Authority Monitoring Report 2022 to 2023

We are required by legislation to have a new Buckinghamshire-wide Local Plan in place by April 2025. This Local Plan will cover the whole of the Buckinghamshire Council area and look ahead over a minimum 15-year period from adoption. It will be part of the development plan.

The Council have continued to make progress on the Plan despite change and uncertainty in the national approach to plan-making. Fig. 2 shows an expected timetable as well as progress to date.

In May 2022 the Government set out more detail on its proposed reforms to the planning system in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (LURB). Following its passage through Parliament, the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act (LURA) was given Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) also followed in December 2023.

The Council continue to progress specific evidence base studies that contribute to the LP4B process.

Our ‘Brown before Green’ pledge means that we are committed to prioritise using previously developed land (brownfield sites) wherever we can to help reduce the need to build on greenfield sites. Greenfield sites are sites that have not previously been built on.

We have carried out 2 calls for brownfield sites and as of 31 May 2022 we received over 300 site submissions. You can view a full list of submitted sites as a spreadsheet or via our interactive map here. Following an initial assessment, it was concluded that not all these sites would be suitable, available and achievable for housing and economic development.

Between 13 June and 11 September 2022, we invited submissions for a wider call for sites. You can view a full list of submitted sites as a spreadsheet or via our interactive map here. We now have in the region of 1,100 sites to consider. It’s important to note that we are publishing this information as submitted by the site promoters and there is much more work to do.

We will assess all sites for their suitability, achievability and availability for development through our Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) process. Sites can continue to be submitted; however, these will not be assessed within the first iteration of the HELAA.

During the wider call for sites, we published our draft methodology for the HELAA for comment. Further guidance on the methodology of assessing sites can be found here.

Even if a site is suitable, achievable and available it does not follow automatically that it will be included in the Plan. Sites will need to deliver against the final preferred strategy and objectives for the Plan, and these are still being developed.