Wycombe District Council New Local Plan Options Consultation Feedback Report October 2014 Contents Page Introduction 3 How we engaged the Community 4 Summary of responses - overview 6 Next Steps 14 Appendices 15 Local Plan Options Consultation – Feedback Report October 2014 2 1. Introduction 1.1. Wycombe District Council consulted on the New Local Plan Options Consultation Document over nearly 3 months from February to April 2014. 1.2. The Council began work on the New Wycombe District Local Plan in late 2012. The New Local Plan will set out strategic policies and allocate sites to meet local needs for housing, employment and infrastructure and a range of other issues. 1.3. The New Local Plan will replace the remaining saved policies in our current Local Plan as well as the Core Strategy, and sit alongside the Delivery and Site Allocations Plan which was adopted in July 2013. 1.4. The Council is committed to engaging with communities in the preparation of its plans. The Wycombe Revised Statement of Community Involvement (2012)1 sets out the general principles for involvement in plan making. There are a number of stages when the community will be able to get involved in the preparation of the new Local Plan (see section 3.). 1.5. The purpose of the Options consultation stage was to share the issues and strategic options for the District’s future growth with local communities, and discuss where and how that growth should happen. 1.6. This report: • provides an overview of how we sought to involve people in the consultation (section 2); • sets out an overview of the written responses we received to the options and questions we set out in the Options Consultation Document (section 3); • briefly summarises feedback we received from other aspects of the consultation (section 4); • briefly outlines the next steps.. A lot more detail on the feedback we received is set out in either appendices to this report or in separately published reports. 1.7. At this stage it does not contain the responses made in relation to the Development Management questions (44 to 58). This will be produced at a later date. 1.8. The Council received 1749 responses to the consultation, which equated to 6969 individual comments on a range of issues, over 2000 people attended the consultation events, 111 people recorded video messages and we received 2 petitions (1 in relation to the proposed Junction 3a and the other in relation to retaining Buckmaster playing fields). 1 http://www.wycombe.gov.uk/council-services/planning-and-buildings/planning-policy/wycombe-development- framework/community-involvement.aspx Local Plan Options Consultation – Feedback Report October 2014 3 2. How we engaged the Community 2.1. The consultation ran from 3rd February 2014 until 21st April 2014 and we tried to engage with people in a number of different ways. 2.2. The main vehicle for the consultation was the Options Consultation Document which set out a number of different options for meeting our emerging objectively assessed housing and economic needs, identified key sites and locations for growth and options for a range of development management issues. 2.3. The consultation report was supported by a summary newsletter which was intended to be delivered to every household and business in the District – 77,000 in total. The Council contracted the Post Office to undertake this delivery between 3rd and 10th February, in time to publicise consultation events. 2.4. The consultation was originally planned to end on 4th April but was extended to allow for the Easter holidays. Publicity 2.5. In addition to the distribution of the summary newsletter, the consultation was publicised through briefing the local media. The Bucks Free Press carried three pages of lead editorial coverage about the Local Plan at the beginning of February and there was significant coverage about the issues throughout the consultation period in the paper. We also took out full page advertisements in the Bucks Free Press and The Star, as well as featuring information about the Local Plan in our residents' magazine, Wycombe District Times, which was delivered to all 72,000 homes in the district early March. 2.6. We also contacted everyone on our consultation database (over 900 stakeholders), including parish and town councils, residents associations and other local groups. 2.7. Hard copies of the consultation document were made available in all local libraries and area information offices along with posters to advertise the consultation generally and the consultation events. All the consultation material was made available on the Council’s website. Meetings 2.8. Six evening meetings were organised across the District, during February and March 2014. They generally followed a day time exhibition, where the public had the opportunity to discuss the consultation materials with planning officers. 2.9. The following public meetings were organised by the Council: South West Chiltern 26 February 2014, Stokenchurch North West Chiltern 27 February 2014, Hughenden Valley Marlow 4th March 2014, Marlow High Wycombe 6th March 2014, High Wycombe Chepping Wye Valley 10th March 2014 and 24th March 2014,Bourne End. Local Plan Options Consultation – Feedback Report October 2014 4 Princes Risborough 17th March 2014, Princes Risborough 2.10. Council officers also attended the following public meetings arranged by parishes/ town councils or local residents associations. The Council gave presentations at these meetings. • WDC Stakeholders briefing • WDC Rural Forum • Wooburn and Bourne End Parish • Little Marlow Parish Council • Longwick Parish Council • Princes Risborough Town Council • Pimms Actions Group • Marlow Bottom Parish Council • Hazlemere Parish Council • Bledlow cum Saunderton Parish Council • Buckmasters Residents meeting • Penn and Tylers Green Residents Association New Media 2.11. All consultation material was available on the Council’s New Local Plan web pages and the Council used Twitter (@wycombedcnlp #wycombedcnlp) to provide regular updates on the events and our weekly planning bulletin. 2.12. We also used two “Videoboxes” which included an interactive questionnaire to capture people’s views of the area, priorities and future aspirations as well as recording a video. These were placed in the busiest shopping centre in High Wycombe, for three days, including a Saturday. Market Research 2.13. In conjunction with Council organised events we also commissioned QA Research to undertake a Market Research Survey based on the newsletter the Council produced. This involved focus groups, a telephone survey and on-street interviews. Local Plan Options Consultation – Feedback Report October 2014 5 3. Summary of Written Responses - Overview 3.1. This section sets out the overall written response to the consultation and provides an overview of the issues that received most written responses. 3.2. Overall the Council received 1749 written responses from individuals and organisations which equated to 6969 individual representations on specific issues, sites and options. Detailed summaries of these responses are set out at Appendix 1, and are set out in the same order that they were presented in the Options Consultation Document. , They are grouped together by Site, Question or Issue that was commented on. Comments on overall level of growth 3.3. The main themes of housing and economy raised a number of issues. The basis for housing figures in the consultation document was challenged both at public meetings and in written responses, with concerns that the population growth which was driving the housing needs figure was not local growth but immigration based, there were also concerns that the methodology used was not in line with the National Planning Policy Framework. Concerns were also raised about the fact that the housing figures were based upon a theoretical need rather than on an assessment of capacity or availability of land, in addition there were concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed housing figures. 3.4. There were concerns that the economic forecast was too optimistic overall and the logic behind matching homes and jobs was also challenged. There were also concerns that the role of changing work practices, commuting patterns and existing vacant properties had not been properly factored into the amount of new land that was required for business. The strategy for meeting economic needs was also challenged with a range of varying views on what the strategy should be. 3.5. In addition concerns were also raised across the district in relation to transport impacts of the plan both in terms of extra traffic, the impact on the existing road network and the danger of making existing problems worse. 3.6. Linked to this were concerns about the impact on other types of infrastructure such as schools, health facilities and availability of public transport. A range of environmental concerns were also raised in terms of the impact on the quality of the countryside, wider environmental impacts and flooding. Issues with the highest level of response 3.7. Overall the highest level of responses were received in relation to: • Development at Gomm Valley and Ashwells (786 responses) • A proposed new motorway Junction 3a (490 responses) • Expansion at Princes Risborough (468 responses) • Green Belt Review (439 responses) Local Plan Options Consultation – Feedback Report October 2014 6 • Development within existing Urban Areas and Main Villages (369 responses) • Slate Meadow (231 responses) 3.8. The main issues raised in relation to development at Gomm Valley and Ashwells include traffic impacts on the local and wider road network, concerns about impacts on existing infrastructure which is seen as being currently inadequate, the impact on the character of Penn and Tylers Green, and the landscape impact of developing in this area as well as the wildlife impact. 3.9. The proposed new motorway Junction 3a raised a significant number of objections. Issues raised included the need, feasibility, deliverability and impacts on the surrounding area of the proposal.