Future Haddenham

What is the Future Haddenham Community Consultation?

We want to talk with residents, local businesses and other stakeholders about the way Haddenham has grown over the last ten years, and how it might grow in the future.

We want to know more about people’s views on future growth and how that may impact local facilities, including leisure and green spaces, education, medical, and transport infrastructure.

Why is the Council thinking about more development in the village?

Haddenham is currently attractive to developers because the presumption in favour of development applies in Buckinghamshire. This happens when:

There is no Local or Neighbourhood Plan that is less than five years old
The housing land supply is less than 5.00 years (for the old Aylesbury Vale area the 5YHLs is currently 3.62 years)

Haddenham is also a village with access to a train station and the wider road network, and there is a national growth agenda that sees our type of settlement as a sustainable location for growth. Land around the village has also been made available to Buckinghamshire Council by landowners for them to consider allocating in their next Local Plan, and the Buckinghamshire Local Plan is required to make provision for more new homes than ever before.

All of these circumstances are weighed in the planning balance when decisions are made about whether a new development should be given planning permission.

Recently, the village has seen a series of planning applications being approved, and more applications are being made. It is difficult to see how decision-makers will come to different conclusions about whether to approve applications than previously, even though this means the village becoming much bigger than it was.

Why is the Council focusing on the impact on infrastructure?

The Parish Council and local people are concerned that the current level of infrastructure cannot cope with more development. Recently, when applications have been approved, they haven’t included new infrastructure on site, instead, developers have given a financial contribution to be spent on infrastructure at another time.

We want to move infrastructure to the top of the agenda – exploring the possibilities about what infrastructure should be provided on different scales of growth and whether this can be achieved.

What can we do?

Taking all of these things into consideration, the Parish Council has recognised that more growth of the village is highly likely and is undertaking some scenario thinking to consider how it needs to respond to future planning applications or growth plans.

One way of thinking about the future is through scenario planning.
• Scenario planning is a way of thinking about the long-term future of Haddenham
• It is not about predicting the future but looking at the different ways Haddenham may evolve to inform a choice about which path to take
• Each scenario is framed as distinct and plausible stories to help make better decisions - usually difficult decisions requiring trade-offs
• Scenario planning enables a richer understanding of when and where step changes in supporting infrastructure need to be planned for as an integral issue, not an afterthought

How can I take part?