Haddenham and Long Crendon Local Area Priorities
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Haddenham and Long Crendon Local Area Priorities 2012—2013 Review The Haddenham and Long Crendon Local Area Forum includes the parishes of: Aston Sandford, Boarstall, Brill, Chearsley, Chilton, Cuddington, Dinton with Ford and Upton, Haddenham, Ickford, Kingsey, Long Crendon, Oakley, Shabbington, Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell and Worminghall. During 2012/13, the Haddenham and Long Crendon Local Area Forum provided funding to a number of projects to address the priorities of the local area. Some of these are set out in the following pages. The projects were undertaken using the LAF’s Local Priorities budget from Buckinghamshire County Council. Local Area Forums What is a Local Area Forum? How does the Local Area Forum develop it’s priorities? To help planning and service delivery at a local level, Buckinghamshire has been The original priorities for the LAF were divided into 19 local areas. The role of the identified in a workshop held in March 2009. In Forum is to agree priorities and delegate May 2011 it was decided that it was time to re- resources effectively within the local area. visit those priorities, establish, which, if any, The Local Area Forum has identified should no longer be considered as such or priorities for the area and what steps can be should be considered to be completed. taken, by the Local Area Forum or others, to address these priorities. In 2012/13 the A template was sent to LAF members and local priorities against which the Local Area Fo- community and voluntary sector groups. The rum’s budget could be allocated were: recipients were to rank the priorities, old and new, from 1 to 10. Some priorities were imme- Support for carers and support for older diately removed as a result of the responses re- people to live in their homes. ceived. Provide more traffic calming, particularly around speeding and HGVs on rural roads Those left were considered at a workshop and Create activities and facilities for teenagers, split into categories to determine which ones especially promoting existing opportunities ought to remain and which ought to be Encourage cycling and extension of the removed. cycle network Promote more sustainable lifestyles e.g. the development of renewable energy, reduction in energy use, water conservation, car-sharing, increased recycling and tree planting Encourage more use of local businesses and shops and their development as community hubs. The Haddenham and Long Crendon Local Members of the Local Area Forum Area Forum (LAF) has a devolved budget from the County Council of £46,516 per The Haddenham and Long Crendon Local Area year. In 2012/13 additional funding was avail- Forum includes county councillors, able which had been rolled over from the district councillors and appointed previous year, meaning that the budget was representatives from each of the parishes. £66,515.77 in total. Local Area Forums can also invite other In 2012/13 the Local Area Forum funded pro- organisations to attend. jects including: Young Carers Support Wheels to Work Project Play for Youth Haddenham.net project A table showing all projects funded can be found on the final page of this review. Project Reports Haddenham.Net Haddenham.net is the community website serving the village of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire. It provides local news and comments, a forum for resident’s views and a detailed diary of events co erring every club, society, school, charity and public service provider in the village. The website also provides contact details for all Haddenham-based organisations, as well as list- ings for local service providers, from architects to zumba fitness classes and advertising of job vacancies at local businesses. Local train times are also constantly posted, in real time, so that commuters can easily see the next train arrival. and departure times for one-and-a-half hours ahead. The website editor maintains close links with Haddenham Parish Council and is a co-opted mem- ber of the Council’s Communications sub-committee. The community website is thus able to act as and additional conduit for information from the Parish Council to local residents. The website launched in June 2012 and is updated daily. In this regard, the community website provides a contemporary and instantaneous source of information compared with local newspapers or village newsletters. 3 Project Reports Wheels to Work Community Impact Bucks reported that enquiries were received from two young people within the LAF area to join the wheels to work scheme. Both As a result two mopeds were purchased using fund- ing of £3,850 from the LAF. Unfortunately due to the personal circumstances of the young LAF Priority people neither took up the offer of the moped loan. Create activities and facilities for teenagers Contact has continued with relevant agencies within the LAF area (eg connexions) to identify other suitable participants but so far none have come forward. In the meantime the bikes have been utilised to assist other young people participating in the scheme. As a result the remainder of the grant (£4,350) has not been claimed. Long Crendon Community Library Film Club Long Crendon Community Library was awarded £5,000 towards the cost of the installation of a fixed overhead HD video projector, surround sound system, and electric screen for use by the Long Crendon Community Library Film Club. Open to anyone over the age of sixteen the film club currently has two hundred members with a capacity of 48 seats. The film club season is from October – April with screenings every two weeks with a Thursday matinee and Friday evening performance. The films selected aim to promote an interest in film as well as encouraging the library to become a social meeting place for people. The films screened in the first season were an entertaining mix from new, classic and foreign titles including some thought provoking subjects. Matinee performances are particularly aimed at the more elderly in the village who perhaps would not normally be able to visit a cinema. The hope is to start a Junior Film Club sometime in the future with a more educational brief and in cooperation with Long Crendon School and village youth clubs. Members are delighted at the quality of the screenings, the ambiance and the choice of films. It is a village talking point and certainly contributes to cultural life as well as being a social occasion. The Library Film Club will also generate much needed funds to the running costs of the library. 4 Project Reports Youth Café, St Mary’s Haddenham St Mary’s Haddenham received £5,500 to commission LAF Priority: Aylesbury Vale Youth For Christ to develop and strength- Create activities and facilities for en the youth work in the area through Youth Café’s teenagers AVYFC have been working alongside Haddenham St Mary’s since 2010 developing a programme for youth in the area. The youth café offers free activities to any young people after school on Tuesday and Friday and St Mary’s also offer activities to young people on Monday and weekends. Key information about the project: The youth work takes place at the Youth Centre at the Haddenham Junior School. The café is open to all young people aged 11-19 (11% of the population in the area) Over 200 young people have registered since the youth café started in January 2010 Young people in year 6 are welcome from July each year to try the youth café before mov- ing to secondary school. Young people from the area attend a variety of different schools with most attending: Princ- es Risborough, Lord Williams, The Floyd, Aylesbury Grammar, Waddesdon and Aylesbury High School. Around 40 young people attend the youth activities each week. 12 junior leaders attend and participate in the running of the projects each week. Most junior leaders are school age 10-13 and this is now widening to allow volunteers from year 8 and 9. Young people who have volunteered in Haddenham have also been involved with other ac- tivities in Aylesbury Vale including: Family fun days, social action days, local fetes and events as well as supporting work at other cafes and helping to run sports cage and mobile skate park events with AVYFC. Young people have gained new skills and confidence through volunteering and participating. There are 8 volunteers who regularly attend and support the work from St Mary’s Haddenham. The funding received from BCC in 2012/2013 has helped to strengthen the regular youth cafes. Weekly training and support has been provided to the junior leaders who help regularly. The young people have been able to plan activities for the youth café including football, table tennis and computer game competitions. Every café ses- sion the team of volunteers and junior leaders meet to discuss how the session went and plan how to make the next session even more successful. 5 Project Reports Early Identification in Schools Project, Young Carers Bucks Young Carers Bucks strives to actively support young carers across Buckinghamshire. Young carers are children and young people aged 6 to 18 years looking after someone in their home that may have a disability, physical or mental illness or a substance/alcohol dependency. It has been recognised that they are at a greater risk than their peers of being victims of bullying and social isolation, achieving lower academically and having limited life chances and aspirations. The support provided includes regular clubs, activities, group work or 1:1 interventions. Young Carers Bucks actively try to identify ‘hidden’ young carers. One of the main methods is working directly with schools and community groups. The £3,900 awarded by the Haddenham and Long Crendon LAF was used to develop the Young Carers Bucks Early Identification in Schools Project.