Annual Report 2025 to 2026

Looking after our roads and pavements is one of the things residents tell us matters most. This year, we continued our £120m

four-year highways improvement programme and delivered more upgrades to roads and pavements than ever before.

We completed 205 carriageway and footway projects, including:

• Completing major restoration work on Marlow Bridge, helping to preserve its structure and keep it safe for everyone who uses it.
• Progressing the council’s largest ever infrastructure project, the South East Aylesbury Link Road (SEALR), with Phase 2 opening alongside the Stoke Mandeville Relief Road in November 2025.
• Delivering a record number of capital projects, many including road resurfacing.

Alongside major projects, we focused on day-to-day maintenance that makes a real difference to local journeys:

• Repaired over 10,000 potholes across the county’s road network,
• Cleared and maintained more than 85,000 gullies to reduce the risk of flooding.
• Responded to 2,600 emergency call‑outs, providing a 24/7 response when issues arose.
• Delivered 5.4 million m2 of urban grass cuts and 3.4 million m2 of rural visibility grass cuts – equivalent to mowing around 1,250 football pitches.
• Invested £1.1m to deliver 5 road safety schemes and campaigns.
• Maintained our highways assets that support Buckinghamshire’s 2100 miles of carriageway, including:

– Almost 300,000 streetlights

– 232 sets of traffic lights

– 707 bridge structures

– 44,000 road signs

We know that roadworks can be frustrating. This year, we processed 46,041 permits and issued 6,118 Fixed Penalty Notices through our Streetworks Permit Scheme to hold utility companies to account and reduce disruption for residents and road users.

We also launched the ‘Streets Ahead’ Lane Rental Scheme, allowing charges of up to £2,500 per day for works on our busiest roads, reducing delays and inconvenience to the travelling public. This encourages better coordination and helps limit how long roadworks take.

Parking is one of the most frustrating issues raised by residents. That’s why we took robust action during the year, issuing 64,537 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for parking offences and a further 69,669 PCNs for Moving Traffic Offences, helping to keep our roads safe and traffic flowing.

A reliable waste and recycling service is essential to everyday life. During the year, we collected around 627,000 bins each week, with a very low 0.06% missed collection rate.

We also:

• Rolled out food waste bins and collections to 26,600 flats in the county, engaging with landlords and residents.
• Welcomed over 1.28 million visits to our 10 Household Waste Recycling Centres, achieving a 98% customer satisfaction rate.

We are proud of Buckinghamshire’s environment and want to protect it. That’s why we take fly tipping seriously, and act to protect our communities. This year, we issued:

• 72 fly tipping Fixed Penalty Notices
• 236 littering Fixed Penalty Notices
• 12 prosecutions to protect our streets, green spaces and countryside

Our Planning teams continue to manage high demand while supporting growth in the right places. In 2025/26, we handled 9671 valid planning applications, made 9786 decisions, and provided 1366 pre-application responses to help applicants understand requirements earlier.

We also:

• Received 272 planning appeals, determining 141 and achieving a strong 60.3% success rate.
• Took firm action on breaches of planning permission, issuing 66 formal enforcement notices. Unlike many councils, we prioritise this because we know effective enforcement is the only way to discourage breaches and maintain confidence in the planning system.
• Looking ahead, we launched the Regulation 18 consultation for the new Buckinghamshire Local Plan and introduced digital consultation boards, making it easier for residents to engage with planning policy.

We made significant progress in improving SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services during the year, including a £3 million investment to reduce Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) waiting times through additional specialist recruitment, streamlined assessment processes and improved family support.

Ofsted’s Area SEND Inspection in November 2025 recognised clear improvement since 2022, highlighting stronger leadership, higher-quality EHCPs, better early years and therapy provision, and more effective joint working, while acknowledging that the Council’s SEND Improvement Programme is ambitious; delivering the right priorities and moving the system in the right direction.

In September 2025 we launched our ambitious new Economic Growth Plan for 2025-2035, setting out a bold vision to boost the county’s economy over the next decade. The Plan aims to deliver annual productivity growth above 2% by 2035, focusing on high value sectors and including support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Helping people develop new skills supports both personal opportunities and the local economy. This year, we had 844 learners taking part in our Skills Bootcamps, with 709 completing training (84%).

We also:

• Supported 158 new apprenticeship starts within the council and maintained schools.
• Funded 29 apprenticeship starts in external organisations through our Levy Transfer Protocol.
• Helped over 100 people with employment support through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Building Futures Programme. Building Futures Programme.

Our Opportunity Bucks programme, which focuses on the 14 wards in the county where people are experiencing the most hardship, continued to support local communities this year. We hosted 9 Community Action Days in Opportunity Bucks wards, connecting 1500 residents to over 35 services. We also co-created 47 Ward Partnership Priorities across the year, in partnership with local stakeholders, residents and ward councillors.

Initiatives delivered as part of the Opportunity Bucks programme also included:

• Working with the Sands Residents Association to enhance New Road, High Wycombe with 6 Talkback-built planters, planted and maintained by Chiltern Rangers volunteers.
• Enhancing public spaces with security fencing in Desborough and community art projects in High Wycombe and Aylesbury.
• Delivering a major road safety initiative in Castlefield, High Wycombe, installing a comprehensive set of junctions, round top humps, speed cushions and a chicane to reduce speeding and anti-social driving.

Despite rising demand for services and less funding from national government, the council managed its finances carefully in 2025/26.

We delivered £70.5m in savings and additional income while continuing to invest in the services residents rely on most, including adult social care, children’s services and home-to-school transport, with a strong commitment to providing value for money. Unlike some other councils, strong financial management has helped us balance the budget while protecting vital frontline services.

In autumn 2025, Buckinghamshire Council took part in a Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge, carried out by senior councillors and officers from other councils.

Feedback was positive, including comments such as:

“The council should feel immensely proud and confident in what they have achieved in a relatively short time.”

“Buckinghamshire is well run with strong leadership.”

“Relationships between the council and its partners are consistently strong.”

“Staff feel proud to work for the council.”