A plan to build more than 10,000 homes across Wycombe was given the green light this week – prompting the launch of a six-week consultation for residents to have their say.

The final draft of the local plan, a 450 page-long blueprint for the future of development across the district until 2033, went before full council on Monday night, with councillors agreeing to take it forward to the next stage – a public consultation.

The consultation is expected to start on October 16, running until November 27, and a host of drop-in events will be held throughout the district with planners from the council on hand to guide people through the process of making their comments.

A total of 10,925 homes need to be built to meet growing housing need.

That number has already been decreased from around 13,000 because of a lack of space in Wycombe due to Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) land, with Aylesbury Vale set to take on the extra 2,000 homes instead.

Three quarters – 71 per cent – of the land in Wycombe is protected by the AONB and almost half – 48 per cent – is in the green belt.

Over half of the 10,925 planned for the district will be in and around High Wycombe, with four reserve sites released for development - Gomm Valley, Terriers Farm and Terriers House, and Abbey Barn North and South.

Around 2,650 homes – a quarter of the total – will be built in Princes Risborough and around 800 are planned for Bourne End and Wooburn.

Comments made by residents during the consultation will go directly before an independent planning inspector appointed by the secretary of state, who will scrutinise the plan before deciding to accept, reject, or recommend changes to it.

Cllr David Johncock, planning and sustainability chief at the district council said “every inch of land” in Wycombe has been reviewed by planners to find suitable places for housing.

He said: “We have a severe shortage of homes locally so we will need to build on some greenfield sites, but we’ve made the very best use of brownfield sites and we’ve located housing in the best way we can, working within the natural limitations across the district.

“We’ve spoken with and listened to thousands of local people and we produced thousands of pages of detailed, extensive technical research to get to this point in what can only be described as a thorough and exhaustive process.”