Eco friendly alternative to potential housing in Wing could include memorial area and dog park - as hundreds sign petition to save land

The parish council wants to use a modern tree planting scheme to regenerate a former Highways Depot in Chesterfield Crescent.

It is Bucks Council-owned land, but locals have expressed concerns about further housing being built in the area with nearly 500 people signing an online petition to stop the local authority selling the land to developers.

Parish councillors want to use a scheme that can help decontaminate land at the former dump in Wing – and pointed to similar schemes which have worked effectively in the north of England.

The parish council is in talks with two universities: Oxford Brookes and Birmingham, that could potentially oversee the Phytoremediation project, which would see living plants used to clean up the soil.

Buckingham MP Greg Smith is backing the plan to lease land at Chesterfield Crescent from Bucks Council instead of it being sold for housing.

At a recent parish council meeting, 90 attendees backed the parish council’s scheme.

Bucks Councillor John Chilver said on a visit to Chesterfield Crescent he “would not want to push through a plan that residents didn’t support.”

Unitary ward councillors Diana Blamires, Peter Cooper and Ashley Bond also back the scheme and are lobbying the local authority.

Parish councillors are hoping to attract further funding for redevelopment on the site, which would include planting a hedge and creating a dog park.

And they believe a memorial area would be popular with the residents of a nearby veterans’ home, with other plans including adding an apiary and wishing tree, and offering woodcarving and bug-house building to local school students.

Chesterfield Crescent attracts Great Crested Newts, deer, owls and rabbits and is between two green areas.

Nearby, Long Spinney in Wing is currently leased to the parish council by Bucks Council, with volunteers collaborating to make sure the land is regularly maintained.

Parish Councillor Helen Sunday said: “We have come up with a really innovative plan which would underline Bucks’ Council’s environmental policy of planting more trees as well as creating a showcase project involving the council and community working together to preserve this green area as a prized community asset for generations to come. The whole village has bought into the schemes.”

A future Bucks Council meeting is likely to decide the future of the land.

Tracey Spivey, a resident of Chesterfield Crescent, added: “It’s so important to protect this area due to the amount of wildlife that live on this land. It would be a complete tragedy to see houses built on this land.”

Councillor Chilver told The Bucks Herald: “The former Highways Depot in Wing is a brownfield site that the council owns. We are currently looking at all future options for this land, so ultimately we can be sure it’s used in the best way possible to meet the needs of the local area and population.

"We want to ensure that all offers, including those from Wing Parish Council, are considered, alongside the option of using the site to provide much-needed housing, including affordable housing, which is a key priority for the council. The council’s key objectives and legal obligations will form part of the decision-making process.”