Decision

Following a referendum result in favour of the neighbourhood plan, the decision is made that The Chesham Neighbourhood Plan be made part of the Buckinghamshire Development Plan.

Reasons for the decision

The Chesham Neighbourhood Plan has passed all the formal stages required before it can be made. Buckinghamshire Council must now make the plan.

Under the regulations the referendum had to ask the following question –

Do you want Buckinghamshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Chesham to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

Yes or No

Following the close of the referendum, the votes cast were counted giving the following result:

Yes – 2478 No – 311

This represented a 89% Yes vote from those who turned out to vote.

Since more than half of those voting in the referendum voted ‘YES’, the plan became a part of the development plan on 7 November 2025 and the Council is under a statutory duty to ‘make’ the plan within 8 weeks from the day after the referendum unless the plan would be in breach of European legislation or the Convention on Human Rights.

(The Council has considered the European and human rights implications of the Neighbourhood Plan as part of its consideration of the draft Plan and the Examiner’s report and it is not considered to contravene those rights.)

Alternative options considered

If a neighbourhood plan is supported by the majority of people who vote in a referendum then the Local Planning Authority have to make the plan, within 8 weeks of the day after the referendum is held, in accordance with the relevant regulations unless the plan would be in breach of European legislation or the Convention on Human Rights.

As set out above the majority of people who voted supported the plan and the council does not consider the plan would breach the relevant legislation. As such there are no alternative actions allowed by the regulations.