and young
people, but as we need to keep this service sustainable, given the cost of care, if we
can avoid those costs, leaving the child and young person in a better environment and not
incurring significant costs of in -house care or private, external care, that's a big win
for everyone, frankly.
Excellent.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:54:49
Thank you very much.
Part of the report quite rightly identifies quality and effectiveness of children who are at risk of neglect.
And there's talking here about the neglect tool.
And then it says, once the tool has been formally approved by the Safeguarding Partnership,
planned in February, has that been approved?
The partnership meeting is in March.
Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care - 0:55:13
So it's, yes, so it should be next week.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:55:16
But hopefully that will be approved because it's seen,
from what you've told me it seems to be proving its worth.
Is that right?
It is, yes.
Alison Munt - Service Director for Children's Social Care - 0:55:23
Yeah, but it's also a good tool for us
to be able to measure the impact.
So, and that's what's written in the report there
is around once that's been approved,
we'll then input it into our LCS, which is our IT system.
And then we can report off that as well.
So we'll be able to see the work that we're doing
with children and young people,
where there are concerns around neglect
and what impact we're having.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:55:49
Good. I think that's good news.
technology.
Carl?
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:55:50
If I could just clarify what the tool is.
I asked this question at the time.
I wasn't quite sure what neglect tool meant.
Essentially, it's an extremely comprehensive checklist of possible signs of neglect.
So it might include things like, you know, does the child not appear to have eaten,
is the child turning up in ill -fitting clothes or torn and dirty clothes.
It's basically a really, really thorough list of the possible signs that could indicate neglect in a particular case.
to sort of help our social workers as they go about their business.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:56:20
Excellent, thank you. Any other questions?
Okay, so come back to
the recommendation which is to note this update
to the improvement plan. Are cabinet members content to note
progress made? Thank you very much. Thank you for that
Karl and Alison. Now we come,

9 Local Government Social Care Ombudsman Report

And this will be presented by Carl again to Local Government
and Social Care Ombudsman Public Interest Report.
This can be found on pages 75 to 98.
Carl, as I said, will introduce it.
We have Craig McCardell, Corporate Director
for Adults and Health here.
And also I'd like to welcome Jennifer Ricketts,
who is the Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention
and Control at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
Hi, Jenny.
Good to see you here.
So, Carl, do you want to introduce this, please?
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:57:15
Yes, thank you, Lida.
I'd like to update the Cabinet on the publication
by the local government and social care ombudsman
of a public interest report
on Buckinghamshire Council's arrangements
for securing therapy provision set out in two children's EHCPs
in the 2023 -2024 academic year.
The background is that prior to 2024, speech and language therapy
for around 400 children was provided by a private contractor.
In March 2024, that arrangement ended
and Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust took over responsibility for providing that therapy.
Buckinghamshire Council supported the NHS Trust with additional funding
to help manage that transition.
As the transition took place, most concerns arose about how support for children
and young people will continue were resolved
by Buckinghamshire Council locally at that time.
But the Ombudsman has investigated complaints
that two children named in the report, obviously,
for their privacy as only as child X and child Y,
received some of the support to which they were entitled,
but not all of the support to which they were entitled.
Specifically, they found that child X received less
than half the speech and language therapy provision
specified and almost none
of the occupational therapy provision,
and that no arrangement was made to provide therapy to make
up for the shortfall during the remainder of the academic year.
In relation to ChildWIDE,
the Ombudsman accepted the Council's view
that it believed ChildWIDE no longer needed regular speech
and language therapy following discharge
from the therapy service in 2022.
However, because ChildWIDE's EHCP continued
to include SLT provision even after the child had been
discharged from the service, the Ombudsman found
that the Council remained under a duty to secure SLT,
speech and language therapy for child Y until that EHCP was amended.
So those were the core findings. The Ombudsman also concluded there were delays in responding to the complaint
at both stages of the Council's complaints process and that the Council should have made up for the misprovision in line with the Ombudsman's
published guidance on remedies.
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council issue a form of apologies to the complainant and make a symbolic payment to recognise
the missed provision for child X and child Y,
and the distressed uncertainty caused by delays
and shortcomings in provision and process.
I can confirm that the formal apology has been made.
I will put it on record here as well,
that we apologise as a council for not providing
the full support to which those children
were entitled in 2324.
That was our fault and we apologise for it
to the children and to their mother.
The Ombudsman makes three specific service improvement recommendations to be completed within three months of the final report and evidence to the Ombudsman.
First, the Council should set out a plan for how it will tackle any shortfall in meeting the needs of children and young people with EHCPs whose therapy needs are not currently met by the service.
The Council should develop a protocol for cases where the therapy service is unable to deliver therapy provision in line with a child's EHCP.
The protocol should set out how alternative provision will be secured.
The Council should provide a briefing to staff who deal with complaints about special educational needs provision,
setting out that when the Council identifies a service failing, it will consider ways of remedying that failing
in line with the Ombudsman's published guidance on remedies.
And I understand that that briefing has taken place.
I would just point out, finally, when the report was published, there was a little confusion over some of the numbers involved.
As I explained earlier, the Ombudsman report found
that 400 children were transferred from the contractor
to the NHS Trust to receive these speech and language
and other services.
That was reported as 400 children had been failed
by the council and some media outlets.
I would just confirm that is not what the Ombudsman found.
We're grateful that the Ombudsman corrected
that statement on their website, although the press release did lead to some confusion
in the reporting. I think the key thing for Cabinet's note is that the Ombudsman report
is a definitive document here, and we completely accept its findings and recommendations. We
don't dispute the facts in it. The focus now is on learning from those mistakes and ensuring
that robust arrangements are in place so the issues identified cannot be repeated. As we
We know the council SEND service has made significant progress
since 23, 24 when this incident took place.
In 24, the council agreed and published its strategy
on early intervention and prevention
to better support children and young people's therapy needs.
More recently, the council adopted the local SEND
and inclusion strategy, which sets out how we will make sure
every child receives the right support and the right time.
Our recent SEND inspection recognises
that our therapy services have been transformed
through investment and staffing, training,
and a new integrated care model that is more accessible
to children and families.
I think this is important.
We've put more resources into improving communication
with residents about the EHC needs of assessment process
and progress on individual cases.
I think, you know, concern comes when people feel they don't hear
anything and are worried they've been lost.
So I think that constant update on progress is really,
really important.
I was also pleased to note the Ofsted report recognised
and improvement in the quality of EHCPs.
And of course, we have the EHCP recovery plan underway
to cut waiting times for those.
I would just add as an anecdote because I only heard it
at the weekend from a couple of school governors in my ward saying
that they're starting to notice the impact
of the EHCP recovery plan already
as they've seen a quite significant reduction
in the number of outstanding requests for needs assessments
at their school and it was nice to have a personal thank you
at the weekend as they saw I think their outstanding list drop from just about 10 to around three
or four. So it's good to see the impact already being felt.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:03:29
Thank you Carl. Obviously an incredibly important area of the work that the Council does and
like you are I'm grateful for the Ombudsman correcting the record regarding the two children.
but even more importantly wish to reiterate that apology to Mrs. E and the two children involved
on behalf of the council for the shortcomings in their provision back in 2324.
I know that transition has happened
and as you've outlined some of the current situation and the responses
even without
having to have an Ombudsman report to pick up the service improvements
that were required.
But this is not only a council endeavour,
hence why Jenny is here.
So maybe before we go to questions,
Jenny, is there anything you would like to add
to the comments made?
Good morning, everyone.
Jennifer Ricketts - Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control - 1:04:24
In just all I'd like to really point out
is there has been a lot of improvement work
going on since January 24.
In fact, what I really want to talk about
is our waiting time.
So we've put significant work into reducing them.
And in January, we were at 60%, only 60 % of children being seen within 18 weeks.
Currently today, there are 18 children who are waiting, sorry, 30 children who are waiting
over 18 weeks now to be seen, which represents a significant improvement of where we want to be.
And then the rest of the improvements, I think,
Councillor Jackson has highlighted. So that's all I'd like to say.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:05:04
Thank you, Jane. Appreciate that. Any comments or questions from cabinet members?
Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:05:14
Yes, Tom. Yeah, just very briefly to say that, you know, obviously it's
always tricky to get a report like this coming back from the Ombudsman, but it is
a really, really important function of the system and that while we will
obviously always put our very best endeavours into delivering all the services that we need
to provide. Where that doesn't happen, it is appropriate that that cheque comes back
and helps us drive improvement in the services that we deliver to residents. And I just think
it's a really important point to acknowledge, and I think Karl spoke absolutely correctly
on this. And we operate in the real world. My own poor value of transport, it's a big
logistical operation.
When it comes to children's services, there's a lot of
people involved.
There's a lot of granular detail.
And so when things don't go perfectly, we need to learn
from that, and we need to improve.
And it's really good to see that this process is taken so
seriously by the entire organisation.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:06:20
Thank you for that, Tom.
I think there's lots of agreement and nodding around
the table.
Thank you for that and well said.
Carl, the public interest report, as it outlines
in section 3 .4, places specific requirements
on local authorities.
And then these are summarised as in three parts,
four parts actually, A, B, C, and D. Obviously,
we're here today, which helps cover part A. Are you able
to confirm or will it be a future confirmation
to say we have discharged the requirements made of those through such a report.
Cllr Carl Jackson - 1:07:01
If you're referring to the apology and payment, then yes, I can confirm that those have been made.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:07:07
So we have to consider the report at high decision -making levels such as cabinet,
which is what we're doing today. We have to provide the formal response
to the ombudsman explaining what action has been taken or will be taken. Is that Craig?
Craig McArdle - Corporate Director for Adult Social Care - 1:07:24
Yeah, thank you leader. Yes that that one will be complied with after today's meeting because we need the endorsement of cabinet following that
So that will be taken forward
The two public announcements that's in hand hasn't been made yet. It's in hand. We've identified that the publications that we're going to use
We've got all the mechanisms behind that and agreed the wording and we're based in on the ombudsman's wording as well
just for openness and transparency and the reports will be made available as well.
In public offices.
In the main public offices which is Walter Street and here in terms of that.
And then finally the actions in the action plan they've given us three months to comply with.
As Councillor Jackson has already highlighted we're on track with those as well
and the remaining two will be completed within the three months period.
I would say this, that this point around learning is really important for us
as an organisation, we haven't stopped making improvements since then,
and even today there is a meeting going on,
that's why our current interim DCS can't be here,
because we've got a Senate Improvement Partnership Board away day where we're looking
at further improvements for the service as well.
So we are committed to continuous improvement.
I think as Council approved my outlines,
once we get it wrong, we'll say sorry and put those things right
and ensure that they don't happen again, Leader.
But all the actions will be complied with
and we'll be confirming that in writing to the Ombudsman.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:08:54
Thank you very much.
And then the action plan part is obviously dependent
on the whole system ourselves and the NHS Trust.
So in that three -month period,
you will make confirmation through to Carl, I assume, as a service?
Yes, that's the arrangements.
Karl, anything further to add or should we just move to the recommendation?
I'm happy to move to the recommendation.
So the recommendation here is to note the findings and recommendations made by the local government and social care ombudsman and the actions that the council is taking in response to these.
Are we reminded to agree to note and to those recommendations please?
Agreed.
Thank you very much and thank you Jenny for your attendance today.
Now we'll move to item 9 which is the LGA, that's the Local Government Association,
Corporate Pre -Challenge Action Plan. This report is in my name. It can be found on,
where have I gone, with page numbers. This can be found on pages 99 to 120 of the
Brenda Pack and Erika McGeery, Service Director for Policy and Communication is here as well.
So you will recall that we've noted the Corporate Peer Challenge report at a previous meeting.
This was where a series of elected members and senior officers from a range of different
councils of all different political controls came into the council and dug around in various
parts of our activity and what we do. Ultimately, the report was positive. It was a positive
outcome with, and as it refers to in today's report, then regarding Buckinghamshire Council
as one of the best run councils the peers have ever reviewed. But then they threw down
the challenge to us to move from good to great.

10 LGA Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan

And that's exactly what we wish to do.
And in response to a series of recommendations
that they made, we have the action plan.
This summarises and brings together various comments
and recommendations grouped together
into 30 separate actions.
And you can see these as appended to the report
in a tabular format.
And you can see that each of these items has a cabinet member lead and a senior officer
lead and is time bound.
So there's a whole range of things in here from monies generated by the enterprise zones
through to the elements of our constitution and workforce elements to do with our employees.
and of course keeping a keen eye on some of the important long -term programmes we have such
as Opportunity Books that Steve Bowles mentioned earlier today.
I won't go through those one by one today, but this is now an exciting set of actions
that we can do to help us on that journey from what they called good to great.
And they will come and cheque on us because in the summer then some of the peer reviewers
are due to come back to track on progress.
And obviously our progression through this action plan
will form a key part of that.
So of course, we've said before,
we were very pleased with the positive response
we had in the first time.
But of course, there's areas of improvement
for us to look at,
and that is the point of this paper today.
The first formal recommendation that they made
was be proud of what you've achieved
and confidence in your next steps.
and I hope that comes through to those reading the action plan today.
So, I'm happy to take some questions.
Just want to cheque with Erica if there's anything you need to add.
No, thank you, I think you did.
Thank you very much. Questions, comments? Peter?
Cllr Peter Strachan - 1:13:05
Yeah, just a minor point of accuracy, leader.
On page 107, item 4, ensure you work in a way that reflects a council
that is in no overall control with a minority administration. That is not the position there.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:13:23
Thank you for that. Not the position, no, but of course, as we've said, there's always
an element of time when they came in, and that is something I'm sure we will talk to
the corporate peer reviewers about. I think the challenge really is the way that we work
full stop to get best value for our residents and get the best outcome for them in the endeavours
that we have in many ways transcends politics, but of course we will wish to endeavour that
the ambitions we have through this administration are the ones that we realise for residents.
Isabel.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 1:14:00
Thank you very much leader and just looking at that item, they're talking about investing
in your member development including the LGA offer and I'd just like to announce that I
am heading up a member development working group and that is cross party.
So I think we are still being incredibly inclusive and which is what we should be doing because once elected
We're all here to serve the people of Buckinghamshire
We absolutely are
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:14:22
and I always
Do give credit to all those who put themselves forward for election and then are
Successfully elected because the job we do to reflect our residents is really important
And as I say, we're in a very ambitious council
with an ambitious set of people in our county.
And hopefully this quest for greatness, shall we call it,
is something that they would expect us to aim for.
Thank you, Robert.
Thank you very much, Lita.
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:14:55
I just thought I absolutely should talk.
As to swatting here, it seems I have the highest number
of actions, as seems to be the case.
1343%, which I think is only fair.
But no, I mean on a serious note, it's very good to see that they recognise the good work
we're doing, particularly on regeneration.
But then also setting us the challenge to be bolder, to think more ambitious, and I
think that the plans we have in place will, I think, meet that.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:15:26
Thank you, Robert.
And of course, I just made the point that, thus you down as lead cabinet member, often
shared with me, I know, but this is a team endeavour because, as we know, the key often
to unlocking success here is the way that we work cross portfolio to make sure that
we continue to deliver. So I think, without there's been an embarrassment of happiness
about the action plans, I think the key here, the acid test, will be when the peer reviewers
come back to really test us out again in the summer. But for now, I'm getting the sense,
are people content to agree the action plan in response to the peer challenge report and recommendations?
Agreed.
Thank you. That is agreed. And then we'll move on to item 11.

11 Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy Update

This brings us to the homelessness and rough sleeping strategy update.
This report can be found on pages 121 to 136.
Mark Gwynne as Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services will present this
and Steve Bamberg, Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability is here to answer any technical questions.
Mark, over to you please.
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:16:42
Thank you, leader, and firstly to say that anyone who is homeless or a rough sleeper,
that is the worst moment probably in their life.
So we very much recognise that anyone who is in that situation, it's a terrible event.
And we take, therefore take this very seriously.
In terms of our homelessness and rough sleeper strategy that's in place,
we're maintaining the momentum that's established by his introduction.
So we're improving homelessness prevention.
We're reducing temporary accommodation demand.
and with controlling costs and strengthening rough sleeping pathways.
This purpose recommendation is a pragmatic alignment decision to extend the current strategy
and develop a new prevention first strategy that's aligned with national policy.
The decision that cabinet has been asked to agree is acknowledged progress under the current
homelessness and rough sleepers strategy, agreed to extend the existing strategy to
of 2027 and agreed to develop a new five -year homelessness strategy for adoption in April
27.
So why now?
The government has published a new national plan to end homelessness with the prevention -first
approach.
Extending the current strategy keeps us compliant and avoids unnecessary rewrite while enabling
a full evidence -based assessment in 2026.
The key progress that's happened so far to highlight.
Prevention activities improved with more households
successfully avoiding homelessness.
And by this year's end, over 600 households this year
would have been prevented from being homeless,
which is quite an achievement.
Temporary accommodation demand is down
compared with the same time last year.
Temporary accommodation costs remain significantly lower
than historically. So we've negotiated rates for nightly paid, more expensive
bed -and -breakfast accommodation. We've tried to reduce the numbers that are in
this expensive, nightly paid accommodation. We've introduced new
revenue schemes. These have stayed over 4 ,000 a night or 1 .5 million pounds a
year. Affordable housing delivery remains strong. We have delivered over 3 ,000
affordable homes over the last six years, which is 506 homes a year.
This has helped produce a long -term pressure for housing and we are using S106
money to invest in affordable housing schemes brought forward by registered
social housing suppliers.
And we're introducing a bucks -let scheme with local landlords to extend the
homes available to those threatened with homelessness or to move households in
homelessness accommodation into permanent homes.
While sleeping pathways have been strengthened through targeted outreach and specialist support,
such as the use of the mean team.
And the mean team have had many individual successes, but one that comes to mind was
a young chap whose mother died and he totally lost his way and was living in a churchyard.
He hadn't spoke to anyone for years and the local church were actually feeding him.
The meme team got involved and this person is now in accommodation, which is a really important step for that person.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:20:10
Mark, would you just confirm meme team is making every adult matter?
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:20:15
Yes, sorry, yeah. I'm glad you remembered what it was.
It's important.
Additional supported accommodation.
Another specific example of improvements and progress in partnerships with a local provider.
the council is posed to deliver 42 new supported temporary accommodation units
in Aylesbury later this month. These will support people with more complex needs
helping them build independence and move on more quickly into certain housing. So
why extend rather than rewrite now? The current strategy remains fit for purpose.
This is a timeline alignment with no new financial implications, remains
consistent with the medium -term financial plan.
The next steps are a comprehensive assessment in 26 to inform the 27 -32 strategy, continued
delivery for the Existing Action Plan, progress reporting to select committee in August 26,
and in September, Cabinet will receive a draught 27 strategy, ahead of full consultation for
six weeks, and ahead of formal consideration by the Council in March 27.
This approach allows us to continue delivering what is working now while building a stronger
evidence -based prevention first strategy for the future.
And so I therefore put forward the recommendations.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:21:44
Thank you, Mark.
I'll have some questions here.
just is there anything Steve you wish to add at this stage? No thank you. Great thank you.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 1:21:55
Isabelle? Thanks very much leader and firstly I think it makes absolute sense
to extend this for a couple of years there's no point in reinventing the wheel
when we're going to have to do something in a couple of years time anyway and I
think I'd like to congratulate the team on the progress that they have made.
Homelessness is a really really tricky problem and it obviously affects my
portfolio because those people who are homeless tend to be people who need a lot of help from us at some stage in their lives.
So the shorter period of time that people can be homeless and
get back into stable accommodation and stable lifestyles the better for them and for us and for our health colleagues, our police colleagues, everybody.
I just want you to pick up on the affordable homes.
So we're looking at an average of about,
or just over 500 affordable homes a year.
And I noticed your wording on that, Mark,
which was that it helps the issue.
Because obviously a lot of these,
and this is my hobby horse,
a lot of these affordable homes,
I don't call truly affordable.
But I think what you're saying is
that they're addition into the housing market as a whole,
although they might not help somebody who's homeless
and doesn't have the means they need
it probably need a social rent,
it actually sort of frees up properties
all through the housing economy as such.
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:23:21
Yeah, yes, exactly that.
And I sort of do tend to agree with your point
on affordable as well.
And this is why within the local plan,
it has now been split out.
And that was one thing I wanted to push forward
all the way through,
because we're putting lots of homes that were affordable,
which are often 80 % of market rent or rent to buy type homes.
And for a growing number of people,
they weren't truly affordable, they're misnamed.
So what we needed to do is build more homes
at the social rented level.
And I know within the local plan,
it's been identified that 59 % of all the affordable homes
that will be built will be at social rented level
rather than at those levels.
So, we have taken on board that point.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:24:11
Good. Thank you very much.
A couple of comments from me, Mark.
So, we've just presented the corporate peer challenge,
and they did quite rightly identify the importance
of the partnership working in this space
with registered providers.
And you'll know that since the last election, I was keen
to make sure that that engagement with them increased,
and we've had a number of roundtables directly
with them because it's a shared commitment to delivering this
in the longer term to prevent homelessness.
So, as you rightly identified, there's an ability
for people to move on.
So, the example you gave, which refers back
to Isabel's comment as well, sometimes the meme team,
making every adult matter team will maybe have
to have repeated interactions with someone, but eventually
when the opportunity presents itself to have someone
in temporary accommodation.
The key is in the first word.
It should be temporary.
So we need that move through accommodation.
Are you confident that any of that work
comes into the new homelessness strategy
what you've got to do in the year,
or do they have to run in parallel?
I'm not clear how closely aligned they are
based on requirements based on councils
versus actually the really important thing,
which is the outcome for people needing accommodation.
So, question to you,
maybe Steve can give us some insight as well.
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:25:44
Yeah, I mean, cost portfolio working within
sort of homelessness and housing is vitally important.
When people come forward,
they have a whole lot of complex issues,
and those issues are often getting more complex
as it goes through.
So, it's important that we all sort of work together.
So that's sort of children's and adults.
And I've always been sort of very firm
and that's one thing we need to do.
And pressing forward with the strategy
is a sort of work piece that we definitely need to look at.
I don't know if Steve wants to add more to that.
Thank you.
Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability - 1:26:19
If I could perhaps just talk a little bit
about some of the kind of wiring behind the scenes
that we have in place.
So we have recently established
a strategic housing delivery board,
which is a group that I chair, but we have representatives from both adults and children's services as well,
so that we are looking holistically across the whole system about not just those people who might be
presenting as homeless or are presenting as in need of temporary accommodation,
but all of the different needs that these individuals might have,
and where housing in its broadest sense can provide a solution to some of those really difficult problems that people are finding in their lives.
So that is a kind of regular event now and we are drawing upon the same data across all of the different services,
effectively aiming for one single outcome for these individuals as well.
So that's something that's been recently established and is very much in place now as part of the delivery of this strategy.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:27:24
Thank you Steve, I think that's helpful and actually delivery unit part.
Mark, you kind of rather unassumingly just mentioned the 42 new units.
Do you want to say a bit more on those?
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:27:35
Yes, that's really a prime example of where housing can make an impact.
The people that will go there have sort of complex issues in the past such as sort of
drug and alcohol, mental health problems.
and being on site and having a team to work with them specifically is really important in terms of
then turning around their lives and making them able to accommodate themselves and look after
themselves in accommodation and make a valued contribution to society. Thank you very much.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:28:08
And then my last comment and maybe slightly might be easy for Steve to answer, I don't know, is around
funding. So I know on the face of it, in the funding formula, and Thomas Broome referred
to it in a question earlier than I did when I talked about the budget, we faced a reduction
in funding from the government of 44 and a half million pounds. One of the grants that
did increase by a little bit was the homelessness grant to support the work being done on prevention.
However, as I mentioned earlier on conditionality, the devil in the detail is there is no longer
the ability for us to use homelessness grant money to meet the cost of temporary accommodation.
So I'm pleased to hear you say temporary accommodation numbers are falling, but they do still exist.
And whilst we're therefore saying this strategy work has no financial implication, the change
to that grant may do in terms of us having to meet those costs
from elsewhere rather than the grant.
Is that, does that play out and is
that something the delivery body will look at
or are we just going to have to manage that risk in year?
Steve.
So I think it's probably worth being very, very clear
Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability - 1:29:30
that whilst numbers are slightly down and also our costs are down
and have been continually pressed down.
We're doing that within the context of still a very significant budget overspend effectively
on temporary accommodation.
So it remains one of our critical five areas that we continue to have to address.
So it's not that we are underspending in these areas.
The numbers being down means that we're spending slightly less than we were historically, but
We're still multi -millions spending in terms of our additional costs that temporary accommodation
are requiring.
And so any grants that we receive obviously will help towards that bottom line, but ultimately
we're still in that very significant place.
So some of the other actions we're doing around how do we have more cost efficient ways of
providing accommodation for those people in need, again, are all part of the same message
about how do we push the costs down,
but we're still, we're nowhere near a place
where we are cost neutral in terms of these issues.
Thank you Steve, yeah, it's one, again,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:30:47
one of those critical five services
that drive the 76 % of available funds
going on those services, because it's quite right
that temporary accommodation costs need to be met
when we can have people in the accommodation.
Mark, you wanna come in on this?
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:31:04
Yeah, I was just saying that also highlights why it's so important that we do the work
that we're doing on prevention. As I said at the start, 600 people are being prevented,
600 households, sorry, not people, are being prevented going into homelessness accommodation,
requiring that accommodation for the work that housing officers are doing with them,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:31:28
which is like really important. Excellent. Thank you. I don't see any other comments or questions.
So, there are two key recommendations here.
One to acknowledge the work undertaken to implement the homelessness and rough sleeping strategy,
and therefore to, but to agree to extend that existing strategy to 2027,
so that aligns with the timetable set by government on their guidance,
and agree that the new strategy will be developed using a five -year time horizon to be adopted from April next year.
Are members content to agree to those recommendations?
Agreed, thank you very much.

12 Local Development Scheme Update

That brings us then to item 12.
It's an update on the local development scheme.
This report can be seen on pages 137 to 154.
Peter Strachan will introduce the actual report.
And Steve Bambrick, who we referenced earlier,
is also here given this subject matter would cover him too.
Just before I come to you though, Peter,
I think given it's been in the public domain,
an exchange of letters between myself and the minister,
Matthew Pennycook, on the matter
of the local development scheme
and the development of our local plan.
We remain in an element of disagreement
about the need for a direction to be issued
Because we are, as a council, meeting the timetable that was set and
shared with his department in March 2025 over the LDS at the time.
And that time scale was set after the government had changed
the housing requirement numbers for Buckinghamshire,
with that 43 % increase to 95 and a half thousand homes.
We have, as a Council, met every single one of the milestones that we set out back in March 2025,
and that includes keeping the inspectors or officers sent in by MHCLG, the Ministerial Department,
to keep them fully appraised of progress to a point where they were pleased with progress.
I have made the point to the Minister that the very reason we are talking about this today
is a time -consuming distraction from actually delivering the local plan.
And yet we have to do this because by being forced to formally update the LDS,
we have to bring it through to Cabinet.
I make the point to residents out there,
that letter has changed absolutely nothing about the timetable that was being set.
The Regulation 19, which is the formal plan consultation,
will commence in July, indeed scheduled to come to our cabinet meeting on the 22nd of July,
a date that was shared with members and others in some of the engagement exercises that were
referred to in response to Councillor Stutchfield's question earlier. But here we are, nevertheless.
I wish to give further reassurance to residents watching that that timing remains on track.
The current exercise for engagement on site selections remains open for another few days,
so I'll take the opportunity to ask residents to contribute to that, please, and give us your views.
So the timing is in place. We continue to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
and the inspectors they send, along with pins the planning inspector people and planning advisory
service members to make sure we remain legally compliant and ultimately submit a sound local plan,
local plan being the best defence we have against speculative development.
You can see and the report highlights 3 .2 million pounds has been spent to make sure
We've got the requisite amount of capacity and officer focus and
dedication in achieving this endeavour.
So we are here today just to confirm, having received that letter of direction,
the timescales already laid out and formally therefore consider the updated LDS.
We've taken the opportunity at the same time to update an element around
neighbourhood plans, but that in itself would not be sufficient to having
come to this meeting.
So nothing has changed and I will after today, assuming we confirm this right once again to the Minister,
but that is the position of the Council. We continue to meet the timetable and timescales that were set
by us back in March 2025 and shared with the Department at that time.
That being said, I'll now go to Peter to tell us any further detail on the report.
Cllr Peter Strachan - 1:36:27
Thank you, Leader, and I make no apology for repeating and reiterating some of the very important and pertinent points that you've just made.
Today's update to the Local Development Scheme is about demonstrating an absolute commitment to delivering a robust local plan for Buckinghamshire on time.
Matthew Pennycook, the Housing Minister, has set out a clear expectation for this Council in his letter on the 13th of February, already referred to.
directing us to publish a revised LDS by the 11th of March 2026 tomorrow.
The Government has been explicit that we must commence Regulation 19 consultation on the
Local Plan by the 23rd of July 2026.
And this is the final version of the plan before it is submitted for examination.
The Government has also stipulated that the Local Plan must be submitted by the 31st December 2026 for examination.
This updated LDS publicly confirms that Buckinghamshire Council is firmly on track to meet these milestones.
If we do not update the LDS, the Secretary of State could impose one on us and we are
not allowing that to happen.
We are choosing local leadership over central intervention.
The revised LDS reaffirms that we remain on course for Regulation 19 and examination in
due course.
It is recommended that Cabinet approve the LDS in accordance with central government's requirements.
And I have Steve Bamberg with me. Steve, is there anything you wish to add to that?
Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability - 1:38:20
Thank you. If I may just take the opportunity to update on a further point,
which I know has also been subject to some questions outside of this forum.
So the government have also, separate to this,
recently announced that they will be revoking
the duty to cooperate, which is part of the kind of
local plan making process, and I know that's been,
we've obviously briefed as part of the current process
about the importance of the duty to cooperate.
I think it is very important for us to clarify
what that means.
So what the government are taking away
is the legal duty to cooperate.
So the fact that currently there is a legal test as part of the plan making process that
requires all neighbouring authorities to cooperate.
It is not a legal duty to agree, it is a legal duty to engage in the process.
Now the government are removing the legal duty because they have deemed that it is slowing
the whole process down and so that is being removed.
Nevertheless, the National Planning Policy Framework, which is a kind of policy document
set by national government, still requires there to be effective and ongoing engagement
with our neighbours, particularly in relation to housing and employment numbers.
So we are still required through the MPPF to undertake that exercise.
it will from the end of March no longer be a legal duty,
but we still have a requirement to do so
in order to comply with the national planning
policy framework.
So I know some have questioned whether that change
has any significance to our local plan process
and timetable.
The short answer is no it doesn't,
because we're still required to the MPPF to engage,
and that's what we're doing.
Thank you very much Steve.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:40:21
I think that's incredibly helpful clarification as well.
I've got Karl, then Thomas.
Karl.
Thank you.
Cllr Carl Jackson - 1:40:27
Yeah, on the subject, maybe slightly off the paper, but I
think it's important, on the subject of targets, and I
think this is probably a good one for Steve, because I think
it's important to get a clearly nonpolitical answer,
whereas Peter, who will know the answer, could be accused
of being a politician.
So there have been claims on social media that the targets
we have are optional.
But effectively, they are a suggestion that we could push back on and choose something
lower if we want to.
Can you just state for the record what the position is on the government's targets?
Are they something we can negotiate with, or are they the targets and we have to find
sites for?
Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability - 1:41:15
So in terms of all the development targets, so for housing, for employment, for gipsies
and travellers are all the targets that we are currently engaged in consulting on. They are
set by formulas which are devised nationally and we have an obligation to meet those through the
process. If we do not meet them then we have a very significant risk that the final plan will
not be found to be sound by the planning inspector. So we certainly aren't in a position of choosing
or pushing back on the targets.
The targets are there as a starting point for us
and we will have an obligation to meet them
through the local plan process.
Thank you, Steve.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:42:01
We'll draw a line at that one.
Thomas.
Thank you, leader.
Yes, so my understanding is this is effectively a directive
we've been given to restate what we'd already told everybody
Cllr Thomas Broom - 1:42:17
and to meet the timetable that we are clearly already meeting.
It does seem a strangely political exercise of what is supposed to be a quasi -judicial office
on behalf of the Minister and perhaps he would like to avail himself of some time
in front of the Ministerial Code to make sure this conduct is appropriate.
I mean, the way the point about this, as I think we all know, is that this target of
95 ,000 is a genuinely ridiculous level of housing to try and shove into Buckinghamshire.
It represents a 40 to 50 % increase in the population of the county.
It will entirely change the place in which we live.
Worse still, it seems to be arbitrary.
The previous needs -based assessment said that we, you know, in terms of need within the county,
we'd be looking at a number much closer to 60 ,000.
And I have to say I do have frustration with those who, instead of engaging with this,
we know it is an unacceptable amount of housing to put on us,
but the implications and the consequences
of failing to go through this process
have been made very clear.
You know, the government has been very clear
that these are mandatory house building targets.
The minister has been very clear repeatedly
with us and other local authorities
that they are mandatory.
The government has now stepped in in Stockport
and just across the border in Three Rivers
to intervene in a way that may well start to take over
the way that that local plan is developed.
And so I think when we have got people who are out
in our communities in Buck,
who are effectively putting out disinformation,
saying, you know, these are optional housing targets,
you know, we need to pull together as a county
and fight this.
And the only way that we're going to do that
is by being clear and unequivocal
with everybody in the county.
The challenge that we're facing, we can be honest that we think it is an unacceptable
challenge, that we think it is an arbitrary number that we've been handed, but we have
to be clear on going into this because it's the only way that we're going to get this
plan in place so that we can defend our green belt and we can deliver infrastructure.
Because of course the other thing about this is that we haven't got a penny of infrastructure
coming with with any of this from central government. And for what as I say
it's a 40 to 50 percent increase in the population. So I would I would just say
to colleagues here and particularly to Peter that you know I'm guessing all our
main ask at the moment residents in Buckinghamshire is just to please
contribute to the engagement process that's going on. It's really important
that you give us all your views you tell us why sites in your area aren't
appropriate and we continue to stand up for Buckinghamshire residents in the face of the
pressure that's being put on the county both in financial and in planning terms by this
appalling government.
Right, Thomas thank you.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:45:37
I think there's commentary rather than a question there.
It is an undoubtedly challenge and what I will do is summarise that back as I've committed
and my responses to government, we remain on track to meet the planned timetable
that will see Reg 19 consultation happening towards the end of July from
what is now the 23rd of July. We will run that exercise and then we submit the
final plan to the Inspector in December before the end of the year.
Cllr Adekunle Osibogun - 1:46:11
Okay, Ade, Mark, sorry.
Cllr Mark Winn - 1:46:13
So I was just gonna agree if that's okay
with Thomas's point, because I have seen members
of the public make comments, well,
we're putting stuff in there, no one's gonna listen.
But it is important that they do put things in there.
If they think that they can't get doctor's appointment
and more housing will only make that matter worse,
they think the roads are bad,
they need to put that in there.
They think they can't, they're gonna be in A &E
for hours on end.
They need to put that in there.
Because our local MPs, our local Labour MPs,
are definitely not fighting for us on this.
So it's important that we do as a council,
it's important that members of the public do so as well.
Thank you, I'll absolutely echo the need
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:46:56
to hear those interventions and those comments.
Because as we shape the plan and move towards the summer
for the Regulation 19, the proposed plan,
we will have brought in a lot of those comments,
as well as the current workers ongoing
to conduct further technical assessments of sites.
So there is a very easy to use interactive map
you can find through the website.
Go onto the Council website and search site survey.
And you will see on there, deliberately left in there,
are parcels of land with a red outline.
They are the ones that have been proposed through the call for sites and have fallen away as a result of technical assessments already done.
And that may have pulled in aspects, some of the things you're thinking about and referring to or flooding and other matters.
So it's important that the parcels are dealt with in that way.
There are different categories of parcels on there,
so there's a legend, a key you can look at.
So it isn't just a commentary around housing numbers.
You can go and say, well, I know that plot has X or Y
consideration that you need to make.
Isabel.
Yes, thank you very much, Lita.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 1:48:18
And I think, whilst the interactive map,
I think is very valuable, I think the problem is,
and everybody does it, we all do it, it's the first thing anybody does when a map
comes through is look at it and think oh my goodness it's all over where I live
and then they don't necessarily look at the legend which explains the sites that
have already been looked at and discounted and my understanding is that
all those outlined in red will not be in the local plan. Then we have that we have
the green ones which are proposed to put in and perform part of the numbers we
have some of the nest sites but not all of the nest sites and I think it is
quite difficult for people sometimes to understand and I think the other point
that needs to be put forward needs to be explained to the public is that it is
not Buckinghamshire Council putting these sites forward it is either
landowners or people who have an interest in in developing a piece of
And just because and at the moment we are getting a lot of speculative
developers either looking at possibly putting in an application or putting in applications on pieces of land which have not been
sort of green flagged for our local our draught local plan as it is at the moment and that doesn't mean
that the council is going to give them permission. It doesn't mean that
we are we as the council are even considering those areas for development, but unfortunately
it's quite difficult for the public to comprehend the sort of subtle differences in that.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:49:54
Yes, so I do ask people to, you know, have a look at the map properly.
I'll ask Steve to comment in a minute on the red outline ones.
They have failed the first technical assessment, but we'll get clarification on what that means for the plan.
You're absolutely right to identify that the local plan process,
as having to go and do legal elements of engagement and consultation is a defined process.
First of those was a series of call for sites where people, landowners, individuals and others,
can propose sites to the council to consider as being suitable for development.
We then, as a planning authority who is working up the local plan,
have to do the technical assessments, say, is there a reason for that to fall away or
does it continue?
And of course, there's an initial assessment and then a more detailed technical assessment,
which is some of the work that will happen now.
I'll also ask Steve's comment, but what you cannot do is go through this process on site
selections and add further sites later without doing a further engagement.
So the sites that have been proposed have to be out there now so people can comment on them.
But that does not mean they will automatically then proceed into the formal plan, the Regulation 19 plan.
Now Steve, I'm mindful of not treading too much in oversimplification of technical matters,
Steve Bambrick - Corporate Director for Planning, Growth & Sustainability - 1:51:27
but is there anything I've just said that you want to clarify or expand upon?
Perhaps if I can just on the sites that around like outlined red in the process.
So absolutely right, what's been said already,
which is before we've even reached this stage of engagement,
there's been a lot of work already undertaken on all of the sites that were submitted through the process.
And some of those technical assessments, for example, in relation to either Greenbelt or Flood Risk
or very significant constraints have meant that some of those sites, the outlined ones in red,
can be discounted from any of the potential numbers that we are now looking at in terms of our future sites.
And so it is through that process that we as a council are saying those are sites that we are no longer considering in this process.
It is important probably to say and I think it's been referenced by others that that is of course assuming that we retain local
control and determination
over over the plan at some point
if that
Is taken away from the council and then effectively will be in a place where others may be making a
choice over what goes into that plan rather than local determination
And of course as the leaders also referenced earlier, having a local plan is also the best
defence that the county can have against speculative schemes.
And there'll be nothing to say, and I can't give you a guarantee that any of these sites
that are currently outlined in red don't at some point re -emerge as a speculative scheme
if the council is not able to pull together a local plan in sufficient time.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 1:53:22
Thanks Steve. So again to give that reassurance to people out there, this is a timetable that
is pacy but that meets all the legal requirements made of it and therefore remains compliant
as we continue to proceed through it. Okay, any other comments? I don't think so. So I
I think Steve Bambrick definitely kept us back on the track of what the paper is recommending to us,
which is that we accept the updates, the updates being just the firm clarification of the time scale and dates,
namely the Regulation 19 to commence from the 23rd of July, no later than, and that, of course,
the plan gets submitted before the end of December.
Are cabinet members content to agree that and also to delegate authority to Steve Bamberg
in consultation with Peter Strachan as the cabinet member for planning to approve any
further minor amendments that may be needed in the interim to the LDS?
Agreed.
Agreed to both.
Thank you very much.
That concludes that item.
Thanks, Steve.

13 Easton Street Multistorey Car Park High Wycombe

now we come to item 13 and this is down in Robert Carrington's name along with
Steve Bowles. This is the next two items this item and the item on Woodlands
development site item 14 do have confidential appendices. The public
report for this one the Eastern Street multi -storey car park report can be found
on pages 155 to 166 and obviously cabinet members they have an access to
confidential appendices.
I'll ask Robert Carrington, cabinet member, for resources to present this and include
reference to correspondence that we've received, but Richard Barker, corporate director for
communities is here to answer technical questions.
So let's go over to you, Robert.
Thank you very much, Lita.
Cllr Robert Carington - 1:55:34
and before I sort of go into the introduction,
I think as you referenced,
we have received representation from two parties
in regard to this item,
the Trinity United Reform Church and Union Baptist Church,
and I confirm this has been shared with the cabinet
who have seen this, and I have a quick statement,
which I can read out in response,
which is we'd like to thank both
the Trinity United Reform Church and Union Baptist Church
for their thoughtful and considerate representations
and formally recognise the significant and positive work
they carry out within the High Wycombe community.
Both churches play an important and valued role locally
and we appreciate the insights shared.
We also recognise the importance of engaging
with all key stakeholders throughout this process,
including the two churches mentioned,
local ward counsellors, residents, businesses,
blue badge users, and wider community groups.
The 1960s car park has deteriorated significantly
and the upper floors have been closed
due to structural concerns.
With estimated three million pounds in repair costs,
ongoing financial losses and ample capacity
at nearby car parks, demolition is the most responsible
long -term option.
The proposed demolition of the car park
is about much more than dealing with a deteriorated building.
It is also about unlocking the potential
of a central site that can significantly advance
the future of High Wycombe.
This location is integral to our regeneration ambitions
and its redevelopment can help create a more vibrant,
better connected and modern town centre.
To support continued access to the town centre,
which was raised by the two representations,
the council is proposing to introduce
a temporary traffic regulation, TTRO, on Eastern Street.
This will create new blue badge parking spaces
alongside additional pay and display base,
ensuring the central access remains available
for those who need it most,
including blue badge holders,
safe drop -off and pickup arrangements,
as well as loading, unloading,
and commercial vehicle access are preserved.
Additional capacity for parking is also available
at the Swan and Railway Place car parks.
Necessary pedestrian access will be maintained
throughout the demolition process,
if we decide to approve it,
to ensure service continues for the union Baptist church operations.
As the project develops, we will undertake a full equality impact assessment
to ensure that needs of all user groups are properly considered.
We remain committed to active engagement with Trinity United Reform Church
and Union Baptist Church throughout this process.
We value their contributions to the community and will work with them constructively.
Now moving to the main item,
lots of which I've just addressed in that statement there.
Just so people are aware,
you should be aware mainly for those watching,
we are discussing the Eastern Street multi -storey car park,
which is a 12 storey 1960 structure in Wickham,
which is dated, suffers from structural health
and safety issues, and has anti -social behaviour issues
as well.
Given the ageing condition of the structure,
the council has been carefully managing
the gradual decline of the asset over several years.
However, we are now at the stage
where a long -term decision about its future is required.
Recent assessments have identified
significant structural defects,
and the level of investment needed to address these issues
has become increasingly disproportionate
to the limited use and income potential
which is derived from the car park.
So it has basically in plain English, it has reached the end
of its operational life due to its deteriorating condition
and the persistent antisocial behaviour.
Due to the health and safety concerns I've mentioned,
this has already led to the closure of parking level 6
to 12 along with the lift facilities.
To put the numbers out there, which are in the report,
but just to put it starkly, full restoration is estimated
to exceed 3 million pounds at this current time
and it currently operates at a financial net loss.
After income, the forecast deficit for 2526 for the car park,
which can be found in the pack in page 158,
is a loss of, this is after income,
253 ,000 pounds annually.
Thus, a further decision is now required
to permanently close the facility
and proceed with demolition.
This will enable the council to dispose of the asset and secure value for money in line with commercial advice
Demolition is necessary to realise a capital receipt from the site furthermore this approach removes any ongoing financial liability
associated with operational and security costs
if
This is a proof of subsequent report will be brought forward for in further analysis to determine the most appropriate way
forward to realise a capital receipt and unlock
I've mentioned regeneration a number of times,
which is crucially this location is identified
as a strategic site within the council's
High Wycombe regeneration strategy
and forms a cornerstone of the Eastern Quarter vision.
This presents a unique opportunity
to unlock transformational regeneration,
creating a vibrant new destination
that aligns with the council's long -term
regeneration ambitions for High Wycombe.
One last thing I will mention is,
Obviously, parking is a major matter of play here.
Just to highlight, the current occupancy rate
across the six remaining floors is approximately 63 .9%.
This includes a 10 % adjustment to account
for council staff working at nearby offices
who hold permits.
Following the closure of the car park,
parking users would be redirected to nearby facilities,
including the Swan Car Park,
which is currently operating at 55 % capacity,
offering 323 spaces in total,
with an average of 177 occupied and 146 available.
This is based off a September 2025 survey.
And Railway plays car park,
which is operating at 60 % capacity,
providing 182 spaces in total,
105 occupied and 77 available,
also from September survey.
This analysis undertaken by appointed consultants has confirmed that these sites offer sufficient
capacity to absorb displaced demand and maintain continuity of service.
Just to make it very clear for anyone watching, clear engagement and proactive communications
will take place both prior to and following the closure to support a smooth transition
for all users relocating to alternative nearby facilities.
I've already mentioned engagement in my statement.
So all that's left for me to say is just to highlight
the report recommends the permanent closure
and demolition of the car park.
And there are five recommendations.
So I commend this report to cabinet.
Robert, thank you.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:02:52
Obviously Eastern Street car park is a significant site
on the, if you like the skyline in around
that part of High Wycombe
and particularly to come out from the station.
So this is a significant change, but I do recognise the report identifies the end of operational life and indeed the end of its structural life in many cases for the council.
And I think the parking numbers are important.
the occupancy both of the six floors that remain open and of two relatively
close by car parks but you know it will create a change for people no longer to
have that facility. I'm really interested in what you just said about the churches
so anyone who has accessed those churches and you can see on the map
where the red outline showing how you access the car park. What you
I can't really tell you just how close the edge of the car park is to the churches.
So my question on all that, not only in response to the two letters,
is making sure, A, what knowledge do the churches have?
And the dedicated comps plan you will have with them to make sure that
that the use of the new parking provision you're putting in through the emergency TRO will help.
But similarly, how engaged do you intend them to be in the demolition period?
I recognise you said pedestrian access will be maintained.
Are we considered dust and noise and things like that as part of that plan, please?
Thank you very much, Commander Leader.
Cllr Robert Carington - 2:04:43
And there has been constant engagement with the church.
I mean, there have been a number of meetings with officers,
with representatives of the church, and they mentioned, obviously,
their key issues which have been mentioned in their representations,
particularly regarding maintaining service access,
preserving their right of access, supporting parishioners' access,
and being involved.
and just to reassure those watching, we will continue to work very closely with them
and continue with this level of engagement.
Richard, you're nodding. I don't know if there's anything more you want to say.
Thanks, thanks, thanks, Robert.
Richard Barker - Corporate Director for Communities - 2:05:24
Just to nod in agreement, so the church are a really key stakeholder for this project,
obviously given their proximity and given the value that they provide to the town,
And so we'll continue to engage with them
in a, you know, to a really high consistent level
and look to address the issues and concerns
that they've raised in the way
that the cabinet members covered today.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:05:51
Steve Bowles, you're part listed on this
given parking itself falls under your portfolio.
Have you got anything to add?
Cllr Steve Bowles - 2:05:58
Yeah, just to say that the council's parking strategy
which was adopted in 24 states
that any council -owned parking asset that's no longer financially viable should be prioritised
for repurposing or disposal. Now this one has gone beyond the repurposing in my view,
given the structural concerns that there are there, and we've had to shut up a floor, so
So therefore it should go for disposal in my opinion.
And I'm relaxed about losing it as a car park
because there are other parking facilities close by.
Okay, thank you for that.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:06:40
I can see some other hands going up.
Just to remind people, we're here,
we're doing questions on the public paper.
If there's anything in confidential,
we'll come to going to that later.
So I've got Isabelle and then.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 2:06:55
Before I ask my question, my question is about the communication we've received from the
secretary of the church. Am I allowed to ask a question on that now?
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:07:10
You can. I think they were what Robert identified earlier in his opening remarks and statements,
but if there's an extra point there, then I don't see why you can't raise that.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 2:07:19
Yeah, I mean they question, or they highlight the fact that the railway place car park was full when they held something at the church.
And therefore, and asked about the duration of the survey that had been done which provided the information about the, if you like, over provision of car parking in the area.
And I just wondered if there was an answer on that whether that be more appropriate to ask in the private section.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:07:53
Parking sufficiency, can we deal with that now?
Richard Barker - Corporate Director for Communities - 2:07:56
I think we can deal with that now Lydia. So there's nothing particularly controversial or
confidential about that item. So we undertook as the report references a very comprehensive
parking study
included an occupancy survey, but also a survey of the
Condition of our car parks we have in the region of about 80 paid for car parks across the county
That included Eastern streets and the adjacent car parks
Relevant to this report as well, so it was an independently done
Study consistently done across the county conducted in the late summer of this year and the occupancy
statistics are what we've referenced in the report
in terms of demonstrating some surplus occupancy.
It may well be the case in terms of a church's comment
that on a particular day,
the numbers that they experienced differ slightly.
These are obviously average numbers
that were derived from this study,
but we are very confident that across
the nearby car parks to Eastern Street,
there is suitable provision.
and in terms of the cabinet members reference to the additional
measures that we're looking to make on street that will provide some additional
accessible spaces for those that need parking provision as close to the church
in this case as they can get. Thank you very much and just to clarify when you
Cllr Isobel Darby - 2:09:28
say late summer I am assuming that that was after the school holidays had
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:09:31
finished. It was yeah. Okay thank you for that
Isabelle, Peter Brazier.
Thank you.
Cllr Peter Brazier - 2:09:40
And I've got a couple of questions, if you don't mind.
We're selling this as a clean plot.
So we're doing the demolition ourselves to make it a more
sellable plot.
And I understand that.
But normally, when you have a site like this, especially one
that's in the centre of the town, during the demolition,
you save some materials, like the hardcore and stuff like
like they bring equipment on site to process some of the demolition work.
Are we doing anything to be as environmentally friendly as possible and use any materials and recycle stuff?
And secondly, it's great to hear we're working so closely with the church and that's been highlighted.
And we're doing the work we're doing there. But immediately behind is Network Rail property.
and I noticed from pictures, I've not visited myself,
I just looked on street view,
there are exits from the car park
onto what I assume is network rail property.
So have we worked with them as well?
Thank you very much for your very detailed questions,
Councillor Brazier.
Cllr Robert Carington - 2:10:53
And regarding demolition, just to correct that,
if we do decide to go through this,
It won't be me personally doing it.
We will be using contacts just to reassure people.
Sorry about that.
So as it's mentioned on page 159 of the report,
we will undertake a pre -construction services
agreement to refine the methodology
and ensure value for money is achieved.
I mean concerning your points on exploring reusing materials
and overall sustainability, while appropriate,
we will seek to reuse materials on site
as part of the final finish.
And of course, sustainability considerations
and carbon impacts will be fully addressed
within both the tender package and the main works contract
if we get to that stage.
And on your second query regarding network rail,
I understand that officers have been in engagement
with them on a regular basis
and we've reached some sort of understanding,
but I'll be looking at Richard here
if there's any more you want to highlight
as conscious we are in the public session.
Richard Barker - Corporate Director for Communities - 2:12:02
Yeah, thanks, Robert.
I mean, just to confirm,
Network Rail are a key stakeholder, same as the church.
They're adjacent to, they pretty much adjoin the site.
There's obviously an opportunity there
in terms of alternative parking provision.
We don't manage that car park,
but it's relevant in terms of others
potentially using the railway car park as well.
So we have engaged with them to a high level.
We'll continue to do that through this project.
There aren't any emerging issues in terms of network rail
out on this particular proposal.
Good.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:12:38
Thank you for both those points.
Cllr Peter Strachan - 2:12:39
Peter Stratton.
No, thank you.
I mean, often things come before us
where we've actually got options or choices to make.
But my reading of this is that there really
is no choice to make.
There is no other alternative.
Is that the position that you think it is, Robert?
Cllr Robert Carington - 2:12:58
Just careful of things that are straight
into the confidential session.
I think as I've highlighted in my opening statement,
as the report makes very clear, we
have a site here which is at the end of its operational life.
It is, if we were to spend the money,
that would be over 3 million pounds to get it up to standard.
but we are losing over 250 ,000 pounds a year after income.
So no, this is a site which is at the moment,
bluntly is at the end of its operational life.
Thank you.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:13:40
Again, I think that's it for comment.
So my question before at this stage is would anyone like to move into the confidential
paper elements of this item? I'm seeing some nods. So if that's it for questions and in the
public session we'll now move into private session for this item. That will mean the
So, I'm just looking for a requisite.
So, we now seek to resolve under the local authorities executive arrangements meeting
and access to information England regulations 2012, regulations 42B,
that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business.
On the grounds they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined within schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.
Is that so agreed?
Thank you all very much. We will now seek for the webcast to be paused.

13 Easton Street Multistorey Car Park High Wycombe

Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:15:04
Thank you and webcast is no longer paused having with cabinet having entered into confidential
session for item 13 of this cabinet meeting of the 10th of March 2026 regarding Eastern
Street Montessori car park. We have discussed the elements that are contained within the
confidential papers and now are able to come back. I don't think there's any further questions
for the public session.
So we're just here to consider recommendations.
Would you like to clarify them, Robert?
And we'll take them on block, I think.
Cllr Robert Carington - 2:15:54
Thank you very much, Lida.
And just to reiterate before I go into these recommendations
what we have in front of us is a significant opportunity
to deliver on our adopted regeneration strategy
which sets out a bold vision for transformational change
in the town centre.
as I've been answered to Councillor Strachan previously
and in my statement,
by repurposing this underperforming asset,
this will enable the options to be considered to create
in a future paper to look at options,
which can look at vibrant mixed use development
that can foster a true sense of place
and deliver much needed homes.
By doing this, this will enable us to again,
focus on our regeneration strategy and deliver
and basically transform this failing asset into something
which really delivers for Wickham.
So now I'll bring us back to the recommendations.
We have five recommendations in front of us.
Number one is to approve the permanent closure
of the multi -storey car park from March this year
and approve the demolition of the car park.
Then two, to approve the funding of the demolition costs
estimated at 1 .75 million pounds to be met from the future disposal proceeds of the site
and for this to be added to the capital programme.
Number three, to provide delegated authority to the service director for highways and technical
services and service director for corporate property and assets in consultation with the
cabinet member for parking and myself for the following.
Four, to procure and undertake all relevant work streams that facilitate the advancement
of the demolition works, five to undertake a procurement exercise for a demolition contractor
and then subsequently enter a demolition contract to advance the demolition works
with the preferred contractor and to enter into any necessary agreements with adjoining land owners
to facilitate the demolition works for the car park.
Thank you very much and one set of people we haven't mentioned are the two local ward members
who I know have been instrumental in speaking
with the community and communication to them
with them will be vital as well.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:18:11
So cabinet, you've, Robert's read them out.
Are you content now to approve
and accept the recommendations as taken on block please?
Agreed again, thank you.

14 Woodlands Development Site

That moves us on, although in our risk of overrunning,
My apologies, but item 14, Woodlands Development Site.
This item again is in two parts
with a public and a confidential appendices element.
The public report is on pages 167 to 176.
Confidential appendices are available
to cabinet members as well.
This report is in my name and that of Robert Carrington
and John Reed, who's our director of special projects.
Welcome John is here to answer any technical questions.
So by way of a quick introduction, Steve.
Yeah, really, really sorry.
Cllr Steve Bowles - 2:19:08
I just wondered, did I need to declare an interest
as up until May this year I was chairman of Bucks Advantage?
And what is your status now?
Sorry?
Are you involved with Bucks Advantage now?
No, I'm not involved with it now, but.
Then that's fine.
There's no need to declare.
I'm advised.
Okay, but thank you for raising it.
So this is Woodlands,
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:19:33
which is one of the key development sites
in and around Aylesbury,
bringing forward in the end a mixed use scheme.
So housing and job related elements,
typically through the enterprise zone.
It is rather complex,
but does also bring with it the opportunity to complete another section of Link Roads around the town.
Woodlands essentially is between Hamden Fields and Kingsbrooks developments.
And as we just heard, because of just to cheque on declarations,
Buckinghamshire Avantage are the main, is the main body who would deal with this.
Buckinghamshire Vantage as outlined in section 2 .1 of the report is 100 % owned
subsidiary of the council and has been responsible for funding the planning application for Woodlands
having secured options with landowners
because clearly a site of this size is made up of different land holdings.
As I mentioned Woodlands is a fundamental part of our
link roads
elements in order to deliver the Eastern Link Road to the north, which you can best see
if you look on page 170, figure one, the master plan of Woodlands.
It's worth noting that today's report follows on from a previous cabinet report back in
in 2024, I believe, in order for us to work up further options and be able to proceed
to exchange contracts on a precedent contract.
So that being said, should we get here, you can see the benefits of the woodland development
through high quality commercial and residential floor space.
The transport measures have outlined and should also contribute to air quality, providing
and leave to the town centre as people will then be able to use the link roads.
Local members have been briefed ahead of the site progressing to market previously and
obviously this then comes back with the outcomes of all of that.
Robert, anything else you want to say before I chat with John?
Thank you very much, Lita.
Cllr Robert Carington - 2:22:03
You summed it up very well.
I mean, the only thing I will add is that, obviously, as Buckingham Advantage, which
is a subsidiary company of the Council, the shareholder committee, shareholder and trust
committee, which I am the chairman of, have reviewed this.
We've had a number of meetings on this.
And I think we think this is a very, I basically fully in support of this, because I mean,
this delivers a key part of our strategy for Aylesbury
and the delivery of important infrastructure.
So I'll just say that the shareholder committee
have considered and have voted that it now be considered
by cabinet, hence why we are here now.
Thank you, Robert.
And I referenced John Reed, Director of Special Projects.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:22:54
John, anything you'd like to outline in addition
to what we've said so far?
John Reed - Service Director (P,G&S) - 2:22:58
Thank you, leader.
I think it's all been covered.
I've got nothing to add.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:23:04
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Questions?
Mark, please.
Thank you, Nita.
Cllr Mark Winn - 2:23:13
Just to emphasise that I am a member that borders this
development in Ellsbury East.
And I know how important the delivery of the road is to our
residents there and to residents across Ellsbury and
the wider area in terms of our economy and in terms of
dealing with road congestion.
all the way through when this came forward,
the very first question I actually asked in council,
in the very first council I think here,
was about sort of whether or not the road could be jewelled.
And I know that the council did try that with Holmes England
and with Department of Transport,
and each time they did say no.
So I think that's an important thing to emphasise.
But in terms of the road,
just to emphasise publicly I think, if we were able to,
that the road will be delivered ahead of the housing
and if we've got a timetable
for when the road would be delivered.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:24:09
John, we'll look to you two both on the Julian point
and timelines.
John Reed - Service Director (P,G&S) - 2:24:15
So you're correct.
This proposal would only see the outline
planning consent delivered,
which is at the moment for a single carriage highway,
up to what's called phase 1B,
which if you look at the plan on page 170,
is that there's a drilled element from the A41 roundabout
up to the first roundabout on the eastern link road.
So that part will be drilled.
Current planning consent is that the road
needs to be delivered ahead of delivery of homes.
But that is something the developer wants to consider.
and that's something that might be worth of a conversation
in the confidential session.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:25:01
Yes, thank you.
Noted, and I mentioned earlier it was complex
and Mark just mentioned Homes England.
So, there's not only land owners and the council
and Buckinghamshire Advantage,
there's Homes England through the Housing Infrastructure Fund
who have financial interests in helping bring this through,
but of course that also comes with some restrictions
as well and again we'll probably discuss those in the confidential session.
Any other questions in the public paper?
Okay, then I'll move us on to the confidential session,
which I'm afraid means we have to once again pause the webcast.
And I will need to read out the relevant statement,
which is to resolve this under the local authorities executive arrangements,
meeting and access to information England regulation 2012 regulation 42 B
the public be excluded from the meeting for the following out of a business
Woodlands Development Site on the grounds they are to involve the likely
disclosure of exempt information as defined within schedule 12 a of the
local government act 1972 do people agree with that
Thank you, then please pause the webcast.

14 Woodlands Development Site

Cllr Steven Broadbent - 2:26:18
Thank you and we return back into public session for today's cabinet meeting.
Excuse me, of Buckinghamshire Council having just gone into confidential session to discuss
the Woodlands Development Site.
Having had a lengthy discussion in confidential session,
we now return here in order to take a view
on recommendations.
Recommendations are outlined on page 167 of the public pack.
And that is the Buckinghamshire Advantage
and to the condition precedent contract
between Bucks Advantage and the developer.
This has been finalised pursuant to a decision
by cabinet in March last year.
To complete the contract once condition precedents
are satisfied and that the funding agreement
has been secured all way by the parties where possible.
Agree that the council release 3 .4 million of funding
for future management of the project from Homes England
only to be used when the HIF funding has been agreed
with Homes England to cover the costs, or that an alternative funding source be used
if identified.
Four, to delegate to Service Director for Special Projects in consultation with the
Cabinet Member for Resources and the Section 151 Officer to approve capped further loans
to Books Advantage to facilitate the delivery of the obligations under the contract.
So they are outlined there.
And there were some elements for Cabinet to note underneath those recommendations,
which are outlined on page 168.
That being said, though, are Cabinet members content to agree those recommendations?
Thank you very much.
In which case, that item concludes and that agrees.
And that then brings us to the end of today's Cabinet meeting.

18 Date of next meeting

other than to state item 18, date of next meeting.
This will be held on the 21st of April, 2026,
due to start at 10 a .m.
Thank you all for your attendance today,
officers and members, and for those watching at home.
We now end the meeting and end the webcast.