Areas of High Wycombe, Chesham and Aylesbury where there is “acute deprivation and poverty” are set to be targeted for improvements – but Buckinghamshire Council leader Martin Tett has warned there are not “vast bucketloads of cash” to throw at the project.

Cllr Tett said Buckinghamshire has a “misplaced” reputation of having “relative affluence” – but there are parts of the county that are struggling in poverty.

As part of the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda, Buckinghamshire Council is looking at ways to improve the parts of the county where deprivation is at its worst – and has picked out Booker, Cressex and Castlefield, Totteridge and Bowerdean, Ryemead and Micklefield, Abbey, Terriers and Amersham Hill and West Wycombe wards in High Wycombe, all of Chesham and Aylesbury south west, north-west and north for particular focus.

While plans are still vague at this stage, the council’s ‘Opportunity Bucks’ report says they will focus on making improvements in five key areas – education and skills, jobs and career opportunities, the quality of the public realm, standard of living and health and wellbeing.

These include helping the under-fives catch up post-Covid-19, creating a “joined-up” skills and careers system to offer young people and adults access to education and training, good quality jobs that pay a “decent” salary, active support for residents to secure work, making improvements to public areas of the towns affected, assistance with solutions to difficulties like housing, warmth, food and debt and engaging communities in mental and physical health initiatives.

Regeneration plans for each of the towns mentioned will also be drawn up, while apprenticeship numbers will be expanded and the council plans to roll out a scheme that provides advice and support and helps people out of debt.

But Cllr Tett said he needed to temper expectations, because they are facing severe financial pressures and will not have extra money to make huge improvements.

Speaking at Cabinet earlier this week, he said: “One of the things we’re acutely aware of, although Buckinghamshire has a reputation, I would say misplaced, of being a county of relative affluence, big houses, long gravel drives, that is not the reality of life for vast majority of our residents.

“People live in pretty ordinary houses in pretty ordinary ways and within that there are areas of acute deprivation and poverty and one of the things we want to do is to begin a process of levelling up within Buckinghamshire, addressing some of those big inequalities that we see across the county.

“That can mean for example life expectancy, of up to 10 years difference between different parts of the county.

“This is not about some vast bucketload of extra cash to do a wish list of stuff that everybody wants in various areas, that money just does not exist. We don’t have that.

“The council will be under extreme financial pressure going forward into next year. It is absolutely about marshalling the resources that we have, both within the existing council but also across the business community, the voluntary and community sector and within local communities themselves.

“There’s an enormous amount we can do within existing resources that will actually make significant improvements.”

Cllr Tett said he was “bemused” that there are some people in Bucks who aren’t working, even though they are capable.

He said: “For those people who are capable of working, one of the best ways out of poverty is to have a good well-paid job.

“What I find really bemusing is that within some of our communities, there are people who can work but are without work, and that is cheek by jowl with employers who are absolutely desperate for people and employees and many of these jobs are good, well-paid jobs.

“One of the challenges we have across Buckinghamshire is to break down those inhibitors that stop people taking up these job opportunities and improving their lives.”