The Growth, Infrastructure & Housing Select Committee were scheduled to meet to discuss the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire, future primary healthcare planning, and the Buckinghamshire Economic Growth Plan 2025 - 2035. The committee was also expected to review performance monitoring data and consider its work programme for the coming months.

Local Plan for Buckinghamshire

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire, with an emphasis on the public consultation. The draft Local Plan consultation documents had been prepared in accordance with the revised version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), together with its accompanying statistical formula for calculating local authority housing need figures, both of which the government issued in December 2024.

The NPPF produces a minimum annual housing need figure for Buckinghamshire of 4,332 homes, or approximately 95,500 homes over the period of the plan to 2045 (with a 5% buffer applied to give flexibility and choice). This represents a 43% increase over the number of households in Buckinghamshire as per the 2021 census.

Through the various call for sites, the potential housing supply identified so far equates to approximately 82,000-99,000 homes (including commitments from existing Local Plan allocations and sites with planning permission).

Seven different strategic approaches have been identified as a means of accommodating this amount of housing:

Approach 1: Brownfield sites within existing towns and villages Approach 2: Growth on the edge of existing main towns Approach 3: New Towns Approach 4: Development at transport hubs Approach 5: Expansion near key employment areas Approach 6: Limited expansion of villages Approach 7: Expanding urban areas on the edge of Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire has a large population of gypsies and travellers. The draft Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment identifies a need for 681 pitches in the plan period. Of these, 516 pitches are needed in the first 10 years of the plan. In addition, 38 plots are required for Travelling Showpeople.

The Local Plan needs to help deliver land and premises to support economic growth. The Employment Land Review identifies five economic scenarios for forecasting future employment growth. The overall level of growth needed is 219 hectares (ha) of new land to 2045. Employment needs vary according to the business sector; 33.5ha is needed for offices, research and development, and 185.8ha is needed for industrial and warehousing and/or distribution. Taking account of existing commitments in current Local Plans, this results in a net target employment need of 45.9 hectares.

To meet employment needs, 6 different approaches have been identified:

Approach 1 - Expansion at Strategic Employment Sites (Silverstone, Westcott and Pinewood and continued delivery of employment growth at Woodlands) Approach 2 - New employment within urban expansions and new settlements Approach 3 - Small-scale employment sites promoted through the 'calls for sites' Approach 4 - Modern Economy uses including data centres Approach 5 - Intensification and expansion at existing 'key employment sites' Approach 6 - Utilising town centres to support regeneration.

In addition to the spatial strategy, there are a series of draft Development Management policies. These cover a range of issues relating to: Housing, Economy, Natural Environment, Historic Environment, Transport and Infrastructure.

Future Primary Healthcare Planning

The Growth, Infrastructure and Housing and the Health & Adult Social Care select committees produced a joint review into Planning for Future Primary Healthcare in Buckinghamshire in April 2024. The committee was scheduled to consider the progress made in implementing the recommendations made by the review group in the report which it submitted to Cabinet and the Integrated Care Board.

The recommendations included:

• Creating a shared vision for Primary Care in Buckinghamshire.
• Writing to the Secretary of State for Health to highlight the barriers and inadequacies of the current funding formula.
• Identifying the co-resourcing of a key role to assist in the creation of a vision for future healthcare planning.
• Updating Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) guidance for Town and Parish councils.
• Benchmarking against comparable authorities in order to assess development of the Buckinghamshire JSNA¹, identify gaps and improvements and improve the Buckinghamshire provision, and specifically explore the development of Buckinghamshire bitesize housing growth digests
• Updating annually the quality and consistency of data which is used to inform service and estates planning
• Reviewing how the data contained within the latest Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment can be used to inform the next Local Plan.
• The GPPA² Enabler Lead (Estates), once appointed, should be the key link to the ICB Primary Care Estates team and be included in all future discussions around Primary Care Estates in Buckinghamshire.
• The ICB should formally assess the feasibility of increasing staffing levels in their Primary Care Estates team and consider including Data Analysts, in order to facilitate the development and delivery of a Primary Care Estates Plan at place as well as at the strategic level
• Buckinghamshire Council should formally assess how key staff members from the Planning and Public Health teams might work collaboratively with the enhanced ICB team, mentioned above, in the short and medium term.
• As a matter of urgency, further improvements need to be made to the toolkit to ensure the results can be used to inform future estates planning.
• The Buckinghamshire Executive Partnership (BEP) should commission a working group drawn from the ICB and the Council's estates teams and the GPPA.

Buckinghamshire Economic Growth Plan 2025 - 2035

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of the Buckinghamshire Economic Growth Plan 2025 - 2035 after its approval by Cabinet.

The plan sets out the key investment propositions which will drive productivity growth and support the local economy. It enables engagement with Government, national agencies and local partners to invest in Buckinghamshire.

The plan aims to:

• Increase Buckinghamshire's economic productivity growth to above 2% per year by 2035.
• Grow the tradeable economy which includes building on Buckinghamshire's internationally significant economic assets and clusters
• Support Government in achieving its economic growth mission
• Align opportunities with the Industrial Strategy and its sector plans
• Promote investment pipeline of priority projects that have specific significance for enabling growth.
• Seek investment from the public and private sector to maintain areas of comparative advantage and address infrastructure gaps, boosting productivity in Buckinghamshire regionally and nationally.

The plan has four priorities:

• Growing high value sectors
• Enhancing place and infrastructure
• Investing in people and skills
• Fostering innovation

Performance Monitoring Q4 2024 to 2025

The committee members were scheduled to discuss the Q4 performance report for the year 2024 to 2025 for the following portfolios: Leader, Planning, Housing, and Culture & Leisure.

The report included data on:

• The number of new businesses registered.
• The percentage of the working age population that are claiming unemployment benefits.
• The percentage of planning enforcement notice appeals successfully defended.
• The number of uncommitted s106[^4] contributions that must be used within two years.
• The percentage of building regulation applications checked within 21 days.
• The percentage of major planning applications decided on time.
• The percentage of non-major planning applications decided on time.
• The percentage of major planning applications overturned on appeal.
• The percentage of non-major planning applications overturned on appeal.
• The percentage of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Liability Notices issued within 12 weeks of planning permission being granted.
• The percentage of households in substantive temporary accommodation.
• The average time between submission of a valid Disabled Facilities Grant application and a decision.
• The percentage of food hygiene interventions completed (A-C rated premises) against the total due in the annual inspection plan.
• The number of rough sleepers.
• The number of applicants with/expecting children who have been in non-self-contained B&B accommodation for longer than 6 weeks.
• The number of households on the Council's Housing Register (Bucks Home Choice).
• The financial impact on residents as a result of scams intervention (direct & future savings).
• The number of library information enquiries (signposting and referral).
• Engagement with Archives through social media and in-person visits.
• The number of visits to country parks.
• The number of visits to main cultural venues.
• The number of visits to leisure centres and pools.
• The number of electronic resources were loaned from libraries.

Work Programme

The Committee was expected to consider the work programme and agree the items for the next meeting which is taking place on Tuesday 18th November 2025.