A PUBLIC forum to discuss the future of Beaconsfield’s Wilton Park is scheduled for next month, after a blueprint for the 300-home development was put up for public consultation.

‘Wilton Park Watch’, a group set up by various groups in the town to monitor progress on the former MoD site, is hosting a meeting on February 12.

The forum will feature representatives from town, district and county council level and aims to give residents the chance to air their views and discuss key concerns in public.

Mike Elliott, chairman of The Beaconsfield Society, said: "South Bucks District Council has now published its Supplementary Development Document describing the principles on which the development will be based and this is now open for public consultation.

"The development will have a major impact on the Town and we are trying to ensure that it is to the benefit of Beaconsfield rather than to its detriment.

"Representatives from all three branches of local government –Town, District and County – have been invited and it is important that they gain a clear view of residents’ interests and concerns."

The previous Wilton Park Watch meeting last April saw over 250 people turn out to air their views.

Beaconsfield MP Dominic Grieve stressed the importance of integrating the development with the rest of town so that it did not become a separate “gated community.”

The Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)has been developed with Inland Homes, the ‘preferred bidder’ that last month agreed a deal for the 39-hectares of parkland to the east of Beaconsfield.

Plans include a community ‘hub’, sports pitches, 17 hectares of public open space, up to 300 new homes and a new bus route linking Beaconsfield with the park to the east.

SBDC’s document pledges to provide a 40 per cent affordable housing mix, up to 120 homes, as part of the council’s Core Policy obligations.

The first section of a relief road for London End is also proposed, with access from the Pyebush roundabout.

But this would rely on the County Council funding the remainder of the road past the park boundary, with a relief road remaining one of the highway authority’s top five priorities.

The meeting is organised by members of the Beaconsfield Society and Beaconsfield Old Town Residents’ Association (BOTRA)and a number of other organisations with an interests in the development.

It will take place at the Curzon Centre on Maxwell Road on Wednesday, February 12 from 7.30pm.

To view the plans, visit www.southbucks.gov.uk and click on ‘Environment and Planning’. The consultation runs until February 28.

The SPD is also available to view at SBDC’s headquarters in Denham, Beaconsfield Town Hall, Beaconsfield Library, Gerrards Cross Parish Council and Gerrards Cross Library.