High Wycombe's own £418,987 budget is forecast £154,525 over, and all of it is cemeteries: burial chambers delayed, and the cemetery lodge still empty.

High Wycombe’s own town budget is forecast to overspend by £154,525 this year, and every penny of that overspend is cemeteries.

That is the headline figure in the special expenses report put to the High Wycombe Town Committee on Tuesday 8 September. The committee’s net budget for 2026/27 is £418,987. The forecast outturn is £573,512. Seven of the eight things the committee pays for are forecast to land exactly on budget. Cemeteries is the eighth.

Three jobs that did not happen last year

The overspend is not a cost overrun. It is last year’s work arriving a year late.

Three cemetery projects were budgeted for 2025/26 and not completed before the year end, so the money went back into reserve. The 2026/27 budget had already been set by then, so the projects were never written into it. They are now forecast to be done this year and paid for out of the carried-forward underspend, which shows up in the accounts as an overspend against budget.

The three are:

  • Penn Road chambers, £101,525
  • Delayed ground works, £13,000
  • Cemetery Lodge refurbishment, £40,000

Members were not satisfied with that explanation. One told the meeting that the deferral of installing burial chambers does not explain why the chambers have not been bought, and said his question stood. Another said the cemetery lodge is the one that rankles: the refurbishment was agreed a long time ago, the building sits empty, and it could be let to bring income in. Officers said the delays at Penn Road were linked to weather and ground conditions, with surveys under way, and agreed to get answers from the cemeteries service by email and to bring the service to the next meeting.

The warning about the reserve

The reserve is healthier than the overspend makes it sound, and one member’s warning was that it is not as healthy as the paper makes it look either.

The opening balance on the High Wycombe Town Committee special expenses reserve at 1 April 2026 was £932,415. The minimum balance that has to be retained is £150,000, and the forecast working balance at the end of this financial year is £320,000.

The point put to the meeting was that roughly £150,000 of that reserve is effectively already claimed, because it is the cemeteries money coming forward, and the cemeteries service has not yet confirmed the spend. A second warning followed: parks overran by £60,000 last year in a way that looked structural rather than one-off, and the same could happen again this year. The committee asked for an explanation from the parks team before the next meeting, and for future reports to show spending by project rather than by budget heading.

What the town’s own money actually buys

High Wycombe has no town or parish council. It has Charter Trustees, and it has this committee, and the services a parish council would run elsewhere in Buckinghamshire are paid for here through special expenses charged on the unparished town area.

You can see the cost on your bill. A band D home in High Wycombe Town pays £2,439.67 in 2026/27. A band D home in a parish that levies nothing, such as Hedsor, pays £2,418.35. The £21.32 difference is what the town pays for its own services. Our High Wycombe council tax bands page sets out how that splits.

Here is where the £418,987 goes.

High Wycombe special expenses net budget 2026/27 by activity Horizontal bar chart of the net budget for each activity: cemeteries £167,933; recreation grounds £161,101; allotments £48,257; community grants £22,696; Wycombe events £12,000; town twinning £3,000; war memorial £3,000; footway lighting £1,000. The total net budget is £418,987. Where High Wycombe’s own money goes: net budget 2026/27 Total £418,987. Cemeteries is shown net of £253,125 of fee income Cemeteries £167,933 Recreation grounds £161,101 Allotments £48,257 Community grants £22,696 Wycombe events £12,000 Town twinning £3,000 War memorial £3,000 Footway lighting £1,000 Source: HWTC Special Expenses Report Q1 2026-27, High Wycombe Town Committee, 8 September 2026. Graphic by Wycombe Today

Cemeteries looks smaller in that chart than it is. Gross spend is forecast at £575,583, offset by £253,125 of fee income. Recreation grounds, at £161,101, carries no income at all.

The £450,000 project pot, and what is being done with it

Separately from the annual budget, the committee was authorised in January 2025 to release £450,000 from the special expenses reserve for projects, across seven approved budget headings.

Spending has been slow. Including £63,000 spent in 2025/26, total expenditure as at the end of the first quarter is £102,000, or 23% of the pot, with £39,000 of that spent in the quarter itself. A further £33,600 of projects has been approved, taking forecast spend to £135,600. Seven more projects sit in the pipeline at an estimated £125,500.

The two reports to the same meeting describe the resulting figure differently. The priorities report says £261,100 has been “spent or committed to date”. The special expenses report says spending would reach £261,100 only if everything currently in the pipeline is approved and delivered within budget, leaving £188,900 uncommitted. Both papers were on the same agenda.

Thirteen priorities are being progressed. The ones with a price attached are:

  • Speed and traffic calming measures, including mobile vehicle activated signs, £60,000 (£36,000 now plus £24,000 expected), with requests in from Totteridge and Bowerdean, Disraeli, Terriers and Amersham Hill, Marsh and Micklefield, Downley, and Booker and Cressex
  • Ward tree planting, £28,000
  • A night-time economy programme, £20,000, run with HWBIDCo, with the first “First Friday” event scheduled for September
  • Bulb and wildflower planting, £14,500, worked out as £2,000 for each of five two-member wards, £1,000 for each of three one-member wards and £500 for each of three partly parished wards, to be delivered by Chiltern Rangers and planted in the autumn
  • Totteridge Community Centre fencing and main entrance repairs, £10,000
  • Green Hill junction road safety work, £10,000
  • Gaia, a town centre cultural event, £10,000, on condition that the money is repaid if the event makes a return
  • A community-led mural at High Wycombe bus station, £3,600
  • A Chiltern Rangers and Wycombe Museum project on the history of the town at Wycombe railway station, £2,000
  • Wycombe Arts Centre enhancement, £1,000

Three are recorded as completed: funding for Wycombe Life magazine in 2026/27, improved committee web pages, and a business support officer post. The Neighbourhood Plan is listed as awaiting next steps.

Grants to local groups

The community grants budget is £22,696 for the year. Three awards were made in the second quarter, totalling £4,067.60:

  • Wycombe Creatives Group, £1,500 for Wyrd Wycombe 2027, awarded 17 July
  • Rotary Club of High Wycombe, £1,500 for its centenary community day, awarded 3 July
  • Women’s Cultural Arena, £1,067.60 for a South Asian Heritage community event, awarded 17 July

A fourth request, £1,500 from Lighthouse High Wycombe for marquees, is recorded as pending. A management fee of £674 also comes out of the grants budget. Asked at the meeting for a list of applications that had been turned down, officers said they would ask the grants team to provide one.

What it means for you

If you live in the unparished part of High Wycombe, this is the only pot of money that is yours alone, and it is small: £418,987 a year, from £21.32 on a band D bill.

Three things are worth watching.

  1. The cemeteries answer is due at the next meeting. Penn Road chambers and the empty cemetery lodge account for £141,525 of the £154,525 overspend between them, and the committee has asked for an explanation in writing before then.
  2. A top-up is on the table. The priorities report recommends that the budget sub-group consider realigning the budget headings and topping up the reserve-funded project budget, and suggests it does so in November. Any new funding or new budget heading would need a Leader or Cabinet decision.
  3. Your ward may be in line for something concrete. Speed signs, tree planting and bulb planting are all allocated ward by ward, and the bulb sites are due to be agreed with ward members before autumn planting.

The committee meets in the council chamber at Queen Victoria Road and its meetings are webcast. We have not quoted anyone word for word from the webcast: the council publishes automatically generated subtitles, which are reliable enough to establish what was said and not reliable enough to quote.

Frequently asked questions

What are special expenses in High Wycombe?

High Wycombe has no town or parish council. Services that a parish council provides elsewhere in Buckinghamshire, such as cemeteries, recreation grounds and allotments, are run by Buckinghamshire Council and charged to the unparished town area as special expenses, under section 35(2)(d) of the Local Government Act 1992. The High Wycombe Town Committee advises on how that money is spent.

How much does it add to my council tax?

A band D home in High Wycombe Town pays £2,439.67 in 2026/27, against £2,418.35 in a parish that levies nothing. The difference is £21.32 a year, covering both special expenses and the Charter Trustees.

Why is the budget overspending?

Three cemetery projects budgeted for 2025/26 were not completed in time, so the money was returned to reserve and never added to this year’s budget. They are now forecast to be done in 2026/27 and funded from that carried-forward underspend, which shows as a £154,525 overspend against budget.

How much is left in the reserve?

The opening balance at 1 April 2026 was £932,415, and the forecast working balance at the year end is £320,000, after allowing for the £150,000 minimum that has to be retained.

Sources