A Buckinghamshire Councillor has rejected claims that High Wycombe is ‘neglected’ and in desperate need of a town council.

While calls to instate a town council in High Wycombe are not ground-breaking, they have gained new traction in recent weeks as former mayors Trevor Snaith and Khalil Ahmed actively recruited residents to take part in a consultation on how their town is governed.

Cries for a new lower-rung of local government were near-unanimous among shoppers on Wycombe High Street, with one person frustrated that unitary authority Buckinghamshire Council is based “far away” in Aylesbury and another decrying the “appalling neglect” they believe has characterised their town in recent years.

However, Tony Green, Buckinghamshire Councillor and Vice Chairman of the High Wycombe Town Committee has now hit back at the campaign and called Mr Snaith’s assertion that the advisory committee is “toothless” “totally untrue”.

He said: “In 2020, all the councils in Buckinghamshire, including Wycombe District Council and Buckinghamshire County Council were merged to create a single Buckinghamshire Council.

“The Town Committee consists of all the District Councillors elected to represent the town and it meets regularly and oversees all the functions that would normally fall to a town council.”

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Adding: “In recent years, the committee has planned, funded and built a new cemetery for residents, commissioned a parking review across the town and maintained allotments and playing fields as well as the cemeteries.

“They also give grants to local organisations and can discuss any matters that relate to the town, calling in officers of the council to address any of their concerns.”

However, speaking on Saturday, March 9, Trevor Snaith told the Free Press he didn’t believe important issues in Wycombe were being properly addressed.

He said: “A functioning town council would improve the market and the museum and look after historic buildings as well as our green spaces.

“You want local people who are passionate about tackling local issues. Most people I speak to do want a town council. Something you hear often is that if we don’t do anything, things will just continue as they are, and people don’t want that.”

The chair of the council’s standards and general purposes committee, David Goss, previously said the new consultation will allow residents to "share their thoughts on how their community is represented". 

More information on the governance of High Wycombe and how you can have your say can be found here: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/corporate-services/high-wycombe-cgr/.