Thank you to everyone who attended our Public Meeting on the draft Beaconsfield Neighbourhood Plan; it was great to see so many people there and we hope you found it informative and useful. As promised, and for those who weren't able to make the meeting, here are some pointers to assist in responding to the consultation which Bucks Council is running until midnight on Thursday 9th November. The Plan is important because it will contain planning policies for our town and will be used by Bucks Council to decide planning applications. This is the final opportunity for local people to comment on the plan before it goes to independent examination.
You can read about the Neighbourhood Plan here: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/planning/beaconsfield-neighbourhood-plan/
You can submit comments on the Plan by e-mail to: neighbourhoodplanning@buckinghamshire.gov.uk, or online via the page above.
Please use your own words and ideas to respond to the consultation but you may wish to consider some or all of the following points:
- We OPPOSE the Plan for a number of the following reasons.
- Policy BEACON 1A requires re-writing in order to define accurately all the "buffer zones" referred to, also to be shown on a map.
- Also in relation to BEACON 1A, as in other Neighbourhood Plans, we want to see important Local Gaps, Corridors of Significance, Strategic Views and Landscape Classifications to be defined and shown on a map, and backed up by the expert evidence of a Landscape Consultant.
- BEACON 1B needs to be rewritten to identify which specific brownfield sites are a priority for development.
- BEACON 1D needs to be expanded into a policy for Wilton Park, which is the town's major development site yet is only covered by one short sentence. Policy 1D appears as an after-thought.
- BEACON 3 does not explain how many parking spaces are to be removed "from the defined Old Town Area" (from where exactly?), nor how many new spaces will be provided. What is the net gain/loss in number of Old Town parking spaces? Parking is an issue in our town.
- BEACON 5A designates a Green Infrastructure Network as "shown on the Policies Map." The map only identifies some wooded areas. It needs to be extended to include other green assets. We object to this policy seemingly allowing development within the Green Infrastructure Network despite some areas being located in AONB and Green Belt. The policy is badly drafted.
- BEACON 6 only designates 6 Local Green Spaces and they are all in Council ownership. The Local Green Spaces Study lists many more areas which were not taken forward yet scored higher or equal to the 6 areas chosen. The list of Local Green Spaces should be extended to include: Beaconsfield Cricket Club; the Wilton Park parkland, woodland and football pitches; Oak Lodge Meadow rugby pitches; Cross Lane rugby pitches; Wooburn Green Lane football pitches; Holtspur Bank Local Nature Reserve; Holtspur Bottom Butterfly Reserve; Ivins Road Allotments; and Park Lane allotments now designated as a Local Community Asset.
- BEACON 11 requires too great a ratio to be provided as "small homes of one or two bedrooms" which could lead to town cramming; 10 or 20% would be more reasonable.
- There is no list of Community Facilities within a Policy, nor policies for their development.
- The Design Code allows for no parking spaces, or fewer spaces than specified in Bucks Council parking standards, to be allocated for houses or flats near the town centre. We disagree with this policy; it is impractical and will exacerbate parking issues in the town.
- Councillors gave wrong information to residents about the Neighbourhood Plan and this has inhibited public comment throughout the Plan process. For example, residents were repeatedly told that the Neighbourhood Plan designated area was limited to the built up area of the town, rather than the whole parish.
Please remember to respond to the consultation by the deadline of Thursday 9th November.