The People & Places Partnership has been working with Buckingham Town Council and local partners in planning for a revitalised Buckingham town centre. This page provides access to up-to-date resources created as part of this work, as well as links to related guidance.
The aim of the town centre study was to:
- update 2016 Retail Appraisal, Health Check and Opportunities Assessment.
- reflect changing outlook for town centres.
- provide options for the improvement of the town centre.
- identify supportive Local and Neighbourhood Plan policies.
This work planning for a revitalised Buckingham town centre has been commissioned by Buckingham Town Council with support from the Buckingham & Villages Community Board (Buckinghamshire Council). An initial report documenting challenges and opportunities facing the town centre been prepared by the People & Places Partnership, based on research and survey work undertaken in Buckingham during Summer 2023. A town centre customer profile has been prepared by Laura Harris of LH Analytics.
Engaging with local stakeholders
The process got underway with workshops with key community stakeholder groups, alongside a review of existing strategies that impact on Buckingham town centre. Such stakeholder engagement is central in planning for a revitalised Buckingham town centre. The next step was an on-street survey of the business mix and access issues.
Surveying business & customers
A town centre users’ survey was conduced in the last two weeks of September with the help of Buckingham Town Council and provides insights into customers use of the town centre, perceptions and priorities. This was followed by a survey of individual local businesses, in conjunction with Buckingham Town Council and Buckinghamshire Council. Consideration is also being given to possible next steps for developing a lasting partnership to help improve the town centre.
This link gives access to a downloadable copy of a presentation giving an overview of findings and next steps for this Buckigham town centre study.
Shared positive perceptions
Looking at the top positive and negative perceptions of both businesses and customers for Buckingham town centre, shows remarkable similarities. The list of top positive perceptions for both sets of stakeholders feature cafes and restaurants prominently, and pubs to a slightly lesser extent. Independent shops, grocery retail, markets and access to health services are also all aspects of the local offer viewed as making positive contributions to the town centre. Cleanliness, public spaces, physical appearance and the ability to walk to town, are all aspects of environment that feature in both lists of positive features.
Addressing negative perspectives
Current negative perceptions for both sets of stakeholders were unsurprisingly topped by access to banking services which have been temporarily lost from the town centre. The limited comparison retail offer for fashion and national chains were considered negatively by both businesses and the customers. Traffic, the proportion of vacant premises, outdoor seating and both on and off-street parking are considered as significant negative factors by both. The appeal relative to out-of-town retail and the levels of town-wide marketing, are negative perceptions specific to businesses, while negative perceptions about the level of cultural and leisure provision is particular to customers.
Comparing business and customer priorities
There was a broad level of synergy between businesses’ and customers’ priorities for improving Buckingham town centre. Customers’ priorities for diversifying the retail and business mix, traffic management, banking, parking management, accessibility, anti-social behaviour and public transport, all receive similarly significant responses from businesses. Customers’ high priority for events and activities is not, though, matched by business responses. Simlarly, only businesses give a high priority to improving the appearance of the town centre, boosting active travel and boosting the town’s brand and marketing.
Next steps
Key next steps include the Town Council, Buckinghamshire Council, business and community representives determine ‘what’ priorities they want to address and ‘how’ they want to get organised to achieve this. The Buckingham Neighbourhood Plan Working Group, supported by the Town Council and guided by our friends at ONH Planning for Good, is a key conduit for taking forward those policies that help improve the ‘look’ of the town centre and its surroundings. Further consideration needs to given to which organisation will champion those activities like business support, marketing and events that enhance the ‘feel’ of a place.
Revised Neighbourhood Development Plan
The final consultation draft of the Buckingham Neighbourhood Development Plan was published in December 2024 and included policies based parrly on the findings of People & Places town centre survey and engagement work. This included supportive policies for directly and indirectly enhancing the role of the town centre as an economic and social hub for the wider community:
Town centre role: Maintaining a healthy mix of uses, enhancing public spaces and the historic streetscape, and improving the journey to and around the town.
Town centre development: Supporting proposals that improves the sense of arrival; enhancing green infrastructure; improving walking and wheeling routes; contributing to public realm and streetscape enhancements; improving public transport to the town centre.
Town centre shopping frontages: Supporting change of business use proposals for commercial, business or service (Class E) in ground floor primary shopping frontages, plus pub or drinking establishment (Sui Generis) and other leisure, tourism, cultural and community uses for secondary areas .
Town centre residential uses on upper floors: Supporting residential uses of upper floors where active town centre use of a ground floor frontage is not compromised, whilst accepting that additional access may be necessary.
Greenfield development allocation on the edge of the town: Managing traffic effects and enabling safe walking, wheeling and improved bus services to the town centre.
Art, cultural, sport and recreation facilities: Supporting the provision of a new community centre/hall, or the refurbishment of an existing building, to deliver a theatre space within the town.
Health facilities: Supporting the retention and improvement of existing town centre medical facilities.
Other potential ‘quick wins’
Initial discussions as part of the next steps have dentified the following potential ‘quick wins’ and opportunties to influence policy and practice focused more on enhancing the ‘feel’ of the town centre:
Marketing and events: To work with the Town Centre Events Group to determine, develop and deliver marketing material targeted at residents amongst the 455,000 people living within a 25-minute catchment of the town.
Vacant units and business diversification: As diversifying the mix of businesses and services mix was the top priority for customers, it was considered important to address this issue through potentially working with the Vacant Shops Academy.
Anti-social behaviour: Perceptions of anti-social behaviour will be discussed at the Community Board in consultation with the local police as appropriate, to assess the extent of the issue. The Community Board is already supporting an initiative to provide activities for young people in the town as a way of averting any anti-social activity.
Travel and transport: Different aspects of improving town centre travel were the top priority for businesses and various issues were of concern to customers, including the operation of parking payment machines. The forthcoming consultation of the Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan, and scheduled Buckinghamshire Transport Plan, provide opportunities for stakeholder engagement.
Accessibility improvements: Involving local stakeholders in undertaking a deliverable audit of town centre access improvements.
Brand Buckingham: Reviewing place branding including capturing Buckingham’s current identity in a way that recognises change, accentuates the positives and provides a narrative to pitch to different audiences, beginning with residents.
Sharing successes: It is important to provide and update and communicate successes to stakeholders, from the opening of the Banking Hub to the other actions proposed above. An initial suggestion was that the focus for this might be feedback through communications channels used in original survey.
Longer-term partnership and plans
As well as further pursuing the issues and opportunities identified, there is value in bringing together a town partnership of councils, community groups and businesses to develop and deliver a longer-term plan in-line with survey findings and initial recommendations in the Buckingham Town Centre Study.
National guidance on town centre recovery
This work in Buckingham is using the approach developed by People & Places for the Local Government Association’s revitalising town centres toolkit. This toolkit includes practical guidance on post-COVID 19 recovery planning including a case study on People & Places’ support for reopening & revitalising Selby town centre and reopening East Suffolk’s towns.
