Annual Report 2023 to 2024

Buckinghamshire is a prosperous county and a successful place to do business, with low unemployment figures, higher than average household incomes, and home to a number of world-leading businesses including Pinewood Studios and Silverstone.

We are well placed to take advantage of emerging opportunities because of our proximity to London and Heathrow, and our location in the middle of a leading economic area with global strengths in science, technology, and high-value manufacturing. As such we believe we have an important part to play in helping to deliver the

Government’s Levelling Up agenda, supporting growth, investment and transformation through our town centre regeneration plans.

• 156 businesses registered with Bucks & Surrey Trading Standards as primary authority, continuing to be the largest regulatory provider of Primary Authority services in the country
• In 2023-24, 720 new food businesses registered in Buckinghamshire
• Following the launch of the Growth Board, we have now established four sub-boards as well as integrating the Local Enterprise Partnership into the council
• Adopted the Skills & Employment Strategy, introducing an ambitious agenda for raising the productivity of Buckinghamshire through place-based skills and employment priorities
• The Rural England Prosperity Fund has been used to launch the Bucks Rural Business Fund. The fund has allocated grants to 10 local businesses, totalling £419,269.90
• Adopted the Regeneration Framework & Strategies, which will maximise the potential of Buckinghamshire's three larger towns, Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Chesham alongside enhancing the strengths of the county's network of towns and villages as well as its extraordinary natural environment
• Buckinghamshire Council secured £14.1m of s106 contributions from new development and £6.4m in Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
• The council has spent £17.4m of s106 funds on infrastructure to mitigate development impact
• Progressed the Future High Streets Fund programme to contribute to the regeneration of High Wycombe
• Completed property deals worth 3.4m and generated £23m in gross revenue income from our property portfolio, which will support our corporate ambitions
• Successfully secured a Brownfield Land Release Funding grant via the One Public Estate programme to progress the long term ambition to redevelop former Council Offices in Aylesbury for housing, and will be seeking Cabinet Authority to progress bringing forward the development of this historic building.
• Following adoption of the Aylesbury Regeneration Strategy in October 2023, the council is considering options for the regeneration of a number of priority site including the former Gala Bingo Hall which was acquired for the purpose of regeneration and has been unused for some years.
• 96% of early years settings are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted
• 82% of eligible 2 year olds accessing early years provision compared to the regional average of 74%
• 97% of 3 and 4 year olds accessing early years provision.
• 89% of pupils attend a good or outstanding school
• 70% of reception aged pupils achieve a good level of development
• Key Stage 4 CSE and equivalent results continue to be above national average compared to other local authority areas
• 63% of 19-21 year olds who have left care were in education, employment or training, compared to 57% across the South East
• Over £11.5m secured in grants for local culture facilities and activities by the council/our culture partners
• An estimated £10.2m was spent with local businesses in Buckinghamshire through location filming, where the Film Office has provided a service to the production
• We supported 9 Job Centre Plus Job Fair events in Opportunity Bucks wards of Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Chesham
• 210 employees are taking part in apprenticeship programmes across council services and maintained schools
• We conducted 64 recruitment events, resulting in approximately 900 job applications
• We completed the Council Tax Single Person Discount Review resulting in almost £1.5m council tax savings by removing those who are not entitled to claim the discount but had forgotten to notify the council
• In October we launched the first Buckinghamshire Careers Hub, designed to promote career opportunities within the specific wards highlighted by Opportunity Bucks
• Out of the 634 new hires on-boarded, as a result of our talent attraction Diversity & Inclusion strategy this included 128, new starters that live in Opportunity Bucks Wards, 41 that declared a disability, 9 care leavers and 8 Ex-Armed Forces
• We have achieved a collection rate of council tax of 98.5% and business rates of 99.1%
• Launched an employment programme supporting people with barriers to employment with a target of up to 30 people to receive employment and development support (15 from Opportunity Bucks wards)