DRAFT BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LOCAL PLAN: NOW 660 HOUSES NOT 424 IN NEWTON LONGVILLE, AS WELL AS A 20 PITCH TRAVELLERS SITE ...

We'd been told that the draft Buckinghamshire Council Local Plan was going to be published on Wednesday 15 June but with a report on progress with the draft being on the agenda for a Buckinghamshire Council Growth, Infrastructure & Housing Select Committee meeting this Friday (10/07/2026), the plan and supporting documentation have gone online as part of the committee papers for that session.

We became aware that the papers were available late yesterday (06/07/2026) and are still working through the detail, but we already know that Buckinghamshire Council are proposing to take forward all four of the original Newton Longville housing sites referred to in the consultation exercise in Feb/Mar, but with modifications including an increase in the housing capacity for each, and have added a fifth site (the Leys House off Whaddon Road, adjacent to Weasel Lane).  The result for Newton Longville if this were to go through would now be 660 houses rather than the 424 (+56%) we thought we were facing four months ago.  

On top of the above, the housing capacities for the proposed three (large) sites in Stoke Hammond and Whaddon have been increased from 4,122 to 6,285 (+52%). In addition, it looks like Buckinghamshire Council may be planning to take forward the Beachampton NESS (New and Expanding Settlements) site with a further 3,200 houses. If we include the 1,855 dwellings already being constructed for the Salden Place development, this potentially means circa 12,000 new properties in this top, north east corner of Buckinghamshire.

There is an opportunity to raise a question (and speak) at the Buckinghamshire Council meeting on Friday, and we submitted the following before the midday deadline today:

"While the draft Buckinghamshire Local Plan has still to be published, the draft Policy Map has just been made available online.

This leads us to ask what was the purpose of the Buckinghamshire Local Plan site consultation exercise earlier in the year, when it appears that absolutely no account has been taken of the feedback provided?

Newton Longville parish was previously down for four housing sites totalling 424 dwellings plus a 20-pitch traveller site (see the summary on pages 26-27 in the May/Jun edition of the Pump). It appears that we now have a further housing site added and the total number of dwellings has increased by 56% to 660.This parish council, and our residents, submitted comments pointing out that we already have the 1,855 dwelling development underway at Salden Place, and that our local roads are struggling to cope with traffic, much of it associated with neighbouring Milton Keynes. Local services including those provided by the NHS are also significantly over-stretched.

To exacerbate this situation further, the housing sites proposed for the adjoining parishes of Stoke Hammond to the south and Whaddon to the north have seen the number of suggested new dwellings increase from 4,122 to 6,285, a 52% uplift. Much of the traffic generated from that new housing would inevitably transit through Newton Longville.

How is Newton Longville Parish Council meant to persuade residents that Buckinghamshire Council is protecting their interests when we can see no evidence that this Unitary Authority has taken into account the feedback submitted in March?  How are we meant to encourage people to participate in the Regulation 19 consultation stage when their submissions to date have been clearly either been ignored, or Buckinghamshire Council does not care?"

It has been confirmed this afternoon that the above question has been accepted and can be raised in person by the parish council on Friday.

Assuming the Draft Buckinghamshire Local Plan is approved at the Cabinet meeting on 22 July, the Regulation 19 public consultation will run for 6 weeks, so to early September (see https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/planning-building-and-environment/policy-breaches-and-enforcement/buckinghamshire-local-plan/) Residents as well as the parish council will then have the opportunity to formally comment.  

Arrangements are being made for a public meeting at Longueville Hall at 7pm on Friday 17 July.  The draft Local Plan will be top of the agenda, but we will also be covering the two current pre-application informal consultations that are underway (one being that for the site behind Westbrook End and Pond Close) along with the East West Rail train maintenance depot.  The public meeting is timed to coincide with our monthly parish council meeting on Monday 20th, when we will make formal decisions on actions.  

More information will follow in the Jul/Aug edition of the Pump, which we will now get printed and distributed over the next week.