Bucks Council requires £6 billion to deliver 91,000 home target, says leader
Buckinghamshire Council’s leader has rejected claims that the north of the county is being forced to shoulder an unfair share of 91,000 new homes.
Residents and politicians have criticised the geographical distribution of housing in the council’s emerging Local Plan, alongside levels of affordable housing.
However, council leader Steven Broadbent insisted the plan had not been drawn up along north-south lines. Speaking exclusively to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said: “It’s not been devised on a north-south basis, first and foremost, and I completely reject the idea that it has.”
Cllr Broadbent said more than 60 per cent of Buckinghamshire’s population lived in the more densely populated south, where much of the county’s green belt was situated.
He said national planning rules required the council to consider suitable sites elsewhere before establishing exceptional circumstances for building on protected land.
“The green belt is there for a reason. It should be protected,” he said. “I’m perfectly comfortable that we have strained every sinew to make sure we protect the green belt from new housing allocations as much as possible.”
Cllr Broadbent said technical assessments showed the proposed sites had the potential to accommodate the housing, although he acknowledged some communities would receive more development.
He said: “Ninety-one thousand homes imposed upon us will change Buckinghamshire and how it looks and what it feels like. I have great sympathy with those areas that will undoubtedly have more housing put upon them.”
Responding to concerns about affordable housing, Cllr Broadbent said existing targets of around 40 per cent in the Wycombe area and 25 per cent in the Aylesbury Vale would remain.
He said the council had tested whether the affordable-housing target in the north could be increased to 40 per cent and added: “Sixty per cent will be social rent—the most affordable of affordable housing.”
Cllr Broadbent also called for additional government funding to support the development.
He said around £6 billion of infrastructure would be required, with developers currently expected to provide more than £5 billion if the proposed homes were built.
“Government imposing housing numbers at this scale must ensure extra money is provided so that the infrastructure is there to deal with that beyond what can be done by developers alone,” he said.
The council expects to examine thousands of consultation responses, all of which Cllr Broadbent said would ultimately be passed to the government-appointed planning inspector.
However, he warned: “What this phase doesn’t do is massively reshape the plan. This isn’t a reworking of the plan.”
The Local Plan is expected to return to cabinet before being considered by the full council in November. It must be submitted for independent examination by the end of the year.