Aylesbury Community Board reflects on action-packed first year

Democracy and Local Affairs
Young people from UTC take part in the project to develop the Youth Views app

Like all 16 Buckinghamshire Community Boards, Aylesbury’s has spent a busy 12 months establishing itself at the heart of the local community and at their recent meeting, took the opportunity to look back at some of the highlights of the past year.

Aside from building relationships with local groups and organisations, starting conversations and setting up action groups to focus on specific issues, the board has helped to support a range of projects and initiatives through funding and advice.

One of the board’s biggest achievements has been the work carried out in partnership with the Cloudy Foundation, Aylesbury Youth Action and Bucks UTC on the Youth Views project. The initiative brought different groups of young people together to plan content and create an app to gather the views and concerns of local young people. Some of the young people involved in the project spoke at the recent board meeting, giving an update on the project and the roles they played. The app is now live and local young people are being encouraged to take a look and submit their views:https://cloudyfoundation.co.uk/youth-survey/ .

In addition to the regular content of the meeting, officers from Thames Valley Police attended a virtual session straight afterwards where members of the public were able to ask pre-submitted questions. Joined by staff from the council’s community safety team, the officers were able to address concerns and questions on a range of topics including CCTV and speeding. Following the success of the session, it is proposed that similar sessions are set up on a regular basis.

Mark Winn, Chair of the Aylesbury Community Board said: “Once again it’s been great to see so much engagement from the local community at our meetings. Community boards provide the perfect way for people to speak up and join in with helping to make improvements in our local area. As we move into our next year of action, we are keen to hear from local groups and individuals who want to get involved.”

For the coming year Aylesbury Community Board will have action groups focusing on the following areas:

  • Economic recovery
  • Health & wellbeing (including community safety)
  • Improving the environment
  • Road safety, highways and infrastructure

 

Youth engagement will continue and the feedback from the Youth Views project will be used to inform the action groups to ensure the thoughts and views of young people are listened to and included.

To find out more email the coordinator: aylesburycb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Funding is also available for projects that link to the areas of focus for the year so if you have a project or initiative that you think could benefit, find out more on the website.

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