Purpose

The final version of the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire to be approved for consultation and submission to Government for an Independent Examination

Decision

The report sought Cabinet approval to publish the Buckinghamshire Local Plan Pre-Submission (Regulation 19) version for a six-week public consultation, prior to submission for Examination in Public by 31st December 2026.

The Plan set out a strategy to deliver around 91,000 homes and 270 hectares of employment land with supporting infrastructure, to 2045, based on a robust and up-to-date evidence base and extensive stakeholder engagement since 2021. It identified a spatial strategy focused on sustainable growth taking a brownfield first approach, extending main settlements, with the development of new settlements, whilst having limited development in rural areas and protecting Green Belt and areas of greatest natural beauty. It ensured the most valued environments remained protected and set out the importance of delivering infrastructure to support new development. It aimed to support the Council’s ambitions to create thriving town centres in the county’s main towns of Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Chesham.

Progression to Regulation 19 consultation was required to meet statutory duties and the direction from Government, and to ensure the Council could maintain an up-to-date, plan-led approach to managing development in line with the National Planning Policy Framework.

The Regulation required that the proposed submission documents, including the proposed submission plan be made available for consultation. Before beginning the consultation, the Council should be satisfied that the Local Plan was sound, and that the relevant procedural requirements had been met. Representations would be made on these matters. The test of soundness was defined in the NPPF paragraph 36 as being positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy.

The Growth Infrastructure and Select Committee undertook a comprehensive scrutiny of the plan on the 10 July 2026 to examine how it met the soundness tests of being positively prepared, justified, effective, and consistent with national policy. Feedback from the scrutiny session was available in Annex 1 to the report. The Committee's comments and recommendations had been addressed in the meeting and would be published with the Cabinet papers.

RESOLVED

          i.             that the Buckinghamshire Local Plan Pre-Submission Plan at (Appendix 1) and supporting documents (subject to modification in (ii)) be approved, as sound, for publication in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) and other relevant legislation and to publish the Buckinghamshire Local Plan Pre-Submission Plan and the supporting documents for a period of six weeks for representations, commencing no later than 23 July 2026.

        ii.             that authority be delegated to the Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, to make any necessary minor modifications to the Buckinghamshire Local Plan Pre-Submission Plan (at Appendix 1) before it is published and to make any necessary technical amendments to the supporting documents resulting from the completion of ongoing technical work prior to the Regulation 19 publication in (i) commencing.

      iii.             that the Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability, and the Cabinet Member for Planning, provide updates to the Growth, Infrastructure & Housing Select Committee, at the Committee’s scheduled meetings, on the progress of the Local Plan process following the closure of the Regulation 19 consultation.