Archived press release

Date Published: 14/06/06

Aylesbury Vale District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planned Development, together with local ward councillor, Pam Pearce, has reacted angrily to the latest proposals for the expansion of Milton Keynes. The Milton Keynes Partnership Committ...

Aylesbury Vale District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planned Development, together with local ward councillor, Pam Pearce, has reacted angrily to the latest proposals for the expansion of Milton Keynes.

The Milton Keynes Partnership Committee (MKPC) met on 12 June to discuss a consultants’ report on the proposed growth strategy for the city. Part of this proposal includes building more than 15,000 homes around Newton Longville over the next 25 years.

Proposals show two phases of growth around Newton Longville with 7,500 homes being built between 2021 and 2026 and a further 7,700 between 2026 and 2031.

The MKPC received the consultants’ report and agreed that it would be the basis of their submissions to the South East Plan, but only up to 2026.

Councillor Carole Paternoster, Cabinet Member for Planned Development, said: “Even with the MKPC not now actively promoting the second phase of growth around Newton Longville, these proposals are totally unacceptable to us. This is work that has been rushed through by consultants without adequate attention to detail.  The amount of growth the consultants propose in this area will have a huge impact on the landscape of north Buckinghamshire and the character of Newton Longville.

Councillor Paternoster continued: “The report also fails to show why less sensitive locations cannot be developed and why Milton Keynes cannot follow government planning advice on making the greatest use of the development potential within the existing city limits.  Although the MKPC has said they are only supporting the consultants’ proposals up to 2026, this still leaves everyone with the spectre of a much larger scale development hanging over their properties in the longer term.  We will be making sure that we contest these proposals most forcefully through the public examination early next year.”

Councillor Pam Pearce, who represents Newton Longville on the district council, said: “I am outraged by these proposals.  The Partnership Committee has ridden roughshod over the interests of Newton Longville, which is very much a rural village that associates itself with the Vale of Aylesbury and does not identify with the ‘city’ of Milton Keynes. Large scale development into Aylesbury Vale would inevitably mean the loss of not only the character of the village, but the village itself.  This whole process has been flawed, with even the Partnership Committee’s own group of experts saying that there have been problems about how the community has been involved.  I can assure communities in north Buckinghamshire that we will fight these proposals as hard as we can.”

These plans will now be submitted to the Independent Panel looking into the South East Plan and will be considered at a public examination next year. A further round of consultation on the proposals will be undertaken in the next few months.  The results will be passed to the Independent Panel.