PENN FESTIVAL was cancelled last year because, in the end, they weren’t selling enough tickets and the costs of putting it on rocketed. Last month the company that organised the festival – UK Live Ltd – went into administration.
So this year new organisers are preparing a very different vibe at the Penn Estate’s Big Park in Penn Street…described as a “brand new wellness community gathering nestled in Penn.”
OUT are the bands, burgers and booze that sustained Penn Festival for 13 years, attracting artistes like Noel Gallagher, Craig David and Rag’n’Bone Man.
Instead, the Oh Shala Festival promises over 40 workshops including adult and children’s yoga, chanting, reflexology, circus, African drumming, crystal healing, handstands, tai chi and meditation.
The food is purely vegan featuring Thai street food, vegan soul food and vegan/gluten-free cakes while the coffee is vegan and the drinks are juices and smoothies.
The music ranges from Kirtan (based on ancient chants) to acoustic versions of UK Garage and House to Gaelic songs from Ireland and Scotland.
The festival runs between 25 and 27 July and you can find out more on this link: https://www.ohshalafestival.com
*Still plenty to look forward to for fans of pop and rock however: the Party by the Pond, after Penn 7 and Fun Run Day, is to be held on Tylers Green common on Saturday 7 June, while Penn and Tylers Green Sports and Social Club is holding its Party on the Pitch on Saturday 21 June.
Police ask for public’s help as burglaries top the local crime league
THE POLICE said last month they have increased patrols in the Penn area following a spate of burglaries.
Thames Valley Police didn’t give details but said officers had been talking to residents and were keen to provide “a visible police presence” to reassure locals.
The latest official figures – for November – show there were seven reported burglaries in Penn during that month but none at all in Tylers Green. The burglary rate is thought to have increased since then.
Reports of burglaries have jumped to the top of the crime league table in the Chalfont police area, which includes Penn, Winchmore Hill, Chalfont St Peter and Chalfont St Giles.
Three years ago burglaries were the third most reported crime after violence and sex offences (which includes domestic incidents) and vehicle crime. A year ago burglaries came second, while in November last year they were the highest reported crime.
Police are urging people to ring 101 if they see something suspicious or out of place.
Local news
Rayners construction start – Construction of Penn’s new luxury hotel complex Rayners Penn (see last November and September blogs) will begin this year and take around two and a half years to complete, the owners said in a statement to the hospitality industry. The 33 bedroom hotel with spa facilities, two restaurants and a cookery school will transform the former Penn School into a “world-class retreat”, said chief executive Duncan Ball.
Bus improvements – UPDATED – Carousel Buses is extending its number 31 High Wycombe to Penn service to Beaconsfield from 23 February. The half-hourly service will run Monday to Saturday via Knotty Green. A new 31S service will run after school from Flackwell Heath to Penn to accommodate students attending Bucks College and the Marlow Hill schools.
Pub’s new life – The Potter’s Arms in Winchmore Hill will be closed for refurbishment during February and reopen on 5 March with new owners – a Nepalese family – offering a Nepalese and Himalayan menu. Landlord Richard Edwards left the freehouse pub at the end of January after 13 years to go travelling. He said the new owners will continue to run the popular comedy nights and quiz nights.
School coffers – Buckinghamshire Council is proposing a budget of £924,000 for Tylers Green First School in the coming financial year – an increase of about £50k on its existing budget. The school has 174 pupils. Tylers Green Middle School’s proposed budget is over £1.3million, an increase of nearly £99,000 on last year. The school has 255 pupils.
Manor Farm Infant School in Rose Avenue has a proposed budget of £914,862 for its 157 pupils, while Manor Farm Junior School has £1.196million for its 220 pupils. This represents an increase for both schools.
Housing preparations – Groundwork on the fields alongside Ashwells, Tylers Green, begins this month where developers have applied to build 106 houses. The Hill Group will be drilling boreholes and scanning beneath the surface in order to facilitate a future drainage and sewage layout. Final planning permission for the site has yet to be granted.
Pub fee – Greene King, who own the recently renovated The Crown in Penn, has agreed to a 30 per increase in the rent it pays Penn Parish Council for use of its car park. The pub will pay an annual fee of nearly £12.000.
Land sale – An area of roadside woodland in Witheridge Lane, Penn is to be auctioned. The 800 square metre plot is expected to sell for around £125,000.
Allotment queue – The waiting list for people wanting an allotment at the Ashley Drive site in Tylers Green has risen to 14 – the highest figure for some years.
Penn referendum – A referendum to find out if residents approve or disapprove of Penn Parish Council’s proposed neighbourhood plan, outlining the planning priorities local people want to see in the area, will be held on 13 March. Voting booths will be in Holy Trinity Church Hall and Penn Street village hall as well as venues in Winchmore Hill and Knotty Green. Details of the plan can be found on this link: https://www.ppnp.online
So far, so good – Penn and Tylers Green Football Club’s men’s first team are enjoying a successful season – by the end of January they were top of the Combined Counties Football League Division One. The women’s first team are fifth in Division One North of the Southern Region Women’s Football League, but with a number of games in hand over their opponents.
Open darts day – Penn and Tylers Green Sports and Social Club is planning an open darts competition as part of a fun day on 1 March. See the football club’s Facebook and Instagram pages for details.
Keeping fit – Sir William Ramsay School’s refurbished gym in Rose Avenue opened last month (above) and includes rowing machines, treadmills, spinning and exercise bikes and cross-trainers as well as workout benches, kettlebells, medicine balls and dumbbells. It’s also available for staff and students to work out before or after the school day.
The Penn Road fiasco: One sinkhole. 40 metres of road. 390 disruptive days. And tens of thousands in cost.
WHEN THE Penn road to Hazlemere resumed normal service again last month, just over two years since a sink hole alarmingly appeared by the Curzon Avenue junction, there was some cynicism on social media.
“How long before it happens again” said one pundit. “We’ve been here before,” said another.
Such scepticism can be expected as this particular sinkhole repair – covering just 40 metres of road – has proved a tough nut to crack. The engineers who have spent a total of 390 days resolving the issue will be hoping nature won’t be calling the shots for a third time.
It was on 4 January 2023 when a “large and unexpected” collapse of the water main caused significant damage, collapsing the road verge and resulting in road closure. As Affinity Water began repairs on one pipe, other splits on other pipes caused more flooding.
However, by early March of that year the road reopened again and the engineers thought they’d solved the problem. They hadn’t.
A year later, in February 2024, the sinkhole appeared again in exactly the same spot. This time specialist drainage engineers were called in while Buckinghamshire Council employed geologists to examine the whole area to tackle the root problem of the subsidence.
The road was closed or subject to traffic flow restrictions while they went about their work. By the end of August last year the new drainage was in place but it was another five months before the accompanying groundwork, hopefully stabilising the entire complex, was completed.
The council isn’t saying what exactly needed to be done or how much the whole thing has cost. It isn’t even saying how much of the cost – likely to be in the tens of thousands of pounds – is split between tax payers and Affinity’s water rate payers.
But deputy council leader Steven Broadbent did apologise for the disruption.
“Repairing any kind of sinkhole damage is often challenging and complex,” he said in a statement. “Work needs to be planned and delivered carefully to ensure that the repair won’t cause a further problem down the line. We are sorry about the disruption caused to local residents and businesses.
“While some disruption was inevitable, we worked hard to try and maintain access and publicise that businesses were open. In addition, our on-site highways team has been as accommodating as possible whilst carrying out this essential work safely.”
The ups and downs of politics
THE STAR of Wycombe (and Tylers Green) MP Emma Reynolds continues to rise with her appointment last month as the Government’s Economic Secretary to the Treasury, or City Minister.
It puts her in charge of all aspects of financial services regulation, including dealing with corruption and overseeing crypto currency matters.
According to Charlie Conchie, the editor of CITYam, she was expected to get the job after last year’s election but was pipped to the post by Tulip Siddiq, who has since resigned.
“Now,” wrote Conchie, “she finds herself in the place where scores in the City wanted her to begin with.”
Meanwhile, just to demonstrate how brutal politics can be, the Times Diary reports that the former Wycombe MP Steve Baker, who was once touted as a future Conservative Party leader, signed himself up to Cameo, a web service where people can pay famous names to record a video greeting. Nigel Farage, for instance, charges £78 a go. Mr Baker originally priced himself at £41 a go. Now, it’s half-price.
We’ve been this way before…
FLIPPING through the archives for 1975 – 50 years ago – leaves a distinct feeling of deja vu:
- The biggest community beef was the new proposal to build houses in the Gomm Valley, between Cock Lane and Hammersley Lane. One of the residents’ association’s objections was was that it would make the A40 “a major traffic hazard” – precisely the reason a Government planning inspector rejected the latest attempt to build houses in the valley 50 years later!
- The second biggest community beef was the threat by Heathrow to alter flight paths at the airport which would have increased aircraft noise over Penn and Tylers Green considerably. It didn’t happen but the issue won’t go away – especially as the Government indicated last month it wants to see a third runway at the airport.
- The third biggest community beef was the increasing amount of potholes on local roads. Enough said!
Incidentally, for the record, it’s 50 years this year since the new scout and guide hut was opened in Ashley Drive and 50 years since children’s writer Alison Uttley, whose books included the Little Grey Rabbit tales, was buried in Penn churchyard. She lived in Beaconsfield near another famous children’s writer Enid Blyton, but by all accounts the pair couldn’t stand each other.
Housing developer seeks to wriggle out of its ‘affordable’ homes commitment
A HOUSING developer who was given permission to build an estate in Hazlemere which comprised 48 per cent of affordable housing now wants to reduce the number to 30 per cent.
Bellway Homes says it is no longer viable to build 124 affordable homes out of the 259 it was given permission for last year. Instead it wants to build 78 with the others being built for private sale on the green field site off the Amersham Road between Tralee and Orchard End farms.
The move has produced howls protest amongst scores of residents who accuse the developer of trying to move the goalposts.
Local councillor Ed Gemmell accused Bellway of always intending to drop the number of affordable homes. He said: “They used this promise as a Trojan Horse in order to get the development accepted.”
But the company say changes in “market circumstances” since the plan was first developed three or four years ago means it can no longer afford a generous provision of affordable housing – schemes that enable shared ownership or subsidised rents, particularly useful for “key” workers living in expensive areas.
It blames new environmental laws requiring developers to compensate for loss of biodiversity on housing sites plus increased costs in building materials and construction site wages.
Bellway’s application will be watched keenly by other developers waiting to build thousands of homes in the Wycombe area who will be under similar pressure from Buckinghamshire Council to include a large proportion of affordable homes within their schemes.
However, the council too is under pressure from a Government keen to promote growth and unblock red tape when it comes to building new homes.
Beaconsfield’s Kiwi links
A HOUSE whose name links Beaconsfield with its namesake on the other side of the world is on the market.
Surveyor Arthur Frost had Manawatu in Burke’s Road built for himself early last century at a time when most of Beaconsfield was farm fields.
Mr Frost, whose company AC Frost is still an established estate agency in the area, made his fortune when he realised that the coming of the railway to Beaconsfield would transform the demand for houses on these fields.
He also had a sense of history – a settlement in New Zealand’s north island had been named Beaconsfield just 30 years earlier in an area the Maori called Manawatu.
Sadly, perhaps, the Frost Partnership, as it’s now called, isn’t handling its sale – that task has fallen to Bovingdon’s and Knight Frank, who are looking for bids in the region of five and a half million.
Regional news
Tourism blow – Buckinghamshire Council is no longer supporting tourism in the county as part of its financial cutbacks this year. It is also proposing to cut its communications budget by 25 per cent and is taking £1million from the budgets of community boards which were set up to promote local projects.
Military conversion – Final approval has been given for the redevelopment of the former Wilton Park military base in Beaconsfield. It will comprise 350 homes, shops and community facilities. A new road will link the estate to the Pyebush roundabout. Forty six of the homes will be for armed service families and the scheme includes the recent new base for both army cadets and the Air Training Corps.
Shopping changes – Slough is likely to follow High Wycombe and close one of its two shopping centres – the Observatory and Queensmere – following a proposed sale of the centres to a new single owner. The council believes shops will concentrate on the Observatory while Queensmere will be redeveloped for homes.
Marlow film studios – Last month’s opening of a public inquiry into whether to allow a new film studios by the Marlow by-pass heard that if it went ahead it would be the biggest relaxation of restrictions on green belt development since the Second World War.
However the developer, Dido, said the former gravel pit area was of poor quality from a green belt point of view. It said the studio would include 18 sound stages, employ thousands of people, and make films for streaming services around the world.
Trees saved – Protests and negotiation by residents living near Leather Lane, a rural road near Great Missenden which is crossed by the HS2 railway, has resulted in saving 64 oak trees from destruction. HS2 originally wanted to chop down 80 of the 100 oaks along the lane, which is in the Chilterns Natural Landscape. However when residents worked with engineers from the railway contractors on the ground it was agreed that only 16 needed to be destroyed.
New pub – Wetherspoons has confirmed it will be opening the former cinema-cum Prezzo restaurant in Beaconsfield High Street as a pub this year. The company is expanding in this area, having recently converted the former M&Co shop in Marlow as a pub and acquiring and refurbishing the former coaching inn The Bear in Maidenhead.
Cops quit – Two thirds of officers who left Thames Valley Police last year resigned rather than wait for retirement, higher than the national average. About a fifth of probation officers quit before their initial training was completed. The force is looking at ways it can improve staff retention and increase support.
Runway opposition – Both Conservative controlled Hillingdon Council – with the support of the council’s Labour group – and Liberal-Democrat controlled Windsor and Maidenhead Council have been quick to oppose on environmental grounds proposals to build a third runway at Heathrow.
Dog restriction – Windsor Great Park is restricting the number of dogs per dog walker to four at the end of this month and requiring professional dog walkers to have a permit. The Crown Estate said the move was to ensure “all visitors, including dogs, have a safe visit and help safeguard vital habitats and rare flora and fauna.”
Data probe – Nearly 400 people working for Buckinghamshire NHS Trust have received advice after a data breach resulted in their contact details being published online.
Giants’ causeway – The biggest dinosaur footprint track in Britain has been discovered at a quarry just off the M40 near the Cherwell Valley Services in Oxfordshire. The footprints were made by at least two dinosaurs – a Cetiosaurus and a Megalosaurus – 166 million years ago as they were crossing what was then a tropical lagoon. They were discovered by quarry-worker Gary Johnson driving his digger.
You can contact this blog at peter@pennandtylersgreen.com. It will be updated as necessary but the next full update will be on 1 March.