News on HS2 in Bucks & Oxfordshire

Today saw two new projects awarded funding as part of the HS2 Community and Business Funds.

Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The Chilterns Conservation Board have been awarded £240,000 to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and increase public understanding and enjoyment.

The ‘Chalk, Cherries and Chairs’ project will create new opportunities for people to investigate and celebrate the cultural and natural heritage of the area, including:

· Providing local groups with the resources and skills to conserve, expand, and enhance community wild spaces

· Volunteering opportunities, training and toolkits for people to explore local ancient routeways, with digital and web-based information available to all

· Public activities and performances, soundscapes, story-telling, walking routes and digital parish maps to celebrate the old cherry orchards, Grim’s Ditch (a local monument) and wider area

· Celebrating heritage crafts through a programme of courses and demonstrations in traditional crafts with a connection to the local landscape

In addition to funding from CEF, this project has also been awarded a £2 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (announced earlier this week – details here ).

You can find out more about the Chilterns Conservation Board by visiting www.chilternsaonb.org/conservation-board.html

Colne Valley ‘Open for Business’ campaign

The Colne Valley Park CIC have been awarded £72,200 to deliver a promotional campaign to reinforce the message that the Colne Valley is open for business during HS2 construction. Aimed at retaining an estimated 2 million annual visitors and supporting rural businesses, the campaign will focus on:

Informative promotion

The creation of a new Colne Valley Regional Park (CVRP) website will enable information to be easily accessed and updated. Printed promotional materials providing park use information (e.g. circular walks leaflets) will be updated to reflect the disruption to routes from the HS2.

Persuasive promotion

Six editions of a 4-page printed broadsheet will be distributed to key visitor and tourist attractions and businesses. The broadsheet will use clear, contemporary design to promote the areas, attractions and views which are best to visit in each season, taking in to consideration the disruption from HS2.

You can find out more about the ‘Open for Business’ campaign by visiting the Colne Valley Park website here .

The community and business funds are administered and managed by independent community charity, Groundwork UK. For more information on Groundwork and the funds themselves click here.

You can also see an interactive map showing all of the projects awarded funding so far by clicking here .

Introduction to HS2 Community Funds