We Are Wychavon Plan

The We Are Wychavon Plan is our commitment to you about how we will improve the district over the next four years to make it an even better place to live work and visit. 

The plan has been put together based on feedback from our residents' survey, young person's survey, Local Democracy Day event, input from staff and councillors and information about the local needs of the district.

There are 29 promises in the plan based on our three priorities of People, Place and Environment. 

We will review the plan every 12 months and remove completed promises and add in new ones. We will also publish updates on this page about the progress we are making towards achieving our promises.

People

Vision: Providing opportunities for everyone, raising young people’s aspirations and helping people to live healthier lives.

Our People promises are:

• Support the development of the existing health and wellbeing hubs and introduce tailored health and wellbeing support in at least ten villages by 31 March 2028.
• Train people in communities and workplaces to champion health and wellbeing and signpost to appropriate support by 31 March 2026.
• Raise awareness of the impacts of vaping among young people and work with Trading Standards to target underage vape sales by 31 March 2025.
• Deliver support, information and advice for families to give children the best start in life and education by 31 March 2026.
• Work with schools and early years providers to deliver programmes so more free school meal eligible children reach a good level of development by 31 March 2028.
• Identify households at risk of hardship and provide preventative advice and support by 31 March 2028.
• Identify the need for community-led rural transport projects and use this to target our Ticket to Ride fund by 31 March 2028.
• Develop five new community youth projects in rural areas by 31 March 2028.
• Extend our social mobility small grants scheme to increase activities and opportunities for more young people by 31 March 2027.

Place

Vision: Helping everyone to access a good place to live, supporting businesses to thrive and creating vibrant and accessible places.

Our Place promises are:

• Promote the benefits of and provide support to significantly increase the coverage of neighbourhood plans to help shape the future development of local communities by 31 March 2028.
• Use neighbourhood plans and the South Worcestershire Development Plan to increase the amount and quality of affordable housing to meet local needs and build 12 new homes for rent by 31 March 2028.
• Identify empty homes and develop options for bringing them back into use by 31 March 2025.
• Create at least 15 temporary housing places to reduce the number of homeless people in B&Bs by 31 March 2028.
• Create a new housing facility in the north of the district to provide support to homeless young people so they can move on to independent homes by 31 March 2028.
• Invest in the development of small business units in at least two locations across the district by 31 March 2028.
• Bring together hospitality and tourism businesses from across Wychavon by 31 March 2025 to develop ways to increase visitor numbers and overnight stays.
• Raise career aspirations for adults and young people including creating school-business partnerships to connect people with local employers and training opportunities by 31 March 2028.
• Drive investment in the key sites identified in the town centre prospectuses including the Riverside Centre in Evesham, Droitwich Spa lido and reconnecting Pershore with the riverside by 31 March 2028.
• Work with our Place Boards to help our town centres reach their potential as accessible destinations offering essential services, diverse shops and vibrant leisure experiences by 31 March 2028.

Environment

Vision: Boosting our natural environment, cutting carbon emissions and building resilience to climate change.

Our Environment promises are:

• Run a four-year engagement and information campaign to support residents to enhance biodiversity, respond to climate change and minimise waste by 31 March 2028.
• Restore and improve 28 hectares of priority habitats at Fish Hill, Broadway including semi-natural woodland and culturally significant landscapes by 31 March 2028.
• Increase biodiversity and natural assets in our parks and green spaces and increase their resilience to climate change while retaining their value for users by 31 March 2028.
• Continue to deliver actions in our Intelligently Green Plan to reduce our carbon footprint including significantly cutting emissions from our leisure centres by 31 March 2028.
• Develop and start to deliver an adaptation plan to make our services more resilient to the impacts of climate change by 31 March 2028.
• Support small businesses to access training, receive specialist support or grant funding to respond to climate change by 31 March 2028.
• Support communities to develop local plans to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change and prepare for emergencies by 31 March 2028.
• Pilot new bike hire schemes at Droitwich, Evesham and Pershore railway stations by 31 March 2026.
• Lead the creation of a health corridor for cycling, walking and wildlife following the route of the canal and river from Droitwich to Churchfields by 31 March 2028.
• Work with partners to develop a plan for reducing traffic congestion in Evesham and deliver a new cycling and walking route between the town centre and the surrounding areas by 31 March 2028.