Newsletters
A selection of John's constituency newsletters...
| Newsletter July 2009
NOTE:
Due to a layout error, the text of the main story is incomplete, the complete text for that story should read:
BERCOW REJECTS PLAN FOR MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENT
In April, Aylesbury Vale District Council voted unanimously to reject an application to build 3,300 new houses on the disused Little Horwood airfield.
John shared local residents’ concerns about the impact of this development on the local area and argued robustly that the application by Winslow Green be turned down. The so-called ‘Winslow Green’ development was not part of the Local Development Framework targets and would have required designation as a strategic site in the County Council’s Core Strategy. The development would unbalance the strong focus of development on Aylesbury town which is advocated by the Plan and imbalance the supply of housing across the region.
John was not convinced by the employment provision in the Winslow Green development and the practicality of the development’s transport links which relied heavily on the East-West railway for which funding is yet to be secured.
The Government has now published the South East Plan. The Plan urges councils to review the Green Belt protection in a number of areas across the South East and imposes binding targets for new development. John is looking closely at what the Plan will mean for the Buckingham constituency.
He said, “The housing shortage in the South East is an incontrovertible fact and Aylesbury Vale is a designated growth area. I recognise therefore that some development is inevitable and desirable. The challenge for policy makers is precisely to ensure that we have sustainable development, i.e. manageable levels of new housing with the required infrastructure to support those levels.”
