Radical plans to rejuvenate Wycombe town centre for the next century are now being discussed with help from the public. We report on the latest ideas and how re-opening a river is key to the plans.

THE masterplan now being drawn up for High Wycombe is something that will set the tone for the town for the next 100 years, says Wycombe District Council leader Lesley Clarke.

She was speaking on Thursday to townspeople, asked to contribute ideas on how the town centre could develop. Members of the High Wycombe Committee of the district council have also given their views.

Two things seem certain.

Abbey Way, which divides the High Street area from the soon-to-be built Eden development, will come down. And the River Wye will be uncovered.

Cllr Clarke said this was about joining the old town and the new to create a single centre. "Bringing back the river Wye is key," she said.

On Abbey Way, she said county and district councils had been making models to show what would happen to traffic if it went. "The results showed the problems were not as insurmountable as we had thought," she said.

Chris Woodman, of the High Wycombe Society, said the group supported the vision; the removal of Abbey Way, the fact that the river would not be a mere canal, but grassed and softened on both sides and the fact that the roundabouts at either end of the road could become green open spaces.

The question that still remained was transport, he said.

The distance from the new bus station to the High Street was quite far, and there was no public transport link to the railway station.

"They have to look to new forms of transport, which could run in a pedestrian friendly way through the town," he said.

Members of the High Wycombe Committee were worried about where through traffic would go if Abbey Way disappeared under the redevelopment.

There is likely to be a through road along the line of Queen Alexandra Road between the university and Wycombe Hospital, linking to Oxford Road, west of the town centre.

But Peter Cartwright said people visiting the hospital parked in Queen Alexandra Road and they would be displaced.

And there were lots of junctions which were used all the time.

"I can't see Queen Alexandra Road coping," he said.

The council's head of urban design, Penelope Tollitt, said it was easy to let little problems get in the way of making big decisions.

If High Wycombe wanted to be a quality town there had to be vision and leadership of the sort shown by the council leader, she said.

She told the Free Press the vision would now be transformed into a physical framework for the town, which she hoped would last for a century or more.

"Just as the High Street was designed in the 1200s and we still use it, we want to make sure this will not be something the next generation will want to knock down," she said.

People will be able to read and comment on the details after September 23, when the Local Development Framework (LDF) for the district is published.

The LDF will cover all aspects of the development, including sites for new homes.