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    DonRockell wrote:
    wayneo wrote:
    ivor wrote:
    wayneo wrote:
    ivor wrote:
    wayneo wrote:
    ivor wrote:
    Look at the state of Wycombe today.
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    Pigeons still blight the town centre, Frogmoor is still a concrete wasteland and there are many empty retail units in the town centre however millions are to be wasted building a new sports centre at Handy Cross and to mess up traffic flow in the town centre with a so called MasterPlan. To top it off Wycombe was unable to put up flags in the High Street to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee unlike in 1897 for Queen Victoria. Even the Olympic torch avoided Marlow.
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    Wycombe is in a right mess and in the past twelve months very little appears to have been done to put things right.
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    Anyone walking through our town would ask if there was any strategic vision or leadership here at all? I fear there are ordinary members of the local community who could do a better job than those who currently hold the reigns of power.
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    Have you read Ivor’s blog today? Click on the “BLOGS” link at the top of the page.
    But if you'd read the masterplan you would see that frogmoor is featured in it..
    The MasterPlan is bad for Wycombe, its a sledgehammer to crack a nut....
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    Solve the problems one by one without throwing the whole she-bang up into the air.
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    Have you read Ivor’s blog today? Click on the “BLOGS” link at the top of the page.
    Resolving problems one-by-one is firefighting, one just p!sses money away waiting for the next project, having a plan means that one can take the town in a particular direction and hopefully to within a budget.

    I also think you misunderstan the masterplan, it's not going to happen in one 'she-bang'.
    I disagree. Resolving problems one by one is necessary when only a few things need putting right as in the case of Wycombe. The MasterPlan seeks to address problems that are non-urgent and, in my opinion, make changes some of which will have a detrimental effect on the town.
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    The issue of Frogmoor could have been put right in the last twelve months rather than being allowed to fester away, sadly it has not.
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    Wycombe does not require being taken in a “particular direction”. I do wish those in charge would stop trying to stamp their authority on the town and actually get on with addressing the individual issues that would make our town a nice place to live again. The complex and stadium were other examples of plans to stamp one's authority on Wycombe and look how they ended up, complete and utter failure.
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    Have you read Ivor’s blog today? Click on the “BLOGS” link at the top of the page.
    What do you think needs to be put right? If your want to keep the town as it is then yes you would repair and keep what you have. If you want to remove what many to consider eyesores, then that would/could be undertaken as part of a masterplan. Having a plan and a direction to improve the town allows the Council to guage opinion, consult, then make changes where appropriate.

    I don't see that Frogmore has been allowed to fester away, it's still there when I last checked; it's that nothing has been decided about its future, if you look at what is being offered in the masterplan, in my opinion it's more in tune with have it used to look. Besides, it's subject to consultation and I would expect with the Council wanting to listen to residents, that they want to get it right.

    The reason the stadium failed was that it was illconceived from the beginning and very few wanted it. The sports centre and Town masterplan is in a completely different league.

    As for those in charge trying to 'stamp their authority", I think that in this case, there's a number of ideas that have been put forward, much of it is a long-way off, some can be realistically acheived now some will be much further down the line.
    The problem with a so call consultation is that every public consultation really means - We will have a public hearing - ignore any new or original options and just do exactly what we want even if it makes things worse.

    Those who have the power to call a public meeting have just one agenda and that is to Dictate rather than consult or listen
    As with the Stadium and the previous set of clowns in Cabinet (minus a few exeptions) I would agree with you. I think in the case of the new Council, they have been better at listening, the workshops and the comments they received have already taken into consideration opinion so I do think it's got much better than previously.

    Don't also forget, it's all well and good the public simply stating, that'll never work, but it also requires solutions."
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'We're here to serve people, not score political points,' says Alex Collingwood as he reflects on his first year as Leader of Wycombe District Council

10:20am Wednesday 6th June 2012 in Bourne End & Wooburns By James Nadal

'I'm about making Wycombe a better place' 'I'm about making Wycombe a better place'

A YEAR ago Alex Collingwood took up the reins at Wycombe District Council, taking over as leader from Conservative colleague Lesley Clarke, who stood down.

The BFP sat down with Cllr Collingwood to reflect on the past 12 months.

THE saga of the community stadium seems a long way away now but last May as elections took place, it was still the hot topic.

Could the smaller parties or even independents oust the ruling Tory majority and change course on the Wycombe Air Park plans?

The answer, resoundingly, was no. Yet, there was a significant shift in power within the Conservative ranks. Lesley Clarke quit and rising star Alex Collingwood, who had won praise for a deep and thorough study on the stadium proposal, was voted in by his party.

Soon after the stadium was dead in the water. Later came a huge change in the district when 6,700 council homes were sold to new housing association Red Kite. There has also been a major new sports plan put forward for Handy Cross as well as a raft of measures for economic regeneration.

Cllr Collingwood said: “It's been a great and enjoyable year and it's gone really quickly.

“The fact it's been such a big year of delivery has probably been the biggest challenge.

“As soon as we finish one, we move onto the next and we're juggling multiple projects at the same time.”

He explained the biggest surprise is simply how smoothly things have gone, especially considering what he described as the 'grief' his predecessor experienced with the stadium.

There have been whispers in the corridors of power at WDC of splits within the Conservatives, with the old guard not happy with some of the policies of the fresh crop.

Speculation of a leadership challenge was laughed off months ago and he reiterated there was no truth in the rumours of disagreements.

In fact, everyone is moving forward with a united purpose, he said.

“We know we won't agree on everything all the time, but under my leadership, hopefully, the vast majority will agree on most of the things most of the time.”

The public have seen a number of heated clashes between the Tories and opposition parties at full council, with one of Cllr Collingwood's own Cabinet members saying it had become a pantomime.

His view is clear.

“You should be there to serve people and their issues, not try to score political points,” he said.

“There'll always be people there for their own egos, as it were. But certainly me and my team are about making Wycombe a better place.

“I think the vast majority of councillors are on the same page as that but there are one or two who for whatever reason try to be a bit clever.”

As for the next year? It's all about revitalising Wycombe as a place to attract investors.

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