A LEADING councillor has defended her actions after some residents claimed she did not listen to their views when she and other cabinet members voted to release five areas of land across the district for development.

Wycombe District Council cabinet member for community Julia Adey, voted – along with all other cabinet members - to give developers the green light to build on the reserve sites.

This included former Green Belt land Slate Meadow, which lies between Bourne End, the area Cllr Adey lives in, and the place she represents, Wooburn Green.

Since voting to release the land for a possible 175 home development, she has come under criticism, with a well known village figure even likening the decision to that of a dictatorship.

Bourne End Residents Association chairman, Jim Penfold, said: “If you ignore what your constituents say you go from a democracy to a dictatorship. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

“She did say she had concerns about developing on Slate Meadow in her speech but under pressure from the cabinet she still put her hand up to release the land, the best way to show she had concerns was to vote against it.

“She is simply thinking about her own position in the cabinet, rather than thinking about all the people she represents, which is just inexcusable.

“In their core strategy it says that before any reserve sites is released the infrastructure issues must be resolved. They have just ignored this.”

Bucks Free Press:

Slate Meadow.

However, Cllr Adey has defended the way she voted and says the council needed to have a robust plan in place to protect the district from mass development.

She said: “I know there are many against the development of Slate Meadow, but I have seen both sides of it, and there are people who think we do need more housing.

“I don’t actually want Slate Meadow to be built on, but we need a robust Local Plan in place to protect areas of land from development.

“When you look at places like Aylesbury, they haven’t got a leg to stand on.

“We need to be able to have our say and have plans in place so developers cannot just do what they would like to.

“It is impossible to tell if Slate Meadow will even be developed. As I said during the meeting, there are still issues with flooding and infrastructure etc which need to be sorted out.”

She added: “I hope residents will join in stake holder meetings to ensure their views are put forward.”