Scout groups from across Buckinghamshire and West London will benefit from £217,372 secured today (Friday 29 May) for an upgrade of facilities at the Paccar Scout Camp at Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire, after Greater London Middlesex West (GLMW) Scouts were successful in their application to the HS2 Community and Environment Fund (CEF).
The campsite is open to all organised youth groups and serves 45,000 young people from across Buckinghamshire and West London each year. The funding will be used to provide a new state-of-the-art climbing facility to suit a wide range of abilities, replacing the existing dilapidated climbing wall at the campsite. This comes at an exciting time as climbing will be a new sport in the now postponed Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. An artificial caving complex will also be built under the wall which will be used to provide a realistic, challenging and safe experience of caving for young people who use the campsite. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2021.
The funding has come from the HS2 Community and Environment Fund (CEF), part of a combined total of £40million in funding available to local communities and businesses that are demonstrably disrupted by the construction of Britain’s new high speed railway between London and the West Midlands. The project will join the other 113 projects along the route that have also benefitted.
39 projects in Buckinghamshire received support since the funding programme opened for applications in March 2017. £55,000 has also been announced today for Amersham Town FC to rebuild their clubhouse. Last month, a £250,000 award for the National Paralympic Heritage Trust in Stoke Mandeville was made, which will be used to develop a number of events, activities and resources designed to tell the story of the Paralympics and challenge attitudes to disability. Other projects include two that have received grants from the Business and Local Economy Fund (BLEF) including £120,303 for the ‘Open for Business’ project run by the Chilterns Conservation Board which aims to promote tourism in the central Chilterns corridor, and £75,000 for Buckinghamshire Business First for their Visit Buckinghamshire Business Advisory Service.
Mark Thurston, HS2 Ltd CEO, said:
“The HS2 funds are such a critical part of how HS2 can support communities and business on the line of route that are affected by the construction of Britain’s new high speed railway. Not only can they provide respite for the impact of construction, they can also create a positive and lasting impact in communities beyond that. The replacement of facilities at the Paccar campsite in Buckinghamshire will improve the experience of thousands of young people who visit the site each year and will provide benefit to visitors and scout groups for many years to come.”
John Arnold, Chairman of PACCAR Scout Camp, Chalfont Heights said:
“We are delighted that HS2 has made the replacement of our climbing facilities possible and we are looking forward, now more than ever, to welcoming thousands of young people from across West London and Buckinghamshire to experience Climbing and Caving in this fantastic new facility when it is completed early next year.”
As construction of HS2 gets underway, applications for the funds are still being welcomed. The Funds for Phase One, independently administered by community charity Groundwork UK, support urban and rural, community, environmental and business projects.
