What Was Proposed?

The Council's responses to the Green Belt Consultation comments that were received before 12 December 2016 have appeared in the Post Preferred Green Belt Options Report of November 2017.

The Council propose to publish a final draft Local Plan in Spring 2018. Clearly that has not happened and the date kept slipping and is still uncertain! Planning Officers had indicated that the new Local Plan is likely to include the Lye Green site being removed from Green Belt and "safeguarded" for future development either after the Plan Period (in 2036) or at any 5 yearly Local Plan Review. Whenever it is finally published this will then result in another period of public consultation. We will try to publish news on this website when we get it. In the meantime, this is a crucial period.

Do NOT assume the lack of news means we have been successful! We were always advised this campaign will be a marathon, not a sprint.

We must keep reminding Councillors of the issue. It is recommended that as many people as possible write to:

• The Head of Chiltern District Council (Isobel Darby) and/or
• Mr John Cheston — Planning Policy and Economic Development Manager of Chiltern & South Bucks District Councils and/or
• The local Member of Parliament (Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP)

in the coming months while we await the Planning Department's response.

When writing to Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP, be sure to congratulate her on her appointment as President of the Buckinghamshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. She has always been a staunch campaigner to protect the Chilterns environment so we can expect the highest level of support from her.

Letters get more attention than emails so PLEASE revert to writing/typing a brief letter. Obviously if you want to copy in your District Councillor it may be more convenient to send a copy of the letter you sent to him/her by email too but again written letters by post is most effective.

Please do not copy and paste from this website. Try to use your own words to express the following sentiments:

• You have been following the public consultation proposing to remove a large site to the North-East of Chesham from the Green Belt and build 900 homes there.
• You registered your objection to this proposal either by making comments during the consultation period to the Planning Dept and/or by adding your name to the Petition organised by the Brown Not Green Group.
• You anxiously await news that this site is NOT going to be brought forward for any further consideration for development or removal from Green Belt designation as:
  • You are concerned about the adverse effects it will have on the whole town (increased traffic, congestion, air quality, loss of amenity/open countryside, loss of Lye Green as Chesham sprawls outward, effect on the endangered species of wildlife that have been observed on the land, increased congestion on Tube Station and increased demands on schools, doctors, dentists, etc.).
  • You feel this site is too far from the Town Centre (i.e. it is "unsustainable").
  • There are no "exceptional circumstances" to warrant this site being removed from Green Belt and the proposal is contrary to National Government Guidance.

Conclude by making the following request. This final section is key and must be included:

I therefore write to request that the Council now reconsider the flawed proposal NE of Chesham and request that you remove this land from any further consideration of development or the removal of the land's Green Belt status.

Try to encourage others to write too.

A sample letter can be found here

Please check back on this site regularly as we will try to publish any news updates promptly.

Writing to the newly installed (30/4/18) Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government would not go amiss. It is worth him finding out first hand the strength of feeling from the public around the issue of building in the Green Belt.

To see Chesham Society's list of Local Government contacts click here