"Inconsiderate invasion" of 121 new homes in Aston Clinton

Councillors nodded through the development at a planning meeting yesterday, meaning the houses will go up on land to the south of Aston Clinton Road in Weston Turville.

The application comes as part of larger plans to build 3,111 homes, new schools, employment space and more infrastructure on Hampden Fields.

But Aston Clinton and Bierton councillor Julie Ward was not happy with the impact the new homes would have on a handful of properties located close to the site.

She said: “This is an inconsiderate invasion for the settled community.

“There’s no housing need in this area, and no shortage of construction with the 2,500 Barratt Homes and the 500 [homes] Taylor Wimpey development just a stone’s throw away.

“We are the public guardians and the public voice and we are privileged to be in receipt of their trust. I don’t believe the benefits of this scheme outweigh the harm.”

Martin Jarvis, speaking on behalf of Weston Turville Parish Council, also called for the plans to be scaled down and called for a decision on the application to be postponed until guarantees had been made on adding more infrastructure to the area.

He said: “We believe a much smaller development would be more considerate of the landscape and to the neighbouring properties and not add to an already congested road network.”

But an agent for the site, James Yeoman, talked up the development after telling councillors conversations with officers to get the proposals to a satisfactory level had been going on since 2016.

If approved, he said, the development could be delivered in the next five years.

Mr Yeoman said: “The unprecedented lockdown and resulting pause in construction has further highlighted the need for housing and its proper delivery, which this proposal very much achieves.”

After hearing from guest speakers, the Strategic Sites planning committee asked officers a series of technical questions on visual pollution for neighbouring properties, landscaping, traffic issues and more.

Before the meeting, both Weston Turville Parish Council and Bierton with Broughton Parish had objected to the proposal after raising concerns about increased congestion.

As also mentioned in two residential objections, worries were brought up about the impact of the new developments and more cars on the “already congested A41”, with the Parish Council claiming the Aston Clinton Road and Tring Road artery is already “overburdened”.

One resident’s objection claimed the application was “premature” as any new highway infrastructure to relieve congestion on the A41 was at least ‘three years away’.

Councillor Richard Newcombe agreed it was “unfortunate” the application was being considered at this time.

He added: “We really do need roads to take traffic around Aylesbury rather than to feed more traffic into Aylesbury.

“But we have an application and therefore we have to deal with it. I think there is ultimately little to object to in this particular application.

“It’s been with the officers in debate with the applicants for some considerable time and I have absolutely no doubt there have been significant improvements.”

Following this, councillors unanimously agreed to approve the plans.

The committee met on Thursday, October 1.