The New Wycombe District Local Plan. The future and why our district may never be that same again!
Wycombe District Council have consulted on its new local plan at:
https://www.wycombe.gov.uk/uploads/public/documents/Planning/New-local-
plan/Draft-new-local-plan-for-the-Wycombe-district.pdf.
The deadline for comments is midnight August 8th 2016. WERA has responded as shown below:
Widmer End Residents’ Association
Planning Policy
Wycombe District Council
Queen Victoria Road
High Wycombe
Bucks HP11 1BB
Dear Sirs,
New Wycombe District Local Plan: Draft Consultation Document
Whilst we are grateful for the opportunity to comment on this plan, we feel that your deadline of Monday 8 August is too close for us to collectively formulate a reasoned response to the plan as a whole. We will therefore deal almost exclusively with thosesections that relate to proposed major developments on or near the boundaries of Widmer End ward of Hughenden Parish, and are therefore likely to have an impact on the quality of life in our area. These are Terriers Farm (Policy HW7), Glynswood (Policy HW10), and Tralee Farm and other land bordering Hazlemere and Holmer Green (Policy HW8).
We reluctantly accept the need for a substantial increase in housing in Wycombe District, but are alarmed by the scale of its projected encroachment on the Green Belt and particularly the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We believe that not all has been done to identify and earmark existing and potential brownfield sites. The District Council should insist that developers make full use of such sites before they can be allowed to build on our precious countryside.
We also question whether the proposal to build as many as 500 new homes per year for the next twenty years is really necessary, given the prospect of an economic downturn and a fall in immigration figures that are the likely consequences of Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
Very careful consideration should be given to any proposal to take land from the AONB. Such a proposal should be refused unless there are exceptionally good reasons for accepting it. Likewise, the original purpose of the Green Belt, namely to guard against large-scale merging of towns and villages to create a featureless metropolis, should be borne in mind. Repeated nibbling of the Green Belt by successive local plans will in time
reduce the belt to a token sliver of greenery between huge slabs of development.
Terriers Farm. We have already commented on your infrastructure proposals for this reserve site in our letter of 3 March 2016. We note with disappointment that the upper bound to the number of proposed homes has risen from 490 to 540. This should surely add to the need for a basis of social infrastructure, in other words a defined community centre incorporating social, educational, health and retail facilities. The need for such an
infrastructure is acknowledged in Policy CP7 (p. 43). However, apart from some open space and sports facilities, nothing appears to be planned to serve what will be equivalent to a new village in terms of population and area. For this site, and for others, no attempt has yet been made to provide the elements of infrastructure that will instil a sense of community in the new development.
Glynswood. Although relatively small, this development of about 50 new homes would scenically ruin the view from the footpath linking Four Ashes to the Hughenden valley, some of which passes through National Trust land. Policy DM31 (p. 165) states that any development within the AONB “will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances” and should “foster the economic and social wellbeing of the area”. In neither respect does the proposed development comply with this policy.
Tralee Farm. Development of this land will substantially reinforce the existing coalescence between Hazlemere and Holmer Green, especially if Chiltern District Council allows development of the land bordering the HW8 area. It will thicken the continuous ribbon of development to the north of High Wycombe stretching all the way from Walters Ash to Penn. As with Terriers Farm, there are no plans for any significant
degree of social infrastructure on this site.
Field Farm (Travellers' Site Reference GT015, p. 190). We would question the designation of this farm as a travellers' site, since we believe the proper process for such designation has not been followed. However, if it is indeed a travellers' site we have no objection to the proposal to convert the permission for one pitch from temporary to permanent. But we trust that this will not provide an excuse for enlarging the site to become a major settlement, as this would be entirely inappropriate for this area.
Further considerations. One reason why we are concerned with providing adequate social infrastructure in new developments is that doing so will relieve some of the pressure on existing communities. Road traffic, for example, is a big concern in our village. Education is another. As we stated in our letter of 3 March, referred to earlier, the provision of primary education on the Terriers Farm site would relieve pressure on Widmer End and other schools in the area to accept more pupils as well as providing a social focus for families living in the new development.
Finally, we hope that it will still be possible to engage in meaningful consultation on specific issues after the deadline of 8 August.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Guy,
Hon. Secretary, Widmer End Residents' Association.
https://www.wycombe.gov.uk/uploads/public/documents/Planning/New-local-
plan/Draft-new-local-plan-for-the-Wycombe-district.pdf.
The deadline for comments is midnight August 8th 2016. WERA has responded as shown below:
Widmer End Residents’ Association
Planning Policy
Wycombe District Council
Queen Victoria Road
High Wycombe
Bucks HP11 1BB
Dear Sirs,
New Wycombe District Local Plan: Draft Consultation Document
Whilst we are grateful for the opportunity to comment on this plan, we feel that your deadline of Monday 8 August is too close for us to collectively formulate a reasoned response to the plan as a whole. We will therefore deal almost exclusively with thosesections that relate to proposed major developments on or near the boundaries of Widmer End ward of Hughenden Parish, and are therefore likely to have an impact on the quality of life in our area. These are Terriers Farm (Policy HW7), Glynswood (Policy HW10), and Tralee Farm and other land bordering Hazlemere and Holmer Green (Policy HW8).
We reluctantly accept the need for a substantial increase in housing in Wycombe District, but are alarmed by the scale of its projected encroachment on the Green Belt and particularly the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We believe that not all has been done to identify and earmark existing and potential brownfield sites. The District Council should insist that developers make full use of such sites before they can be allowed to build on our precious countryside.
We also question whether the proposal to build as many as 500 new homes per year for the next twenty years is really necessary, given the prospect of an economic downturn and a fall in immigration figures that are the likely consequences of Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
Very careful consideration should be given to any proposal to take land from the AONB. Such a proposal should be refused unless there are exceptionally good reasons for accepting it. Likewise, the original purpose of the Green Belt, namely to guard against large-scale merging of towns and villages to create a featureless metropolis, should be borne in mind. Repeated nibbling of the Green Belt by successive local plans will in time
reduce the belt to a token sliver of greenery between huge slabs of development.
Terriers Farm. We have already commented on your infrastructure proposals for this reserve site in our letter of 3 March 2016. We note with disappointment that the upper bound to the number of proposed homes has risen from 490 to 540. This should surely add to the need for a basis of social infrastructure, in other words a defined community centre incorporating social, educational, health and retail facilities. The need for such an
infrastructure is acknowledged in Policy CP7 (p. 43). However, apart from some open space and sports facilities, nothing appears to be planned to serve what will be equivalent to a new village in terms of population and area. For this site, and for others, no attempt has yet been made to provide the elements of infrastructure that will instil a sense of community in the new development.
Glynswood. Although relatively small, this development of about 50 new homes would scenically ruin the view from the footpath linking Four Ashes to the Hughenden valley, some of which passes through National Trust land. Policy DM31 (p. 165) states that any development within the AONB “will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances” and should “foster the economic and social wellbeing of the area”. In neither respect does the proposed development comply with this policy.
Tralee Farm. Development of this land will substantially reinforce the existing coalescence between Hazlemere and Holmer Green, especially if Chiltern District Council allows development of the land bordering the HW8 area. It will thicken the continuous ribbon of development to the north of High Wycombe stretching all the way from Walters Ash to Penn. As with Terriers Farm, there are no plans for any significant
degree of social infrastructure on this site.
Field Farm (Travellers' Site Reference GT015, p. 190). We would question the designation of this farm as a travellers' site, since we believe the proper process for such designation has not been followed. However, if it is indeed a travellers' site we have no objection to the proposal to convert the permission for one pitch from temporary to permanent. But we trust that this will not provide an excuse for enlarging the site to become a major settlement, as this would be entirely inappropriate for this area.
Further considerations. One reason why we are concerned with providing adequate social infrastructure in new developments is that doing so will relieve some of the pressure on existing communities. Road traffic, for example, is a big concern in our village. Education is another. As we stated in our letter of 3 March, referred to earlier, the provision of primary education on the Terriers Farm site would relieve pressure on Widmer End and other schools in the area to accept more pupils as well as providing a social focus for families living in the new development.
Finally, we hope that it will still be possible to engage in meaningful consultation on specific issues after the deadline of 8 August.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Guy,
Hon. Secretary, Widmer End Residents' Association.
