Buckinghamshire Council will debate whether to withdraw the Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan (CSB Plan) next week.

The council will meet on October 21 to discuss whether to withdraw the plan in light of recent Planning Inspectors' comments, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and changes to the planning system for England in a new government white paper.

This document proposes significant changes to the current planning system in England covering plan making, development management and development contributions.

Councillor Warren Whyte, Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement, said: “In May 2020 the Planning Inspectors who were examining the draft CSB Plan pointed out that there was a strong likelihood that the only option will be for the Council to withdraw the Plan.

"This was because, in their view, Chiltern and South Bucks District Councils had not cooperated with Slough Borough Council to identify sites in the plan for meeting some of Slough’s housing needs which would otherwise not be met.

"Whilst we did not agree with the findings of the Inspectors, we do believe the time is right to refocus our efforts and resources on completing a new Local Plan for the whole of Buckinghamshire.

“We do acknowledge that withdrawal of the CSB Plan may put pressure on housing land supply in the short term, but we believe this will be mitigated by the fact that 87.5% of the CSB Plan area is within the Green Belt and 43 per cent the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which offers it a significant degree of protection.”

"The impact of Covid-19 has also been considerable and has brought significant changes to how and where we work, future shopping needs and our town centres. All this will need careful consideration and our strategy for addressing these issues should be incorporated into the new Buckinghamshire Local Plan.”