A requirement of the Local Plan is that a planning brief (or development brief) has to be produced for each MDA. These are subject to public consultation and then the final brief is published. As part of this process the Weedon Hill Brief was adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance on 8th September 2003 and the Berryfields Development Brief was adopted on the 30th March 2004.

The Major Development Area Planning Process

There are a number of stages that each Major Development Areas needs to go through before development starts:

The Local Plan

A Local Plan sets out the Council’s policies for the development and use of land and is the basis for considering future planning applications.

The Aylesbury Vale District Local Plan includes specific policies for the Major Development Areas, as well as information on the development strategy and general policies.

Planning Briefs

A planning (or development) brief shows how local plan policies are to be applied in designing a specific development site. A planning brief must be prepared for each MDA and will be subject to public consultation. When this has been done, and opinions and views considered, the brief is modified as necessary and is adopted by the Council.

Planning Applications

After a brief has been adopted a developer still has to gain planning permission. For large developments such as an MDA this is usually done in two stages. The first is an application for outline planning consent.

Outline Planning Application
Consideration of the outline planning application will be made using the planning brief. The outline planning application also has to include details of how and when the developer will provide roads, houses, community and other public facilities. An Environmental Assessment and Statement is also included at this stage. This looks at the impact on the environment and how it can be improved.

Detailed Planning Application
Finally a developer must submit a detailed planning application which will show exact details of roads, building design and layout. These applications can be made for different phases of the scheme.

As well as being able to comment at the public consultation stage of the planning brief anyone can comment, object to, or support proposals in subsequent outline and detailed planning applications.

Date Updated: 20/02/08