This is the website of the Parish Council of Westcott, Buckinghamshire.
The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Tuesday 1st October 2024 at 7:30pm in the pavilion of Westcott Cricket Club.
The agenda for the next meeting will be published here no later than three working days before the meeting and on the parish noticeboard in the village.
You can read the published DRAFT minutes from the council’s most recent and previous meetings following this link.
All dates for meetings during 2024-2025 can be found by following this link. (Meeting dates for 2025/26 will be agreed at the Annual Parish Council Meeting 2025.)
As a member of the public you are invited to observe all Parish Council meetings. There is a short open forum where you can put questions to the council.
Please join the Parish Council’s Facebook page for future updates.
Waddesdon Greenway, extension to Westcott
Update from Senior Transport Strategy Officer, Buckinghamshire Council
Tuesday 3rd September
The Waddesdon Greenway has been a huge success since opening in 2018. The route is a treasured community asset, with an increasing number of trips recorded on it every year. Buckinghamshire Council has been keen to build on this success. The extension and upgrade of the Platinum Way route, completed in 2023, means that it is now possible to walk, wheel or cycle on a continuous designated active travel corridor all the way from Aylesbury town centre to Waddesdon. Delivery of the Waddesdon School Link, also opened in 2023, brought the Greenway into the heart of Waddesdon village.
The Council has worked with the Waddesdon Estate, Rothschild Foundation and Greenways & Cycleroutes to explore further opportunities to build on this continued success. This includes a proposal for an extension of the Greenway westwards to Westcott village and Venture Park. This would provide a useful active travel link for local communities, avoiding the busy A41 road, and improve access to the Venture Park, one of Buckinghamshire’s designated enterprise zones.
A number of potential route alignments were considered by the Council and its partners, all of which would have run mostly or entirely through the Waddesdon Estate. Following careful consideration, the Estate determined that the majority of the proposed alignments could not be accommodated without unduly impacting upon its commercial and farming operations, and concerns about impacts to site security. Whilst there was one potential route, this could not be considered presently due to the current complexities following the passing of Lord Rothschild and the understandable wider priorities of the Estate for the foreseeable future.
Given the critical dependency on access via the Waddesdon Estate for these proposed route alignments, the Council is unable to actively develop proposals for an extension of the Waddesdon Greenway to Westcott as no suitable alternatives are available at this time. However, improving access to Buckinghamshire’s designated enterprise zones remains an objective of the Council. The Council will continue to work with relevant stakeholders including Westcott Venture Park, Westcott Parish Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership to explore other opportunities for achieving this at Westcott.
The Council will continue to work closely in partnership with the Waddesdon Estate, Rothschild Foundation and Greenways & Cycleroutes to care for the existing Greenway.
Westcott Parish Council have are disappointed in this decision and will continue to work on exploring the other opportunities mentioned by Buckinghamshire Council.
If you are interested in cycling and walking routes in the area and across the county, you might be interested to know that Buckinghamshire Council have just launched a consultation with maps of proposed routes inviting residents to provide feedback on the strategy. It can be read and commented on by following this link.
Closure of Westcott CE School
On 18th July 2024, The Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, Martin Tett, APPROVED the closure of Westcott CE School with effect from 31st August.
Westcott Parish Council responded during the consultation process and councillors met with Greg Smith MP, but despite our efforts, sadly there was no movement on the part of Buckinghamshire Council or the Oxford Diocese to reconsider the decision.
More information about the closure of the School can be read on the Buckinghamshire Council website by following this link.
About Your Council
Westcott Parish Council represents the interests of the community in the village of Westcott, Buckinghamshire. Meetings take place at six weekly intervals at 7.30pm at Westcott Cricket Club. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
Your parish council would love to see more people coming along and getting involved! Shortly after the start of each meeting there is a fifteen minute public forum during which members of the public can raise local issues and question the Council.
After the public forum everyone is welcome to stay for the meeting of the council. However, during the formal meeting only elected members and the Clerk have the right to speak. Attending is a great way for residents of the parish to find out what is going on in the village, and be informed of issues that might affect them.
Parish Councillors
Parish Councillors work together to serve the community. They come from different backgrounds and bring a diverse range of skills. Teamwork is important as no individual Councillor can act in isolation.
Councillors were re-elected on 6th May 2021: Sue Pusey (Chairman), Anthony Wilkinson (Vice Chairman), Grahame Pusey and Jo Hooper. Sue Lacey and Kevin Ready have since filled vacancies.
More information about the role of a Parish Councillor can be found by following this link. If interested in applying, please email the Clerk.
Westcott Annual Parish Meeting
The meeting was held on Tuesday 10th May 2023 and the Chairman of Westcott Parish Council read out a report summarising all the council’s activities during the past year. You can read the report here (when the site maintenance is complete).
About Westcott Village
Westcott is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. Westcott is located about one mile west of the larger village of Waddesdon, eight miles west of Aylesbury and 9 miles south of Bicester, Oxfordshire.
There are 162 residential properties, a primary school and a church.
The links under the community menu tab provide lots more information about local activities, events and services.
A number of businesses are based both in the village and on the adjacent industrial parks. Companies based in the village can be found on our business page.
The Westcott Venture Park was originally an RAF base and today is a Government-endorsed Enterprise Zone. If you would like to read more about Westcott’s history then please take a look at the history section of this website.