Winslow council says 'woefully lacking' plan would increase population by nearly 25,000

Bucks Council’s local plan was subject to consultation and will shape how it can deliver the Government’s housing and growth targets over the next 20 years.

Winslow Town Council has released a 19-page response to the council’s plan, particularly questioning how viable the influx of new housing would be.

Projections from the town council state that the population of the area would grow from a population of around 5,500 to nearly 30,000.

The town council said the unitary authority’s ‘sustainability appraisal’ was “woefully lacking in detail and analysis".

Winslow, was rumoured to be among the areas which could be selected for the Government’s new towns policy which will see handpicked areas transformed into new communities containing at least 10,000 homes.

Winslow was not selected with nearby Milton Keynes being the chosen area in the Buckinghamshire block that will see the construction of at least 10,000 new households.

In the latest version of the plan an area in Winslow has been identified as potentially being capable of accommodating 3,650 new properties. Another area has been identified as having the potential for a new housing capacity of 1,500 dwellings.

A cluster of other areas around the Winslow have been identified as potential areas where new neighbourhoods could be built. The town council’s response identified eight housing projects in the plan which are either in or adjoining Winslow. If all eight go ahead, the area would inherit an additional 9,370 homes by 2045.

"The proposals demonstrate little or no understanding of the functional geography of the Winslow area – the absence of any assessment of A413 re-alignment options is a case in point – nor of the potential opportunity costs of the development proposed, nor of how our settlement relates to

its neighbours,” the town council said in its response.

Bucks Council has rejected claims that the local plan has revealed a bias against the north of Buckinghamshire, raised by politicians who feel that too much is proposed in the Aylesbury Vale area.

The council also continuously highlighted that the volume of housing projects included in its local plan extend its own growth plans for Buckinghamshire. A senior councillor said the Government’s housing requirements was more than 40% higher than the amount of dwellings the council wanted to build in the county over the 20-year period.

A reported lack of involvement from Chiltern Railways and Network Rail in the production of the plan was also criticised by the town council. The Winslow council criticised a lack of input from “key stakeholders”.

It also raised concerns with the impact similar large scale housing developments earmarked for nearby areas such as Buckingham will have on the town’s services. The town council did concede that ‘growth’ around the Winslow area was to be expected after its inclusion on the East West Rail project. However, the town council has criticised the developments and conclusions reached in the plan that was put up for consultation.