Council gives green light to outline plan to create more affordable housing

Democracy and Local Affairs, Homepage, Planning

Buckinghamshire Council has agreed to proceed with preparing an outline planning application to redevelop land at the site of the former Buckinghamshire County Council Sports & Social Club at Stoke Mandeville.

The aspiration of the outline planning application is to use Council-owned land to help deliver housing that is affordable and accessible to benefit the community. The potential development would include a minimum of 30% of affordable housing.

Using council land provides an opportunity to provide affordable housing in excess of the levels that are set out in planning requirements. The aspiration is the the development will also include a number of homes for clients of adults and children’s services. If an outline planning application is successful, a detailed development scheme will be considered by Cabinet at a future date and a detailed planning application will follow.

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing & Resources said: “For many years this site has been empty. The proposed development of residential properties together with community facilities and provision for some of our adult social care and children services means we are gaining multiple benefit from one site and following through on our commitment to help provide more affordable housing for people in Buckinghamshire. There is still a long way to go in terms of getting a full planning application on the table, but this is the first positive step in that direction.”

The outline planning application for the site would also include a new road link between Booker Park School and Lower Road, an increase in size of the existing access road to Lower Road and the provision of a sports and leisure area for community and school use as well as a significant amount of green space.

A recent consultation showing how the land might be developed received mixed feedback from local people. Green space and sports facilities at the site were key themes which emerged. Future proposals will seek to address this.