New homes blueprint for Aylesbury Vale withdrawn
Archived press release
Date Published: 07/10/10
Building new homes
Aylesbury Vale District Council has received the Secretary of State’s direction to withdraw its core strategy.
The core strategy for Aylesbury Vale was the document which set out broad locations for future growth, policies to guide new development and plans to protect the environment between now and 2026.
AVDC submitted its core strategy to the government in 2009 after a lengthy public consultation and it was subject to scrutiny at an Examination in Public (EIP) before an independent planning inspector earlier this year.
But, with the South East Plan’s building target for new homes being scrapped by the new coalition government, serious doubts were raised about the wisdom of pursuing the core strategy for Aylesbury Vale. Prior to the election, AVDC was required to plan for 26,890 new homes by 2026.
At a meeting of the full council on 8 September, district councillors unanimously agreed that the core strategy should be withdrawn together with the more detailed master planning for growth around Aylesbury and north of Newton Longville. This decision needed agreement from the Secretary of State because of the stage the council is at in the core strategy examination process. The direction from the Secretary of State was received on 5 October 2010 and the Core Strategy and Masterplan and Delivery SPD’s have therefore been withdrawn.
The decision to withdraw the core strategy will not mean the end of all housing growth for Aylesbury Vale. Development is already committed for some 8,000 new homes at major sites such as Berryfields to the north-west of Aylesbury and London Road in Buckingham, as well as smaller sites in towns and villages.
Various developers have submitted planning applications or indicated to the council that they are likely to be submitting applications for large scale residential development in the near future. These applications will be subject to the normal consultations and will be dealt with through the development control process.
Changes to national planning policy are unlikely to become clear before the end of the year, so it will be some time before the council knows how the planning system will operate in the future. Further consultation with Aylesbury Vale communities will take place at that time.