THE decision to move forward with the community stadium project has been 'called in' to be looked at by the council's scrutiny committee.

Wycombe District Council has this afternoon confirmed the 'call in process' has begun.

Spokesman Catherine Spalton said: “The call-in process has been initiated and has to be confirmed by February 3.

“If it is a valid call-in , for example it meets all of the necessary criteria, then the Improvement and Review Commission meet to discuss whether or not to progress it.

“This may be at their next meeting or at a special meeting just for that. “If they decide to progress it, they may discuss it at that meeting and reach a recommendation to Cabinet or to council if they wish, or have another meeting(s) to look at the issue more fully.”

Improvement and Review Commission Chairman Alex Collingwood told Monday night's meeting that the case for building on Green Belt had not been justified.

Deputy Leader Cllr Tony Green insisted there was a long to way to go and this was only still the early stages of a possible plan.

Cabinet members resolved at the meeting the following points:

- That (i) the recommendations from the Improvement and Review Commission regarding the project be received and noted;

(ii) the response to the consultation on Issues and Options, the outcome of Focus Groups and the outcome of further technical work undertaken to evaluate options in the light of issues raised, as referred to in the report be noted;

(iii) further investigation be supported, as referred to in (iv) below, of Wycombe Air Park as the site with the best potential for a Community Stadium with either supporting facilities (high level option C) or as part of a Sports Village (option D), together with necessary enabling development, based on the reasoning set out in the overview report and summarised in paragraphs 5.35 to 5.54 of the report;

(iv) if the project is to progress in the near future that: a) neither a Core Strategy Alteration (CSA) nor a Delivery and Site Allocations (DSA) plan would be appropriate (the reasoning being set out in paragraph 5.57 of the report);

and b) the most appropriate mechanism would be by means of a ‘departure’ planning application, the precise content being informed by further detailed investigations (including around the sporting, economic, infrastructure, environmental, enabling development issues and why alternative site options are not being pursued) and appropriate pre-application public consultation (the reasoning being set out in paragraphs 5.44, 5.59 and 5.60 of the report);

and (v) the Improvement and Review Commission be informed that Cabinet accepts their recommendations as submitted, subject to the points of clarification and reasons for variation.