Updated: £75,000 appeal to fight Hampden Fields

The planning application – which includes a southern link road – was submitted to the district council last week.

The action group, which is aiming to raise £75,000, successfully fought against the original Hampden Fields plans with the help of donations from the community.

In a letter to supporters sent out this week, it said the proposals were ‘almost exactly the same’ from those which were rejected by a government inspector last year and claims about the benefit of the link road were ‘exaggerated’ with no evidence to support it”

Chris Webbley, chairman of the group, said: “As each day passes, our small teamis digging into the detail of the renewed application are uncovering more items that cause us concern.

“Successfully contesting the previous application required not only huge amounts of time and effort by local people but also expert advice including planning, legal process and, crucially, transport. This advice doesn’t come free, nor even cheap. We are gearing up to be able to do this again if necessary.”

A spokesman for the Hampden Fields Consortium said: “The new proposals address a number of matters raised by the Inspector in his report on the appeal for the previous scheme, although these did not form part of the reason for dismissal of the appeal. A green buffer has been introduced between the proposed sports facilities and Weston Turville with a change in character of some of the green spaces to respect the setting of the West End ditch.”

He said the southern link road was an ‘important section of the potential outer bypass to Aylesbury’.

“The Transport Assessment, submitted as part of the planning application, sets out the results of the extensive traffic modelling that has been undertaken. This demonstrates that the link road will result in a reduction in traffic through Weston Turville and Bedgrove; and at the Walton Street Gyratory.”

n See letters, page 24.