HS2 Latest
Back in April Bucks County Council stated their preferred alternative route for
HS2 was along the West Coast Main Line. They weren't too clear whether they
meant upgrading the existing line, or following one of the HS2 alternative
routes that swept through Pitstone Green business park and on to Cheddington.
Either proposal was equally unacceptable to me and I proposed, and lost, an
amendment to a motion at the County Council requesting that this preference be
deleted from their submission to HS2 and that all routes through the Chilterns
AONB be opposed equally. After the discussion several Aylesbury Vale
Conservative Councillors told me they supported me but had not been able to vote
for me on party lines.
Many people have subsequently pressed the County Council to come round to this
view, including our MP, the Chilterns Conservation Board, and local
individuals. At a meeting in July with the cabinet member for transportation
Val Letheren, hinted to me that the County were now re-considering their
position as expressing a preferred alternative could weaken their overall case -
exactly the point I made at Council.
My opinion is that the West Coast Mail line option is so impracticable and
expensive it was rightly discarded in the first place by HS2 as a viable
alternative; but that the County Council should not have suggested damaging one
part of the County in order to protect another 'more valuable' part. Val
Letheren in debate said that 'their' Chilterns AONB was 'more valuable' than
'ours'.
The government are currently reviewing the whole thing to see if it can link in
Heathrow Airport .
Changes to Adult Social Care Services
Changes have already begun in Bucks and elsewhere so that people needing social
care (to enable them to live in their own homes for example) are able to decide
for themselves what services they need, through spending their own personal
allowance. Eventually everyone eligible will receive their own budget. This
means people will need very good advice and information on choices available to
them, and a much more diverse range of services will have to be made available
to people. As part of these changes the County Council are looking at day care
services. They have begun to talk to individual users of day care centres and
to the wider public on how the current service might be provided in the future.
In Aylesbury Vale they are proposing a new super-centre in Aylesbury, with a
subsidiary centre in Buckingham, and a network of community facilities where
users can choose to go in the day. The detail on these community facilities has
not yet been filled in, nor how people will be supported in choosing what to do
if they don’t want or are not able to attend the new day centre. I am expecting
a lot more information on which to make a judgement after the consultation has
been completed and people’s preferences have been heard, the financial aspects
have been looked at and the full plan proposed. Naturally current users and
their carers have been very unsettled by this. However it is very early days,
and although it is expected day centres will be closing, there are no dates, and
changes for people will happen on an individual basis.
Community Car Scheme and trial Freight Quality Partnership
These two new projects are being initiated through the Local Area Forum - where
the County and District meet the Parish Councils and interested members of the
public. The initial car scheme meeting is planned for 14th July and it is
intended that two schemes will cover the villages of the Ivinghoe County
Division along the lines of other successful schemes throughout the country.
The Freight Quality Partnership is a piece of work that will look at how
villages in other parts of the country have worked with local and national
businesses to promote mutual understanding of the needs of the haulage industry
and residents, with the aim of reducing the impact of freight on the rural
environment. Although the County’s emerging transport plan had this as a
priority, everything is on hold until the government’s spending plans are
known(!) so the Forum has agreed to support the preliminary work by the
community in setting up a partnership . Anyone interested in finding out more
about either of these please contact me
acdavies@buckscc.gov.uk. or
jwesley@buckscc.gov.uk
The Local Area Forum has a delegated budget to spend on priorities put forward
and decided on by the members, and is able to attract additional funding for
nearly all it does.
Community Leaders Fund
The first call on the fund for this Division this year was to ensure the Great
Gap Circular walk didn’t fail ‘for want of a nail’. Subsequently it has been
able to pay for deer alarms (that broadcast radio4) for the new Pitstone
allotments and benches for the Cheddington School orchard. These small sums have
all been little nails completing bigger projects, and there is still a bit of
money in the pot to be applied for.
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