Residents invited to help with big refresh for Buckingham’s Neighbourhood Plan

The Buckingham Neighbourhood Development Plan (BNDP) is due for a refresh, and the town council is looking for local residents, businesses and other stakeholders to get involved in framing a new plan.

The BNDP became a legal document in 2015, after being approved in a town-wide referendum.

Neighbourhood Plans are legal documents that give residents a say in what development they want and where. For example, the current plan stipulates that sufficient open private space is provided, which can be seen at new sites like St Rumbold’s Fields on Tingewick Road.

However, since 2015 there have been many changes to how people live, work and shop, including increases in home working and online shopping.

Buckingham’s population has also increased from the 12,000 residents listed in the 2011 census to more than 14,000 in the 2021 census – and today the town’s population is heading towards 16,000 as more developments are completed.

As a result, with the help of a grant from the national funding organisation Locality, Buckingham Town Council will be refreshing the Neighbourhood Plan to ensure it works towards building a future Buckingham that suits its residents, businesses and visitors.

After spending January meeting with focus groups to talk about Buckingham’s needs, the BNDP Working Group is now splitting into two task groups – a Development Task Group, covering strategic aspirations, housing sites, transport and business and the design code, and an Environment Task Group, covering the design code, environmental and green spaces policies, arts and culture.

The town council now wants to recruit local people to take part in the task groups, and there will be a pop-up session where you can find out more at Buckingham’s Annual Town Meeting, on Thursday, March 23, from 7pm.

Councillor Mark Cole, who chairs the BNDP Working Group, said: “Buckingham was one of the first communities in the country to make its neighbourhood plan, and it has served us well in the eight years since.

"Not only the local planning authorities but also secretaries of state have respected it, and until the new Vale of Aylesbury Plan was adopted, we had control over what housing went where. The revised BNP will restore that.”