A FURTHER 60 homes could be built in Wycombe each year until 2026 - on top of the additional 330 a year proposed for the Wycombe district in the 20-year draft plan for the South East.

The latest proposal was made by a panel of planning inspectors following a public examination earlier this year of housing needs in the South East.

Their findings, published in a report at the end of last month, recommend an extra 32,000 new homes need to be built in the South East each year until 2026, instead of 28,900 a year as previously proposed.

Buckinghamshire's share was increased by 282 a year, taking the annual total recommended in the draft plan for the county to 4,322.

Only Milton Keynes escaped an increase. The panel decided the total number of extra homes to be built there each year should be cut by 92, reducing the proposed annual allocation to 2,348.

Chiltern District Council's catchment area will have a further 25 new homes a year, taking the draft plan's total to 145, while South Bucks' figure was increased from 90 to 94.

Councillor Adrian Busby, leader of South Bucks District Council, was delighted the area got off so lightly.

"It is not appropriate to demand high levels of development in places like South Bucks since to do so could only mean either the loss of Green Belt land, or the erosion of the character in our towns through higher and higher densities," he said.

The loss of countryside and the threat to the character of towns and villages were two of the reasons why The Chiltern Society strongly opposed developers' attempts to get more green fields released for development, at the public hearing into the draft plan proposals.

Mike Overall, its vice chairman, maintained: "The draft regional plans do not properly address the environmental impact on small towns arising from, for example, housing intensification, increased commuting, HGV rat running, poor design of supermarkets and High Street cloning by national shop chains."

The society's 7,000 members are campaigning for greater protection for the Chiltern landscapes and countryside around the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They also want a special policy to protect the River Thames green corridor that runs through the Chilterns.

The panel's report will now be considered by Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who will publish her proposed changes to the draft plan towards the end of the year. That will be open to public consultation leading to the final decision this time next year.

Wycombe District Council has yet to comment on this latest development.

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