Two of Beaconsfield’s community groups have united to form a group to raise awareness about the importance of the joint Local Plan.

South Bucks and Chiltern district councils are currently consulting residents on different options to meet housing needs in the districts as they will need to find space for 15,100 houses over the next 20 years.

Significant areas of Green Belt land around towns like Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and Amersham could be developed on.

The Beaconsfield Society, chaired by Mike Elliott and Beaconsfield Old Town Residents Association (BOTRA), chaired by Sandy Saunders, have formed Local Plan Watch with the aim of investigating, reviewing and researching all the material related to the plan.

Alison Wheelhouse, from The Beaconsfield Society, has chaired two meetings of the new group since South Bucks District Council announced the consultation process two weeks ago and feels Beaconsfield town council has not publicised the importance of taking part to residents.

She said: “Since the consultation was opened up the timeline to get evidence based feedback in to the process is really challenging – just 8 weeks.

“We have a challenge ahead to both engage local people, and to get them to understand the full impact of what has been announced in this consultation – Beaconsfield faces some significant changes because of the current proposals.

“Currently the meeting this Friday at the Beaconsfield Town Council Chambers to present the details of the plans process hasn’t been promoted on the Town Council website – which is disappointing, so it is falling to us to raise awareness.

“We want to work with the local bodies involved to make sure Beaconsfield gets a fair crack of the whip and the character of Beaconsfield is preserved and the green belt protected.”

The group is now setting up a mailing list for residents and businesses in the town to sign up to, to keep up-to-date on the plan as it develops over the next two years.

Mike Elliott, chair of The Beaconsfield Society said: “It is vital the people of Beaconsfield engage with this process and contribute fully where possible – none of us are trained in this sort of process so monitoring how it is done is very important.”

Beaconsfield Town Council is holding a public meeting tomorrow, Friday February 5 at 7.30pm, to explain the plan to residents.

Visit www.botrainfo.wordpress.com and www.beaconsfieldsociety.org.uk for more information.