SOLAR FARM DEVELOPMENT - SITES PROPOSED BY BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNCIL FOR NEWTON LONGVILLE

Working through the Regulation 19 Draft Buckinghamshire Local Plan, it has become apparent that Buckinghamshire Council are proposing (Policy SP11) to make large areas of agricultural land in the north east of the county available for solar power generation. This includes the fields not designated for housing between the railway line and our boundaries with Newton Leys and Stoke Hammond.

While some might say "better solar panels than houses", much of the land proposed by Buckinghamshire Council for the 3,200 dwelling Beachampton NESS site consists of fields used for recently constructed solar farms. Medium to long term, we could potentially find solar panels swopped for bricks & mortar ...

This item, which clearly has serious implications for our parish, will be covered as part of the update on the parish council's work on the Draft Plan at the next monthly meeting on Monday 17 August (Free Church 7-9pm).

Public Meeting - Friday 17th July

Many thanks to everyone who attended the public meeting in Longueville Hall. We had about 90 in the room including from Buckinghamshire Council our two ward councillors, Jilly Jordan and Caroline Cornell, plus Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport Thomas Broom.

Subjects covered over the two hours or so included the latest on the East West Rail train maintenance depot, the draft Buckinghamshire Local Plan and the two pre-application consultations (Pond Close and Richborough, close to the Stoke Road/Drayton Road/Newton Road in Stoke Hammond parish). The slides about the draft Buckinghamshire Local Plan may be read or downloaded.

TRAIN MAINTENANCE DEPOT (TMD) - June 2026

EWR have provided further information on the layout options for the proposed train maintenance depot west of Whaddon Road, straddling Newton Longville and Mursley parishes. The most significant changes are arguably the addition of a third option (the 'Bow-Tie'), major increases in the estimated volume of excavated material that would need to be removed from the site, and the demolition and rebuilding of bridge OXD06 on Whaddon Road (Newton Longville) for layout options 2 and 3. EWR have also noted that they expect the majority of trains entering or leaving the depot to be coming from or going in the Cambridge direction (which favours option 2).