A RESIDENTS group has been encouraged by the response it has received over fears it raised about High Wycombe’s infrastructure.

The Daws Hill Neighbourhood Forum last week called on the district and county council to scale back major developments or upgrade the town’s road network to enable it to cope with the impending developments.

The group said it has been inundated with support from residents and groups, and encouraged by comments on the story on the BFP website.

DHNF chairman Stewart Armstrong said: "Several neighbouring residents groups are now putting up their hands to contribute and recognise and are in agreement to the issues we pointed out."

A host of new developments are planned for Wycombe in the coming months and years – with the relocation of the astro-turf to John Hampden Grammar School and athletics track to Little Marlow currently on going to make way for a new Wycombe Sports Centre at Handy Cross.

A hotel, coachway park-and-ride, office blocks and a supermarket are also expected to sit alongside the approved new leisure centre.

Up to 1000 new homes could be built in the Daws Hill area, plans are afoot to realign the road network around Wycombe town centre and High Heavens is to be converted into a waste transfer station.

And with more shoppers expected to travel out of town to the revamped John Lewis and proposed Next at Home stores, the forum believes Wycombe is heading for permanent gridlock unless something is done.

Committee member Ken Tyson added: "There is momentum behind this and a petition demanding an independent traffic inquiry could follow."

Bucks County Council said it is working with Wycombe District Council to utilise a traffic model for the town, to enable it understand the impacts of future build and to inform the development of WDC’s Local Plan.

For more information or to support the forum, email contact@wycombedeservesbetter.org