NOW is the last chance to offer your views on the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan – we've now reached the closing date for comments: midnight on Monday 5th September.
Details have been circulated through public meetings and exhibitions, and you can listen to some (rather bland) explanations offered by AVDC officials during local radio interviews here.
The draft Plan can be viewed online here.
As we have described in previous news items, Haddenham is shortlisted in the draft Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP) as a possible site for a 'new settlement' of some 5,000 houses (we currently have about 2,200 homes). This huge growth is to accommodate a so-called "unmet need" foisted onto the Vale of Aylesbury by Wycombe District Council – for more information, see here.
The possible locations of a new settlement at Haddenham can be viewed here.
Many Haddenham residents have expressed concerns over the VALP and the extent to which it does not seem to reflect "joined-up thinking".
The proposal for a new settlement of 5,000 houses in the vicinity of Haddenham is particularly ill-conceived. It appears to have been developed in ignorance of proposals for a large development north of Princes Risborough, just outside the Vale boundary, and for similar proposals for new settlements in South Oxfordshire, all of which are predicated on the existence of the same transport links – in particular Haddenham and Thame Parkway station.
In addition, the proposal relies on Thame and Aylesbury to provide shopping, educational and social facilities for the residents of the settlement, putting further pressure on those neighbouring areas and on road links to them. Within the planning period, this would all be exacerbated by the construction of HS2. In other words, there has been a complete lack of "joined-up" planning which would be required to justify a proposal of such magnitude.
Haddenham Parish Council and the Village Society have each made (or are in the process of making) formal submissions to AVDC, but are very keen to encourage local residents to submit their own comments on the VALP to the District Council. You can read some of the Parish Council's main concerns in the latest Village News (Special Issue No.87), delivered through all Haddenham letterboxes in the last two or three weeks. You can access a copy of that newsletter by clicking on the PDF document that is located below the image on this page.
Possible themes you might wish to challenge in offering your comments to AVDC might include one or more of the following:
- The assessments of 'unmet needs' of neighbouring authorities
- The various impacts of growth proposals by such authorities e.g.. Princes Risborough, Chalgrove, etc
- The implications for highway infrastructure and likewise for rail infrastructure
- The loss of high grade agricultural land
- The loss of the heritage of an historic village
- Whether such a project could ever be delivered by AVDC
The simplest and easiest method for offering your comments is via the online form here.
Or you could send an email to this address: localplanconsult@aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk
Or by snail mail (letter post) to:
Forward Plans
AVDC
The Gateway
Gatehouse Road
Aylesbury
HP19 8FF
Once again, the deadline is TODAY: Monday 5th September 2016. The public consultation closes at Midnight. Please do your bit for Haddenham and submit your comments now!
