Planning is changing: Local Plans will determine overall development strategy and supplementary Neighbourhood Plans can now add specific local constraints. SBDC and CDC will produce a new joint Local Plan to run until 2036. The process is highly formalised and makes great play of being “evidence led”.
However, since significant elements of the evidence and the evaluation processes are supplied as ‘givens’ by HMG, it is in fact policy led. And policy requires the reassessment of Green Belt land – even that which serves the primary and extremely valuable function of separating urban conurbations – in order to identify sites for new housing and employment.
Consequently, although it has for many years valiantly benefited not only Taplow, Hitcham and Dorney, by preserving their rural feel, but also both Slough and Maidenhead, by preventing their merger, Buckinghamshire’s green tail is once more under severe threat.
The Society is concerned that the methodologies used in the evaluation seem to be tailored to allow distinctions that suit the planners. Worryingly, despite providing precisely the same stalwart service as an urban separator as land north of the A4, which scores a maximum of five, an adjacent parcel to the south is rated at only three and has been identified as an “opportunity area” for employment. However, it seems the 289 new homes currently under construction – 211 at Mill Lane and 78 of the 83 at Institute Road – will count towards any housing contribution required in Taplow.
We must now await the next round of consultation in the autumn to see if our challenges have registered. Full information can be found on the SBDC website and relevant details are extracted on the Society’s website. TPC has applied to SBDC for authority to develop a Neighbourhood Plan to give better protection against unwanted developments in Taplow over the next decade or so. Your input will be important in shaping the plan. Click through to South Bucks District Council for how to act.