The Beaconsfield Town Council’s bad Neighbourhood Plan will go to public referendum on Monday 9th September. This will be like an election - a simple yes/no majority will decide if it becomes planning policy. It fails to include policies to add protection to our treasured green spaces and landscapes and for this reason we do not support it, whereas the Neighbourhood Plans of other towns have added protection to their green landscapes. Beaconsfield deserves a much better Plan.
As we have shown at our 4 public meetings on the Neighbourhood Plan, the messages from the Yes campaigners are badly flawed.
You’ll know that our position is built on the scrutiny we’ve applied to the Neighbourhood Plan throughout the 4 years of this project. This has been done with the experience of our expert planning team and also the experience we’ve gained from successfully scrutinising and tackling the withdrawn draft South Bucks Local Plan, the appeal for Beeches Park, and many other applications along the way.
If this plan is voted down at referendum we will be without a Neighbourhood Plan. However, adopting this dangerous Plan is worse than not having a plan. The risks of this Plan greatly outweigh the risks of the absence of a Plan. The Plan should be scrapped and work should start immediately on a GOOD Plan for Beaconsfield.
What we have is the worst combination of bad “content” and “missing content”:
1. The policies that it does NOT contain would have added key protections that it could include to protect our green landscape. There is no additional policy or evidence that Bucks Planning can use to refuse a bad application, nor can they constrain any development that is permitted. The Plan does not de-risk or mitigate against poor planning decisions on our Green Belt.
2. The policies it DOES contain are vague or poorly conceived. Right now, applications are using these vague and poorly conceived policies in the emerging Neighbourhood Plan to justify development on Green Belt.
3. Where the plan just repeats existing policy, those policies bring with them loop holes that can permit Green Belt development. And there’s nothing in the Neighbourhood Plan to mitigate or constrain this.
To quantify this, right now 700 units are in the process of being applied for, or appealed, on our Green Belt. Right now, not in the future. These are ALL additional to the existing consent for 350 homes at Wilton Park.
Please do remember that other nearby towns HAVE included added protections in their Neighbourhood Plans. Our Council chose not to include them and have made us a soft target for development.
In the meantime here are our brief thoughts on the statements made by the Vote Yes campaign:
“Our Town would have no plan” INCORRECT
We do have a Plan. It’s called the Local Plan and it and national policy trump EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in ANY Neighbourhood Plan.
“The Neighbourhood Plan would reinforce our desire to not develop our Green Belt” INCORRECT
It doesn’t. It contains nothing to ADD protection to the Green Belt. Stating a desire is not an enforceable planning policy. Green Belt policy contains loopholes which allow Green Belt development in very special circumstances, and the Plan has no mitigation against this.
“It highlights a number of local green spaces that require further protection” INADEQUATE
Only 6 spaces are listed. These spaces and many more should appear in a new Neighbourhood Plan as it lists far fewer than other towns. All 6 listed are owned/maintained by the Council, in the town centre, so they also have by far the LEAST risk of development e.g. the small patch of grass opposite Tesco Express. The 6 sites they chose to ‘protect’ are under no threat from development now or in the future.
“Any new Neighbourhood Plan would need an increase in Council Tax” INCORRECT
The Council will have to find these funds anyway as they are already proposing changes themselves because they know the Plan is bad. They should be able to find the money from budget e.g. delay filling current vacancies. The Council wasted £20,000 of the Plan budget on “urban design drawings” which never even made it into the Neighbourhood Plan. This could have funded an expert Landscape Consultant’s report and properly drafted landscape policies.
“Residents will benefit from additional Community Infrastructure Levy” MISLEADING AND INCOMPLETE
What’s missing here is that large developments allocated in a Local Plan would be ZERO-RATED for CIL. There would be little additional income in exchange for us risking mass development on our green belt.
“The Neighbourhood Plan could be reviewed to take into consideration the Governments proposed changes to Green Belt” MISLEADING AND TOO LATE
Offering a review conducted AFTER land is released from Green Belt makes no sense as it’s obviously too late. Some of the policies are being used NOW by developers to support Green Belt development. This must be stopped now with a “NO” vote.
“A new plan could not be developed until 2029 at the earliest” INCORRECT
The gaps in the Neighbourhood Plan are significant and will require public consultation and referendum to approve. However, all this can be done much sooner IF it’s managed well. Other towns in Bucks are just now at the early stages of developing their Neighbourhood Plans. The idea that this would take longer than a parliamentary term is absurd.
“The Local Plan will have to take into account a made Neighbourhood Plan and should not develop contradictory policies” COMPLETELY WRONG
It won't. That statement is wholly and completely wrong. Two reasons:
1. There is no evidence base within the Neighbourhood Plan to justify any of the policies within it. Without evidence it can’t influence anything.
2. Even with evidence, a Local Plan can decide to ignore the contents of a Neighbourhood Plan if Bucks Council so choose. Remember, a Local Plan will ALWAYS trump a Neighbourhood Plan. A Neighbourhood Plan CANNOT dictate to the Local Plan.
Please vote in the Referendum on Monday 9th September
Only those registered to vote who live within the Parish boundary as indicated on the map below can vote in the Referendum. If you are eligible to vote, you should have received a polling card with details of your polling station.
If you had a postal vote but have not posted it already, it is now too late to do so but it can be taken to any of the polling stations, which are as follows:
- The Curzon Centre, 43 Maxwell Rd, Maxwell Road, Beaconsfield HP9 1RG
- The Beacon Centre, Hotspur Way, Beaconsfield HP9 1RJ
- St Teresa's Parish Hall, 40 Warwick Road Beaconsfield HP9 2PL
- The Guide HQ, Malthouse Square, Beaconsfield HP9 2LG
The result of the Beaconsfield Neighbourhood Plan Referendum will still affect those residents who live outside the Parish boundary and cannot vote. However there is nothing to stop those people from encouraging anyone within the Parish boundary to vote “NO”.
Please VOTE NO in the Referendum on Monday 9th September 2024
Thank you for your support and we hope that you have found our public meetings interesting and informative.
