Wendover Neighbourhood Plan

While I fully support the principle of local and neighbourhood planning, I have to say that the recent actions of Aylesbury Vale District Council’s planning department leaves me wondering why anyone in Wendover should bother engaging with the Wendover Neighbourhood Plan process.

The last major development in the area, the building of the Princess Mary Gate estate, was carried out under the terms of the 2004 Aylesbury Vale District Local Plan. The section on Wendover said that the development should only go ahead if trees of amenity value were retained; many were removed to make way for the much-needed house, but the value of those left behind was recognised and a blanket tree protection order placed on them. Yet fast forward to 2017 and AVDC’s planning officials say it’s perfectly acceptable to chop down these protected trees so that one household can make its already large kitchen even larger.

The Parish Council can say what it likes about the importance of designing a good Neighbourhood Plan, but based on the actions of AVDC I have absolutely no confidence that in the years to come it will not simply be ignored at will by an unelected, unaccountable planning official.