WDC is consulting residents again about the new Local Plan, this time on proposals for a Junction 3A for the M40 and on proposals to release four reserve sites for development at Abbey Barn South, Abbey Barn North, Slate Meadow and Terriers Farm, and Gomm Valley and Ashwell. You might wonder why WDC is seriously considering such unpopular proposals.

The simple answer is that WDC is between a rock and a hard place. Without a Local Plan, there is a high risk, under the Government’s new planning system, that developments will be approved by the Government, even if WDC (and Wycombe residents) think the development will be in the wrong place and/or done in the wrong way. Without a Local Plan, planning decisions will be taken out of WDC’s hands; it will lose control over how the district develops and grows in the future. On the other hand, a Local Plan has to be agreed by the Government. The Government requires WDC to demonstrate it has sufficient land available to build 500-700 homes a year for the next five years rather than the 400-450 homes which have been build each year up to now.

Wycombe hasn’t got enough land available. So the four reserve sites need to be released. (And it still won’t be enough.) It is the Government which has put WDC between the rock and the hard place. The choice is for WDC to release sufficient land for development, which residents do not want to see developed, and hope it gets Government approval for its Local Plan which will give Wycombe some protection. The alternative is for WDC not to release the land, fail to get approval for its Local Plan from the Government, and see Wycombe at the mercy of developers. In the circumstances, you might think that WDC would tell the Government exactly what it thinks of this new planning system. You might think that Richard Scott, the leader of the Tory Group on the council would write to Mr Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and tell him loudly and publicly what residents think of this new planning system.

But have you heard WDC criticise the Government? Well they won’t, will they? Because they are all in it together. Wycombe Labour wonders whose side WDC is on – the Government’s or ours? — Councillor Ian Bates, Labour Leader on WDC