Buckinghamshire Local Plan Watch

As we move into 2023, it is expected that both Milton Keynes City and Buckinghamshire County Councils will start to engage communities and the development industry in the spatial elements of their Local Plans.

Although Milton Keynes has the 2050 Growth Strategy in place which provides a starting point for the Council’s plan making, the draft New City Plan, expected to be published for comment this summer, is likely to include more detail on the level of growth in the area and importantly the site specific elements of the emerging spatial strategy.

We are expecting to see draft place shaping polices which will guide the future growth and help to achieve the ambitions set out in the most recent consultation, particularly around rapid transport and the environment.

In Buckinghamshire, we know that the original timetable for adopting the strategic plan has slipped. This has left the authority vulnerable to speculative applications such as that approved in Little Chalfont.

The proposed changes to national policy provide an element of uncertainty around Green Belt release to meet housing need and this will be a key issue for the authority given the extent of Green Belt in the south of the county.

Whilst Milton Keynes seems to have moved ahead of Buckinghamshire with plan making given their ongoing delays, there remains an opportunity for the authorities to work together on plan making in the north of Buckinghamshire. This is likely to be a key area given the Green Belt and other environmental constraints in the south of Buckinghamshire. It will be interesting to see how this matter is dealt with in the spatial options consultation expected towards the end of the year.

It is worth noting that the call for sites in Buckinghamshire remains live, providing an opportunity to propose sites to the Council for consideration as they develop their plan.

Five Year Housing Land Supply

The latest Milton Keynes Council position is the Assessment of Five Year Housing Land Supply 2022/23 to 2026/27, published in October 2022, which identifies a 5YHLS position of 6.1 years.

Supply and delivery remains strong in Milton Keynes with over 3,000 completions in the period April 2022-March 2023, with a further 3,000 homes also under construction.

Buckinghamshire Council published Five Year Housing Land Supply Position Statements in April 2022, for the period 2022-2027. These are based on the former district areas and identified the 5YHLS positions:

Aylesbury Vale = 5.2 years;
Chiltern = 2.1 years;
South Bucks = 2.7 years;
and Wycombe = 6.5 years

Milton Keynes (128%) and Buckinghamshire (107%) performed well against the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) 2021 results published in January 2022. Milton Keynes performance will have increased as a result of ongoing strong delivery.

In allowing an appeal (Little Chalfont, reference 3303868) in March 2023, the Inspector noted the delivery of housing in on the Green Belt site would ‘help address the chronic and deteriorating land supply’ in the South Bucks area. Whilst there were site specific reasons for allowing the appeal, the decision shows that short term opportunities do exist for speculative applications in the area ahead of the preparation of the strategic plan and any national planning reforms.

The limited land supply limited buffer in Aylesbury’s supply indicates that there may be emerging speculative opportunities should the delivery of identified sites start to slip. The ‘minimum’ five year requirement also suggests that irrespective of any slippage, the Council may need to take a proactive approach to approving unallocated development to ensure the supply of sites is maintained at a healthy level.

It is worth noting that that from April 2025, under the Guidance in the current National Planning Practice Guidance (reference ID: 68-025-20190722), the housing policies of the former district plans will not be able to be relied upon and the Local Housing Need figure for Buckinghamshire will form the basis of the land supply calculation. Unless the Strategic Plan has progressed, and additional land allocated, this may impact on the overall five year and supply figure and, depending on national planning reforms, place additional pressure on those less constrained areas of the County.