We are developing a new planning policy document for the district called The Vale of Aylesbury Plan. The plan will set out a strategy for growth for the district to 2031. This page sets out the ‘fact pack’ documents we are currently producing to help inform communities on whether they should consider future development.

What are fact packs?

We are currently in the process of developing a new planning policy document for the district called The Vale of Aylesbury Plan. This plan will replace the 2004 local plan and sets out a strategy for growth for the district to 2031.

Government changes to the planning system has led to a ‘bottom up’ approach with localism at its heart. In simple terms this means that local people will have a greater role in influencing the outcomes of the planning process. Through The Vale of Aylesbury Plan, we have begun putting into practice this bottom-up approach. During the early part of 2011 we have been asking every parish and town council for their view on future growth within their community.

To help inform this process we are producing ‘fact packs’ for each parish/town who have indicated they wish to look further at development.

The fact packs will:-

• help set the scene for parish, local member and stakeholder informal engagement on whether there should be development in particular settlements
• aid the more detailed appraisal work and identification of potential sites should the principle of development be supported
• form part of the evidence base supporting any future planning policy documents
• inform any future sustainability appraisal process

Fact Pack Contents

Below is a summary of what is contained within each fact pack.

Section 1: Location and setting

Provides an introduction to where the parish is located, with an explanation of transport connections and how it sits within the vale landscape. A map of the parish will be provided.

Section 2: Story of place

Describes how a settlement has grown, the important features, events and trends explaining why it is there. Socio-economic context into and beyond the 20th century will be discussed: in particular, any post-1945 housing growth and coverage of recent development.

Section 3: Fact file

Primarily focuses on demographics, employment, services, leisure, education, housing, transport and water Infrastructure. A settlement audit of services and facilities will also be identified. Data is taken from the 2001 census, AVDC monitoring (2010), Hometrack intelligent housing data (2010) and our technical documents.

Section 4: Issues facing the settlement

This is drawn together from the following where available and combined with officer knowledge: Parish and Town Plans, Conservation Area Appraisals, ‘Old style’ village appraisals and AVDLP and its background papers.

Section 5: Overview of constraints

Five maps have been compiled to identify the following constraints: Environmental, Landscape, Historic, Infrastructure and Transport Connections and Agricultural Land Classification. These have been developed from national and local designations, planning policy statements and technical evidence documents.

How and when we will produce them

There is no set deadline for the parishes to respond and, as such, production of these documents is an ongoing process. Once available, we will publish them on our website.

These fact packs are a starting point for communities and stakeholders to think about future development. The development of these documents is a two way process.  In no way do the fact packs represent any view as to future development in these areas.

As a companion to the individual parish fact packs, we have produced a district wide fact pack, which is available to download below.  This provides an overview of Aylesbury Vale using the same topics as the parish fact packs. An example fact pack is also available for download below.

Please follow the links to the left for further information relating to The Vale of Aylesbury Plan.

Date Updated: 28/07/11