BFP poll: 'High Wycombe Town Council' idea backed by readers

7:30am Wednesday 12th September 2012 in News By Simon Farr

Cllr Trevor Snaith Cllr Trevor Snaith

A TOWN council for High Wycombe would be welcomed by readers of the Bucks Free Press, according to our online survey.

After removing duplicate votes, 58.7 percent of readers (215 votes) who took part in our ballot backed the idea of a Wycombe town council.

And basing the result purely on distinctive browsers, 62 percent (186 browsers) believe the formation of a town council would be good for High Wycombe.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Trevor Snaith, who has been championing a town council for Wycombe, said he was not surprised with the result.

He said: “With the number of people who contact me or stop me in the street to say this town needs a town council, it’s not a surprise.

“Local people care about local issues and their immediate local area, so the more local people we have involved in local things, the better.

“I am pleased to see the support we have received from Princes Risborough and Marlow, and anyone who would like to get involved please get in touch with me as we would need about 6,000 signatures for Wycombe District Council to listen and trigger a Governance Review.”

But Conservative Cllr Tony Green, who is chairman of the High Wycombe Town Committee, which has no executive powers, told the BFP last week that town councils were just ‘an extra cost and an extra layer of bureaucracy'.

The result of the ballot, above , states that 52 percent (387 votes) of readers were actually against creating another level of local government.

But this is before the Free Press discounted duplicate votes or tallied up individual web browsers for a more accurate picture.

The BFP does, however, acknowledge that our online polls are not scientific or verified and are used purely to get a snapshot of public opinion.

Comments (8)

11:29am Wed 12 Sep 12

Judge 2 says...

Unfortuently this is a very small proportion of the people that would be affected.
Unfortuently this is a very small proportion of the people that would be affected. Judge 2

12:00pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Voyeur says...

The National Government policy is to push responsibility and decision making down to the levels closest to the community. If all the other twons in Buckinghamshire have a town or parish council to enable this, why shouldn't the people of the Town of High Wycombe be provided with the same level of support? From their actions it is clear that even some District Council members do not get down to the relevant community levels needed.
The National Government policy is to push responsibility and decision making down to the levels closest to the community. If all the other twons in Buckinghamshire have a town or parish council to enable this, why shouldn't the people of the Town of High Wycombe be provided with the same level of support? From their actions it is clear that even some District Council members do not get down to the relevant community levels needed. Voyeur

12:40pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Darren Hayday says...

Voyeur wrote:
The National Government policy is to push responsibility and decision making down to the levels closest to the community. If all the other twons in Buckinghamshire have a town or parish council to enable this, why shouldn't the people of the Town of High Wycombe be provided with the same level of support? From their actions it is clear that even some District Council members do not get down to the relevant community levels needed.
This is an easy question to answer:-

The Conservatives that currently hold control of WDC - do not want to give up a Town Committee to a Town Council as it would mean that they would no longer control power over the form of deciding who the Chairman of the Committee would be (i.e. wanting to continue to have one of theirs in).
[quote][p][bold]Voyeur[/bold] wrote: The National Government policy is to push responsibility and decision making down to the levels closest to the community. If all the other twons in Buckinghamshire have a town or parish council to enable this, why shouldn't the people of the Town of High Wycombe be provided with the same level of support? From their actions it is clear that even some District Council members do not get down to the relevant community levels needed.[/p][/quote]This is an easy question to answer:- The Conservatives that currently hold control of WDC - do not want to give up a Town Committee to a Town Council as it would mean that they would no longer control power over the form of deciding who the Chairman of the Committee would be (i.e. wanting to continue to have one of theirs in). Darren Hayday

1:54pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Judge 2 says...

@ Darren Hayday:

Having checked the Council website the current Town Committee has 23 councillors:
8 Conservatives
7 Labour
7 Lib Dems
1 UKIP

If the opposition feel that this is a grave injustice then they can come together and have a clear majority. Is it not that easy?
@ Darren Hayday: Having checked the Council website the current Town Committee has 23 councillors: 8 Conservatives 7 Labour 7 Lib Dems 1 UKIP If the opposition feel that this is a grave injustice then they can come together and have a clear majority. Is it not that easy? Judge 2

1:56pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Judge 2 says...

Interestingly what is Labours take on this? Lib Dems are vocal but Labour are just doing what they also do, nothing!
Interestingly what is Labours take on this? Lib Dems are vocal but Labour are just doing what they also do, nothing! Judge 2

2:23pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Darren Hayday says...

Judge 2 wrote:
@ Darren Hayday:

Having checked the Council website the current Town Committee has 23 councillors:
8 Conservatives
7 Labour
7 Lib Dems
1 UKIP

If the opposition feel that this is a grave injustice then they can come together and have a clear majority. Is it not that easy?
Judge, unfortunately democracy doesn’t work quite that easy @ WDC.

In order to have the matter debated at full Council, there needs to be a petition of over 8,000 residents. Even at full Council the Conservatives still hold a clear majority and "would" ensure a 3 line party whip to make sure that things stay as they are.

This should not be the way, but those are the rules that WDC have made up (from the Conservatives of course).

Also at anytime there is anything controversial that comes up at the current Committee, it can then be pushed over to the Cabinet or an I&R Committee. Both of with are controlled by yes you've guessed it - the ruling party which in WDC's case is the Conservatives...

Please note that I don’t want to bash just the Conservatives as I think that this could have been changed in the past by the other parties (i.e. as in the last time that the Council was run by the LibDems and the Labour party). But the Conservatives are the ones that currently hold the power to make the changes and debate the merits of Wycombe having its own Town Council (which can easily be done at hardly any extra expense to the tax payer) – I hope that dialogue can start rather than pushing out the normal response ” that it would cost too much money to do this”.
[quote][p][bold]Judge 2[/bold] wrote: @ Darren Hayday: Having checked the Council website the current Town Committee has 23 councillors: 8 Conservatives 7 Labour 7 Lib Dems 1 UKIP If the opposition feel that this is a grave injustice then they can come together and have a clear majority. Is it not that easy?[/p][/quote]Judge, unfortunately democracy doesn’t work quite that easy @ WDC. In order to have the matter debated at full Council, there needs to be a petition of over 8,000 residents. Even at full Council the Conservatives still hold a clear majority and "would" ensure a 3 line party whip to make sure that things stay as they are. This should not be the way, but those are the rules that WDC have made up (from the Conservatives of course). Also at anytime there is anything controversial that comes up at the current Committee, it can then be pushed over to the Cabinet or an I&R Committee. Both of with are controlled by yes you've guessed it - the ruling party which in WDC's case is the Conservatives... Please note that I don’t want to bash just the Conservatives as I think that this could have been changed in the past by the other parties (i.e. as in the last time that the Council was run by the LibDems and the Labour party). But the Conservatives are the ones that currently hold the power to make the changes and debate the merits of Wycombe having its own Town Council (which can easily be done at hardly any extra expense to the tax payer) – I hope that dialogue can start rather than pushing out the normal response ” that it would cost too much money to do this”. Darren Hayday

3:53pm Wed 12 Sep 12

localjoker says...

Darren, How much would it cost to create a town council?

Imagine it would cost us (taxpayer) quite a bit and create extra layers making it harder and more confusing to know which council to contact for which.
Darren, How much would it cost to create a town council? Imagine it would cost us (taxpayer) quite a bit and create extra layers making it harder and more confusing to know which council to contact for which. localjoker

4:00pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Darren Hayday says...

localjoker wrote:
Darren, How much would it cost to create a town council?

Imagine it would cost us (taxpayer) quite a bit and create extra layers making it harder and more confusing to know which council to contact for which.
Bear in mind that we already have the High Wycombe Town Committee and the staff for the Chartered Trustee's. I shall look into the costs to set up a Town Council rather than just having the committee. You say that it would be confusing by having an extra layer of government, but this is the standard for all of the rest of the County whereby they already have either a Parish or Town Council - it is only the Centre of Wycombe that is unparished.

I personally think that we should go a stage further and join up Wycombe and somewhere like South Bucks and Chiltern Councils so that we can have a Unitary Council - but again the powers that be - do not want this to happen as it would mean that they could lose power or their jobs.
Look at the state of the Centre of Wycombe (ie Frogmore) and then look at a comparison to Marlow or Princes Risborough.
We need democracy at a local level not being dictated from an unelected Communist style committee!
[quote][p][bold]localjoker[/bold] wrote: Darren, How much would it cost to create a town council? Imagine it would cost us (taxpayer) quite a bit and create extra layers making it harder and more confusing to know which council to contact for which.[/p][/quote]Bear in mind that we already have the High Wycombe Town Committee and the staff for the Chartered Trustee's. I shall look into the costs to set up a Town Council rather than just having the committee. You say that it would be confusing by having an extra layer of government, but this is the standard for all of the rest of the County whereby they already have either a Parish or Town Council - it is only the Centre of Wycombe that is unparished. I personally think that we should go a stage further and join up Wycombe and somewhere like South Bucks and Chiltern Councils so that we can have a Unitary Council - but again the powers that be - do not want this to happen as it would mean that they could lose power or their jobs. Look at the state of the Centre of Wycombe (ie Frogmore) and then look at a comparison to Marlow or Princes Risborough. We need democracy at a local level not being dictated from an unelected Communist style committee! Darren Hayday

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