Many of the letters call for the plans to build in the south to be scrapped, while others say plans for houses anywhere in Aylesbury should be fought tooth and nail.

But there are others who say that it is a clear case of Not In My Back Yard.

Meanwhile, a vote on this website has revealed that a majority of voters don't want the houses, and of those that do most say they should be built in the south.



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Some of your comments so far...

I am writing to express the strongest misgivings about the plan to build 9,300 houses in an arc south of Aylesbury.

The period of consultation as government forces the pace, coming as it does during the summer holiday period, is hardly a vote loser for Labour in Aylesbury.

There is little opportunity for local residents to examine the proposals in detail to assess their validity, and I note in the Development Plan Document that 'Enhancing Aylesbury's Regional Presence' came bottom of the list in our responses to the earlier Issues and Options Consultation.

Money has been allocated to building the new Aylesbury Parkway station and roads in the north of the County are being upgraded, not least the Stoke Hammond and Leighton Linslade Western Bypass, to cater for development north of Aylesbury.

Indeed much of the road maintenance undertaken this year has been north of Aylesbury supporting the view that road infrastructure north of Aylesbury is more suitable to sustain development than south.

Journey times into the town from Stoke Mandeville, Wendover and Aston Clinton are frequently delayed by traffic congestion and at present I know of no plans to improve the A413 between Aylesbury and Amersham as newly arrived residents commute to work. This road has sections which are accident prone, indeed there was a fatal accident near Missenden last week, and residents in Chiltern Ridges Division are increasingly concerned about the anticipated increase in traffic without proper infrastructure investment.

AVDC is currently consulting on the 'Preferred Options'. Let us not be deflected by the Incinerator debate; serious as it is, Aston Clinton is one of 4 possible sites, and I say possible because the successful bidder might decide to use a facility outside Buckinghamshire.

The Community Strategy for Buckinghamshire's final page says that national policy drivers will be balanced with aspirations of people in Buckinghamshire, to identify priorities which will bring about improvements in the quality of life for residents in this county. If you do not agree that 'One of the most exciting eras in the history of Aylesbury Vale is just beginning' you have until 30th August to stop the ugly sprawl and send a clear message to government by saying 'No'.

County Councillor Tricia Birchley
Chiltern Ridges Division

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Concerning the houses to be built in the south of Aylesbury I feel I would like to have my say.

The first thing that concerns me is the amount of cars and traffic that will appear in the area, looking at most houses there normally is about two cars per house that means we are looking at least 15000 cars depending on how many are built the first number was 9000 now I see its 9300 even as many as 10500 is also mentioned so lets have the right number please.

The next thing that concerns me is the infrstucture all traffic that does not want to come to Aylesbury should not have to come into it, which means we need a by pass running from the A41 to the A41 right down the Bicester road that would relieve traffic jams in Aylesbury.Also better roads need to be built where the houses are going and not push all the traffic through Bedgrove

Hospitals, all the land at Stoke Manderville is being built on, with all these extra people coming this hospital will need to be made bigger and the land retained for this purpose.

Transport, Railways whats the point of building a new station to the North of the town then build the houses on the South side, I believe a lot more should be on the North side so the station gets full use then push the railway further north so people can travel to the north without coming to Aylesbury or going into London.

I think that some houses could be built on the south side say about 2 or 3 thousand and then more to the north to make good use of the station but lets have the roads in place first.

The other thing that concerns me is water last year it was hose pipe bans and be very careful with it, but the rain as come now and got us out of trouble, if it had been the same as last year we really would have had a problem, so with upto 10000 more houses using it, there could be real trouble.

Building all these houses on green land is also wrong it will link all the villages together and Aylesbury will become one big town and places like Stoke Manderville and Aston Clinton will be like estates.

F L Fountain
Aylesbury

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Sir

Like many others, we too were amazed to read that the decision has been
taken to put the extra 9,000 in the south of Aylesbury.

We live in Stoke Mandeville which has already been eroded by the encroachment of housing spreading out from Aylesbury.

The reason for moving to the Vale of Aylesbury five years ago from a very built up area was because of the culture of village life, the countryside around and the quieter pace of life.

Now it looks like all that is going to change as the infra-structure etc that will be needed to look after these 9,000 house dwellers will be considerable.

What thought has been given to splitting the housing between the north
and south of the town - particularly in the area around where the new
railway station is going to be placed? None it would appear.

What use will a new station be to a vast number of people who will have to travel through Aylesbury town to get to it?

When a representative of the Aylesbury Vale Council planning office spoke to residents at a public meeting in Stoke Mandeville some 18 months ago we were given a firm assurance that the identity of villages and the retention of a green fields gap between villages and Aylesbury was paramount and that the council would do everything in its power to make sure that SEERA did not push through plans which would take this away. This seems to have been a very hollow promise.

We do not want to move house for all sorts of reasons but we may have to consider that if where we are now gets swallowed up as a suburb of
Aylesbury.

We realise that there is a need for housing in this area but please please please can the planners put more thought into an equal share of the building around the town.

Jinty and Geoff Pyke
Stoke Mandeville

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In response to your article in last week's Bucks Herald and various letters and comments published -I would point out that your own paper made known these plans during June 2006 when a number of sites were identified and there was a consultation period for comments etc as well as a public exhibition. Therefore to say this came 'out of the blue' is nonsense.

The A41 runs north to south through the town and the A418 runs east to west (or vice versa in both cases!) - so in this case the areas for housing are on the west side of the town.

Finally, for those who say 'why not the north of Aylesbury' - have they not noticed the Watermead and Fairford Leys estates develop over recent years; not to mention the current building at Weedon Hill and the plans to commence at Berryfields in the near future?

I doubt if anyone wants these houses as our hospitals, roads and schools struggle to satisfy our needs now - let alone with such a big increase in population!

Sheila Cotton
Burcott Close
Bierton


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Having read your articles in the bucks herald concerning the proposed development of south Aylesbury, I am extremely concerned that all of the proposed building sites appear to be on prime farm land,the loss of which would affect the quality of life for the people of Aylesbury for generations to come.

Not only would we lose these green areas, but also the wild life that it supports.

The south East of England is considered to be one of the most over populated areas of Britain, yet our government is planning even more growth.

I believe that this has more to do with politics than people. Nothing been has said about the amount of investment needed to provide the infrastructure required. where will the schools, Doctors surgeries and water treatment plants come from? Thin air?! The people of Aylesbury should unite in protest.

Yours sincerely
A.Bryant

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Congratulations to the Bucks Herald for highlighting the shortcomings of the consultation process on the future growth of Aylesbury.

Back in 2004, an independent panel of planning experts conducted a public examination of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Strategy and recommended that the growth of Aylesbury should be scaled down to 3,500 houses over the period 2016 to 2021 in order to ensure that the growth remains "sustainable".

When the draft South East Plan was published in 2006 the Government ignored the panel's recommendations and increased the housing target for Aylesbury over the same period to 4,400 – an increase of more than 25%.

If the Government can ignore the recommendations of highly respected planning experts following a detailed examination of the sustainability limitations of Aylesbury, will it listen to the arguments put forward by ordinary members of the public? Only if as many people as possible actively respond to the next consultation exercise.

So please, Bucks Herald, keep up the pressure!

Andrew Muir
Wingrave

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Sir
You recently published my letter regarding the apathetic response to proposed alterations to library hours.

My opinion was that we are so frequently asked for our opinions, invited to 'consultations' only to have our views ignored that many of us are, indeed, apathetic.

We now have a glaring example of this. We have to accept development of hundreds of new houses. And where are they to be built? In the area voted the least suitable by a majority of the people in Aylesbury! Once again we are told that there will be public consultation.

Together with hundreds of other people I went to the public unveiling of possible sites when it was shown in Aylesbury Town Centre and it was very obvious then where the public wanted the development. Once again our wishes are ignored.

What price so called 'consultation'; what price democracy!

D Richmond
Aylesbury

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Dear Sirs,

Having just returned home from a short holiday it was with a sense of despair that I read the reports in last week's and this morning's Bucks Heralds that the greenfield sites between the A41 and the A418 (areas D, E & F as per the consultation documents of 2006) are to recommended for housing development.

I note that a public consultation period regarding this recommendation is to run from 19 July to 30 August when, of course, many people will be away on holiday and is yet another example of the government's contempt of local democracy. Having learnt the benefits of stealth with regard to taxation the government is now applying this principle to all matters affecting the average citizen.

At this point in time I think I can do no better than to attach a copy of my letter of 19 June 2006 to the Forward Plans Group of AVDC in which I set out my comments on the Consultation Booklet which I trust will be of interest.

Yours faithfully,
J.L.A.Hodges
Aylesbury



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Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to last week's letter from a Stoke Mandeville resident.

Whilst we all appreciate that no-one wants these houses to be built at all, the fact remains that we have no option. It is therefore sensible to build in the most appropriate areas.

It is essential to minimise traffic flow through the town at peak times, and it is a fact that of the main roads in/out of Aylesbury, the one with the least amount of traffic is the Buckingham Road heading North, and the reason for this is that there is not much out there, no major roads, motorways, no major towns or shopping centres.

The Bierton Road is the main access road to Milton Keynes. Tring Road, Hemel Hempstead, Watford and the M25.Wendover Road, access to London and the M25. Stoke Mandeville Road, High Wycombe and the M40. Bicester Road, Birmingham and M40.

Further development to the North will only increase traffic through town for people accessing schools and their workplaces, therefore the proposals make sense as they are.

Build anywhere but near me isn't very helpful.

G. Matthews
Aylesbury

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Dear Editor,

So, now we know, the South of Aylesbury it is then. District Councillors can make such a devastating announcement as to where 9000 new homes will be built, but NOT produce an exact outline of the location, which they obviously know, at the same time. Can we see photographs of these decision makers please and is anyone going to try to stop this massive development?

Development in the South of Aylesbury will only massively increase the already huge volume of traffic coming from the A41, onto the A418, Oxford Road, via Fairford Leys, all of which currently and increasingly use the Bishopstone (C77) road as a by-pass to reach, for example, Stoke Mandeville Station, Wendover by-pass, the A40, the M25, Heathrow, and so on, every day.

Traffic coming off Fairford Leys onto the A418 Oxford Road and onward through Bishopstone creates a constant flow during the rush hours. This huge increase in volume of vehicles has increased since Fairford Leys was built, so what will it be like with 9000 more homes or to put it another way, a possible 18,000 more cars (2 per household). Bishopstone, like many other small villages, has no footpaths and the road is only 18 feet wide in many places.

When these additional homes are occupied, I suspect MORE traffic will be on the roads, actually LEAVING Aylesbury each day as these new residents commute OUT of the area, as there seems to be no job expansion locally. Over the years many of the big employers have closed down - Nestles, Antiference, Rivet Works, Acco, Schwarzkopf etc. and on some of these sites many houses and flats have been crammed together. Hampden Hall, Viridian Square, Grand Central, Berryfields, Buckingham Park, to say nothing of the construction spread at Stoke Mandeville |Hospital, have or are being built on, so I feel enough is enough. No more.

Another major concern is where are all these 18,000 residents going to obtain health care? Stoke Mandeville Hospital has shrunk, with many services being transferred to High Wycombe or Milton Keynes. The town has expanded but instead of extending health care facilities, we, the County town of Buckinghamshire, now have less. Moving patients (&visitors etc) elsewhere will create more traffic on the already overloaded road network and, more to the point; can High Wycombe Hospital and Milton Keynes cope with any additional influx of patients?

I have lived in Bishopstone all my life (over 60 years) and I have watched it being destroyed by large, fast moving volumes of traffic each day and I make no apologies for being a NIMBY. We cannot take any more.

Yours sincerely,

Janet Cope (Mrs)

Furlong Crescent Bishopstone

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As a resident of the south of Aylesbury the proposed developments are a source of anxiety and disbelief. The arguments written by some residents as to whether the north or south should have been chosen really miss the point entirely.

None of the proposals should be accepted by the residents of the town or surrounding villages. This is a plan forced upon us by the government who have decided in thier wisdom that Aylesbury is a town which can be ruined to save others in more environmentally desirable areas, such as the Chilterns.

Our town has been chosen for massive housing development and arguing amongst ourselves will not help. Last year there was a consultation process in which the six possible areas were highlighted and we were invited to chose the areas we preferred.

There was no where on this document to express the opinion that Aylesbury should be left alone. The consultation process this year is just as brief and will probably not gain much interest from the majority as most people appear unaware or not to care. The number that returned their forms last year was quite frankly pathetic.

Perhaps Aylesbury was chosen, knowing that the apathy here will make the building process a smooth and painless experience for the planners and builders.

If you care about the town and countryside surrounding Aylesbury you must expess your opinion. Do not let the north versus south argument cloud the real issues. You must not allow the infrastructure arguement hide the reality that this enormous development will destroy Aylesbury. You must have your say and say leave our town alone.

Katherine Halsey, Langdon Avenue, Aylesbury

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I read the article in last weeks paper because I live in the area which will be affected by these houses. A couple of things struck me in the article. I understand that a public meeting was held on Bedgrove to discuss the plan and that apparently there was a disappointing turn out.

Well I certainly had no idea the meeting was scheduled and suppose that most of the public did not either. Secondly is it not the case that the various councils have said time after time that they would retain the independent status of Stoke Mandeville as a village and not allow it to be swamped by an ever expanding Aylesbury? Well a housing estate of 9000 dwellings stretching from Aston Clinton Road to Oxford Road will do for the independent village theory then!!

Clearly the houses will have to go some where but the south side just does not have the infrastructure to cope with that number of houses. I suppose Tring Road, Wendover Road and Mandeville Road will be turned into dual carriageways next….or does this mean that the various councils will finally get their wish…..that is to stop everyone from driving into the town centre!

Ed Mallen (Deerhurst)

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Dear Sir

With a further 300 houses to be built on the Stoke Mandeville hospital site is it not time to bring back the Aylesbury Halt station at the crossing between Mandeville Road and Old Stoke Road? It must be feasible to run a shuttle service in between the small number of trains that operate on that line.

Derek Whitehead
Aylesbury

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Dear Sir
I suppose some degree of "NIMBYISM" was inevitable after the recent announcement regarding proposals for an additional 9000 houses to the South of Aylesbury.However, before glibly suggesting that building to the North of the town would be a better alternative, some thought needs to be given to what is actually happening in that area.

Plans for the construction of some 4000 houses to the North of the town are well advanced with show houses currently available for view at Weedon Hill, with Berryfields to follow.

In addition, there are plans for a massive expansion at Milton Keynes which includes areas to the South West. The combined effects of these developments will see great swathes of Northern Buckinghamshire disappear under acres of concrete.

Surely a more fundamental question is why Aylesbury? You would have to have been living on another planet not to be aware of the substantial growth plans for the South East, but is the distribution equitable. What are the plans for developments in the High Wycombe area, in Beaconsfield or Amersham or Marlow etc. after all, they are also surrounded buy thousands of acres of green belt amid in some of the most beautiful scenery in England!

Yours sincerely
M.Hill
Aylesbury

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Sir,

We read that 'a report identifying the south of Aylesbury as the best site (for new development) has been circulated to key members at AVDC'.

Cllr Paternoster says '...all the evidence points towards a southern growth arc from Aylesbury.' She goes on to say 'the south has the best transport performance. Sewage is easier to connect in the south.'

And then we're told that the site will stretch from the A41 to the A418.

Um, isn't that east of Aylesbury?

Roger Carey
Burcott

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Where Will They Work?
Experts naively used to believe that employers follow their workers. So all you had to do was build a new town and companies will flock to it. That misconception has been proved wrong again and again all over the world. For many of us the available jobs are in London and the Thames valley corridor. There is a way to change this: It has been shown time and time again that the best attraction for business is a vibrant academic environment. A technical real-sciences oriented university will provide jobs and attract high-tech business to our Vale. Everybody will be paying lip service to the concern about the extra traffic the new 9,000 households will generate. However the planners can actually impact this issue. Usually, the business parks are planned in the outskirts of towns. I urge BCC to consider first seeding business centres and then planning the houses around them. This will reduce the commuting burden and would be very 'Green'. I call on the BCC to show where people will work before approving any planes and put in place NOW as many attractions as possible for employers and moreover to actively help the existing high learning institutes and encourage the opening of new ones. I would also encourage the Bucks herald to send some reporters to learn how massive development such as the one planned for the south of Aylesbury were handled in other towns and what lessons were learnt. Come to think of it, I hope someone at BCC and AVDC already did that.

Dr. Eli Y. Kling (Telecomuter)

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As residents of Stoke Mandeville we are very concerned and alarmed at the proposal to build 9,000 more houses between the A418 and the A41 as this will have a significant and very detrimental impact on the whole area.

We have seen a huge increase in the amount of traffic on all roads into the village since the developments on County Farm and on the old Stoke Mandeville Hospital site and we too, experience traffic jams on Lower Road and Station Road at peak periods.

Our councillors have been saying for a long time that they must make sure that the developers contribute to the infrastructure but so far there is little evidence of this happening. Where are the new schools, the health services, the new roads, the improved community facilities? Nowhere to be seen. It is a pointless exercise to mess around with the traffic lights in various areas to try and improve the traffic flow. That is not what is needed. Cramming blocks of flats onto every available site in Aylesbury is making matters worse. As Cllr Sherwell pointed out, we need a northern bypass at the very least - and we needed it 10 years ago. As with so many 'strategic planning' schemes, it's a case of too little and too late.

We recently viewed Aylesbury from the monument on the Chiltern hills where the results of what has already happened in the Vale are clear to see. The raw, brick- red scars of the new developments have already spread into the surrounding area like a cancer - and we haven't seen anything yet! This is before Berryfields and the Weedon Hill developments have been completed.

There will not be much of 'England's green and pleasant land' left in this part of the country soon.

We have no faith in the consultation process taking place in July and August - well timed yet again to coincide with the holiday period. It will have very little effect on the ultimate decision because our councillors have already given in to central government pressure.

Nevertheless, we would urge everyone living in the affected villages to write to their councillors and MP as this is still supposedly a democratic country and they are there to represent the views of their constituents. Speak up now or suffer the consequences!

Yours faithfully,

Pat & David Aylett, 10 Lower Road, Stoke Mandeville, Aylesbury.

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I live in Stoke Mandeville near the railway station and therefore we are plagued and have been for 28 years, by people parking in our road to avoid paying for the car park.

With the new housing, 9000 in total, on average there will probably be 2 adults per household ( 18000). If only 1% of these people work in London there will be a further 180 cars trying to park at Stoke Mandeville station where the car park is already nearly full.

My husband travels into London at least twice a week, at peak times he often sees people standing from Missenden in the mornings with the new parkway people will be standing from Stoke Mandeville.

With a Parkway with 500 parking spaces to the north of Aylesbury, it would make more sense to build further housing on that side and not join up the villages to Aylesbury in the south. Where are all these 500 people going to come from? Do the powers that be think that people will go there from the south of Aylesbury to park!

Will there be a new southern road or will all the traffic be on the Station road which in the mornings can take one up to 5 minutes to get onto.

I was born and bred in Stoke Mandeville and have seen Aylesbury extended from a small market town and I am only 53! I understand that things have to change but there is a lot more space to the northside with far less disruption and a northern bypass to link the A41 through Bicester to the M40 would seem like common sense.

Is the council under pressure from developers who have speculated over the years and bought up the land now up for development!

How will the schools cope! A new school on the north side would serve Watermead, Weedon Hill and further developments on the north side.

I will attend the meetings but as usual, when it gets to that stage, decisions will probably have already been made and we will be presented with a 'fait accompli'. It makes one wonder why we bother to vote at all!


Jane Stratton

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