UNPOPULAR plans to build 393 homes next two villages have been thrown out after a long hard battle.

Earlier this year, anxious Holmer Green and Hazlemere villagers faced a 'daunting' wait to find out if their community will be lost to a controversial housing development.

Inland Homes proposed to build 103 homes in Wycombe Road – directly behind Dean Way.

Bellway Homes also wanted to build 290 homes between Tralee Farm and Orchard End Farm, but residents voiced major fears about the impact it will have on Hazlemere and Holmer Green.

A five day planning inquiry took place at the beginning of October to decide whether the plans should go ahead.

However, Buckinghamshire Council decied to refuse planning permission on December 2 due to a "failure to meet key design principles required to achieve high quality sustainable development".

They also refused the plans due to a "lack of comprehensive development, lack of an appropriate sense of separation between Hazlemere and Holmer Green."

The planning inspectorate also said: "The second putative reason for refusal focused on the absence of an obligation under Section 106 of the Planning Act (s106) to secure contributions or direct provision on a range of matters including affordable housing, the definition of local criterion related to affordable housing, the level of contributions for highways, education, public open space including equipped play, sustainable urban drainage provision, connectivity between the appeal site and the remainder of the HW8 allocation (to the south), biodiversity including offsetting contributions and detailed ecological management plan, the provision of a management company and the provision of custom and self-build housing within the site."

This news has delighted residents of Holmer Green and Hazlmere, who feared the development would have detrimental impact on services, including an "already stretched doctor's surgery".

Simon Jones, Chair of the Holmer Green Village Society, said: "The members of the Holmer Village Green Society are delighted at the outcome of the enquiry and very pleased that the Planning Inspector reported so quickly which was, for many residents, a welcome early Christmas present. 

"The residents are not opposed to development in general but this application was so clearly going to affect Holmer Green that the whole community came together to oppose it. Whilst the judgement outlined issues relating to the comprehensive development brief and the issues surrounding the closeness of the development to Holmer Green, we were sure that the coordinated opposition from all groups in Holmer Green and Hazlemere had a contributory effect on the outcome."

Susan Jamson, whose garden backs on to the farmland, feels very happy that the plans have been refused.

She told the BFP: "The idea of building huge estates in Hazlemere that will join together the villages of Holmer Green and Hazlemere is ridiculous!

"Our roads are already jam packed, we have no school places, we don’t have a doctors surgery near. So any new residents will have to register in schools and doctors outside of the area creating even more cars on our roads.

"This was green belt that the Council downgraded in their quest to build across Hazlemere.  Our villages cannot take this amount of housing and it was so wrong to assume that you could join two villages. 

"We hope in the future that Bucks Council will more carefully consider planning applications. Also that they listen to the residents - as they appeared to not realise that our villages are packed.  Even our MP Steve Baker said that he wouldn’t buy a house on the Amersham Road because of traffic issues.  Flooding Hazlemere with houses will only increase in the chaotic traffic - so we are very happy."