UPGRADES to infrastructure will be required to sustain future growth in the Wycombe District, a council boss has said.

WDC’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Sustainability Cllr Neil Marshall said improvements will be required across all services as more homes and developments are built in the district over the coming years.

He said: “We expect improvements to infrastructure will be needed to sustain future growth and we will be guided by agencies and our partners over the coming months.”

Cllr Marshall was responding to a Mr Kettle, who asked at Full Council what steps were being taken to ensure water is delivered to homes to the required standard and that the system is not overloaded by development.

His question follows sewage spills into the River Thames and earlier concerns raised about the ability of the sewage system to cope with the proposed Handy Cross Hub project and a new housing estate approved for the former RAF Daws Hill base.

Cllr Marshall said the specifics of the council’s new Local Plan - which sets housing targets, planning policies and site specific proposals - will begin take shape in the New Year before a public consultation is held.

Cllr Marshall told the BFP the work carried out between now and the adoption of the plan, which is expected to happen in 2016, will enable all service providers to estimate what improvements are required and where.

Thames Water was prosecuted by the Environment Agency over a series of spills into the river at the Little Marlow Sewage Works over the summer, which the company put down to technical problems.

The firm said this week it was working closely with the EA and was part way through its refurbishment programme that will run into 2014.

The refit includes cleaning the treatment tanks and equipment, the instillation of back-up pumps to avoid power-outages and the strengthening of screens which prevent debris from entering the facility.