County Hall defends handing over heritage sites to save £150k (From Bucks Free Press)

County Hall defends handing over heritage sites to save £150k

5:20pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in Hazlemere and Holmer Green By James Nadal

COUNTY Hall has defended plans to save £150,000 by handing 40 heritage sites to charities and parish councils.

Cash-strapped Buckinghamshire County Council, which has faced drastic cuts to its Government funding, wants other organisations to manage or lease the woodland areas and green spaces, which comprise nearly 1,700 hectares in total.

These include Whiteleaf Hill in Princes Risborough and the Hampden Memorial in Prestwood, within the Chilterns AONB.

The country parks will be kept and not all of the 40 sites will be handed over.

BCC spokesman Anushka Desai said: “We are retaining ownership of the sites and looking at options for organisations or parish councils to either manage them or enter into a leasehold arrangement.

“Our priority is to ensure that each of the sites continues to be managed appropriately and is kept available for public access. We are therefore working closely with like-minded organisations who expressed an interest to take this forward.

“Finding alternative solutions for the green spaces to be managed is going to save the council around £150,000 a year.”

Cllr Steven Adams, Cabinet Member for Environment said: "We are facing tough financial challenges and I think it is right for the council to work with volunteers, charities and businesses in this way so that we may protect our critical caring services for those children and vulnerable elderly residents who rely on them."

BFP reader Merelene Davis, from Pednor Bottom, Chesham, wrote in to criticise the move.

She said the sites had historical and archaeological significance, which give “a feeling of pride in our county” and charities becoming involved in the management may have interests wider than Bucks.

Mrs Davis said: “People see their standard of living falling and when Bucks County Council divests itself of the gems of heritage that belong to this county, it further demoralises its citizens.

“If councillors are preoccupied with their cabinets, committees and perhaps their loyalties to their parties rather than their constituents, is it little wonder the concerns of citizens and feelings of pride where they live, are so overlooked as to be ignored?”

County Hall said it has received interest for most of the sites and officials are now working with its legal teams to finalise terms and conditions.