Annual Report 2025 to 2026

People in Buckinghamshire are living longer and healthier lives, with health outcomes better than the national average. We have strong communities and a thriving, dedicated not for profit sector.

Our corporate plan set out our aspirations to ensure:

• Our residents to live independent, fulfilling lives, within strong, healthy, inclusive, and resilient communities.
• We support existing business communities, especially our small to medium enterprises (SMEs), to grow and flourish.
• We improve health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on reducing any gap in health outcomes.
• We work more with town and parish councils, giving them the responsibility for services and assets where it makes sense to do so, and helping communities to help themselves.
• We improve educational outcomes for our children and young people, particularly focusing on those most vulnerable.

The achievements listed for this priority sets out how we have worked towards achieving this in 2025/26.

• Adopted a new Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy promoting integrated neighbourhood-based support
• supported 872 residents to quit smoking and 640 to achieve a 5% weight loss
• equipped 322 peer mentors across 16 schools to promote wellbeing
• completed 13,681 baby and young child checks by Health Visitors in Buckinghamshire
• Provided 13,167 free NHS Health Checks, identifying early risk of stroke and other diseases
• collected 6,472 blood pressure readings through Pump It Up kiosks and stations to support early detection
• provided drug and alcohol support to 4,424 adults through One Recovery Bucks
• enabled 100% of women to receive their chosen long-acting contraception within four weeks
• equipped 192 professionals with Mental First Aid skills and 106 with suicide first aid training
• helped 64% of previously inactive BetterPoints users meet 150+ minutes of activity weekly
• a total of 295 affordable housing units were completed and handed over to registered housing providers
• re-housed 1178 household into social housing tenancies through the Bucks Home Choice Scheme
• secured possession of 15 properties for Afghan and Ukrainian refugees to move from temporary accommodation using the Local Authority Housing Fund Grant
• adopted and updated Allocations Policy and full re-registration with Bucks Home Choice, expanding the offer to landlords through the BucksLet Scheme
• the registrars Service registered 4,406 births, 1,790 marriages and civil partnerships and 16 non-legal ceremonies
• completed Judges Lodgings refurbishment, now a wedding venue with 123 bookings taken
• Crematorium and Cemeteries Service delivered community remembrance, support events and volunteering opportunities, engaging residents and partner organisation offering compassionate support and strengthening community connection
• over 1300 volunteer house worked at Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens this year bringing together residents of all ages and building community links
• 2,354 Temporary Event Notices (TENs) process by the commercial licensing team
• Taxi Licensing officers carries out 12 multi-ageny operations with TVP, DVSA and other authorities targeting town centres, schools and reported 'hot-spots' to enhance public safety
• Our innovative Library Flex Service has increased opening hours and 7 of the largest libraries by 60% (increase of 129% at Amersham) registered over 5790 customers since launch
• welcomed 985,860 library visitors and handled 5,894 Council Access Point (CAPs) enquiries, providing support, signposting and referrals to access other services
• engaged 3,360 children in the Summer Reading Challenge, borrowing 25,000 books
• welcomes 1,767 children under 12 as new library members during the summer
• currently 79 walks across the whole of Buckinghamshire and 1,745 walkers have between them walked over 31,549 times this year in our volunteer-led Simply Walks programme
• 115 upgraded and digitalised CCTV cameras installed
• 7 new Public Safety Protection Orders in place to help stop anti-social behaviour in targeted public areas around the county
• 1 Public Space Protection Order successfully extended for 3 years
• Hosted the first joint interfaith event with Thames Valley Leaders, engaging 50+ organisations
• Town and Parish Newsletter issued monthly with average open rate of 67%
• refreshed the VCSE Partnership Board with volunteering established as a core priority
• adopted an eight-community-board model reflecting ward changes at MTFP, shifting boards to an enabling role
• commenced evidence-based community conversations with key stakeholders, residents and ward members to co-produce 49 ward priorities
• celebrated community spirit with 350 Proud of Bucks nominations with 43 winners and 60 commended
• hosted 9 community action days in Opportunity Bucks wards, connecting 1,500 residents to over 35 services
• co-created 47 Opportunity Bucks ward Partnership Priorities with Stakeholders, residents and Ward Members
• Delivered Waste Behaviour Change outreach at events and schools: 59 Energy from Waste tours, 8 household waste, recycling centre tours, 33 school and community talks
• The waste prevention team attended: 38 community events, 9 talks, 2 career fairs
• 7,150 Adults Skills Enrolments delivered, 45,8% from Opportunity Bucks wards, achieving 93% pass rate
• supported 59% of care leavers into education, employment or training, compared with 51% across the South East
• Family Hub Network continues to expand 243 partner organisations resulting in widening early-help access and community support
• handled 282,234 calls through our customer service centre, supporting residents with key services
• provided 15,685 CAS-assisted webchats to help residents quickly get answers
• supported 164,964 webchats through our customer service chatbot for faster response
• received 4,074,297 visits to our website from residents accessing information and services
• welcomed 12,479 face-t-face visits at our Council Access Points (CAPs)
• processed 331,332 service requests through our Customer Relationship Management Platform in 2025
• achieved 76 Horizons placements, 25 from Opportunity Bucks wards, supporting 28 candidates into further employment
• agreed works contracts and commenced construction of Kingsbrook's second primary school
• tendered Hampdens Fields Primary School scheme with design and build services works commencing in January 2026
• phase one completed: purchase and delivery if the Denmark Street building enabling Tesco to open in February 2026
• Phase 2 underway: refurbishment of Denmark Street offices to support future occupation and relocation of our County Archives
• completed full renovation of Wycombe Social Club for the Wycombe Heritage and Arts Trust to showcase Wycombe's Chair Collection as the new Bucks Chair Discovery Museum