Planning

This page contains useful information on the following:

Planning Applications

Planning Applications are determined by Buckinghamshire Council by their Planning Committee or Officers with delegated powers. However, the Parish Council is consulted by Buckinghamshire Council because of its local knowledge.

Existing and previous planning applications can be viewed on Buckinghamshire Council's website. Comments can also be made via the site on any applications that are currently out for consultation.

Agendas and minutes from Haddenham Parish Council planning meetings can be found on our Planning Committee page.

Future Haddenham

The Neighbourhood Planning Team has been looking at how it can respond to future growth proposals in our local area, following a period of local dissatisfaction surrounding the level of appropriate infrastructure accompanying approved planning applications.

Due to Haddenham's access to a train station and excellent connections, alongside the national growth agenda, future growth is inevitable. As a result, the Planning Team has concluded that in order to have a meaningful impact when responding to future growth proposals, it needs to think further ahead, post 2050, so that development can be a part of a wider vision for growing Haddenham sustainably in the long term.

Rather than waiting for the Bucks Council Local Plan Team to decide how Haddenham should develop, speculative proposals can be submitted to Bucks Council. The Team has decided that the best way to ensure local influence is by undertaking scenario planning, consulting with key stakeholders, to validate plausible growth scenarios that are in the preferred direction of the local community and include thinking about infrastructure pressures and how they can be resolved. This preferred vision for growth can then be delivered through the Parish Council when responding to planning applications and the emerging Local Plan, as well as being considered when preparing the new Neighbourhood Plan.
The Neighbourhood Planning Team aims to:

Prepare for likely future growth - helping the village react proactively rather than reactively

Support infrastructure-led planning - testing growth options against infrastructure capacity (e.g. schools, drainage, roads)

Improve deliverability and realism - consulting the availability and viability of sites with landowners

Strengthen local legitimacy and influence - include residents and stakeholders in future growth strategy to build community trust, police quality and enhance the Council's influence with Bucks Council and developers

We want local views to inform the future of Haddenham and have your say in the development and growth of the village, please see our drop-in sessions below.

25th September - Haddenham Airfield Pavilion - 15:00 - 20:00

27th September - Village Hall Conference Room - 10:00 - 15.00

Streetscape Project

What is the Streetscape project?

The Streetscape project is a village-wide study reviewing options to create a better balance of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles within Haddenham, in order to make it easier and safer to move around the village.

Haddenham Parish Council, with funding support from Buckinghamshire Council, appointed placemaking consultants PJA to look into options to transform key areas in the village to improve access and movement.

The study builds on the work undertaken as part of the Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan and seeks to address the following issues affecting the village:

Creating a less vehicle-dominated environment
Managing current traffic issues and the likely impact of future growth
Vehicle speeding problems
Prioritising walking & cycling
Parking problems

More information on the project can be found on our Streetscape project page

Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

Neighbourhood planning was introduced through the Localism Act 2011 and Neighbourhood planning legislation came into effect in April 2012.

Neighbourhood planning was brought in to give communities power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development and growth of their local area.

Development of Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan (HNP)

In January 2013, The Neighbourhood Plan team were formed as a sub-committee of Haddenham Parish Council Planning Committee.

Work then began on engagement with the community and development of a plan addressing local priorities. Consultation was undertaken through a wide variety of methods including leaflets, surveys, presentations and workshops. For further details, see the HNP consultation statement.

Haddenham Parish Council applied to Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) on 30 May 2013 for designation of the Haddenham Parish ward as the Neighbourhood Plan area. This was approved by AVDC on 31 Jul 2013.

The HNP was submitted to AVDC for examination in January 2015 and publicised for comments for 6 weeks until 17 March 2015.

On 16 July 2015 a referendum on the plan was held. The residents of Haddenham voted overwhelmingly in favour of the area’s neighbourhood plan. In total, 1712 people voted ‘yes’ and 273 voted ‘no’. The turnout was 51.3%. Over 86% of those voting voted in favour of the plan.

The Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan was formally made part of Aylesbury Vale District Council’s development plan on 11 September 2015.

What does the Plan cover?

The Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan covers the period 2013-33 and includes policies on the following:

Children, Young People, Education and Schools

Health, Wellbeing and Social Care

Sports, recreation and Leisure

Retail Businesses and Jobs

Housing and Development*

*Please note following a High Court order on the 7^th March 2016, the Housing and Development chapter of the Haddenham Neighbourhood Plan has been quashed and can no longer be given material weight in planning decisions.

Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan

On 15th September 2021, Buckinghamshire Council voted to adopt the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP).

The VALP replaces the previous local plan adopted in 2004 and sets out a vision for future development across Aylesbury Vale.

The local plan is the basis for all planning decisions and sets out how and where land within Aylesbury Vale can be used to:

meet housing need (allocates land for 30,134 homes)
provide key infrastructure elements
protect and enhance the area’s key natural features
incorporate climate control policies
provide employment land

The VALP will remain in force until it is superseded by the new Buckinghamshire Local Plan in 2025.

More information is available on Buckinghamshire Council's website.

Local Plan for Buckinghamshire

The Buckinghamshire Local Plan will supersede the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan and allocate sites for development within Buckinghamshire up to 2040.

Buckinghamshire Council asked land owners to submit sites for consideration as part of 2 calls for brownfield sites consultations in 2021, followed by a wider call for sites consultation in 2022. A large number of sites have been submitted for consideration around Haddenham. An interactive map shows all the sites submitted across Buckinghamshire.

A consultation on the draft Vision and Objectives for the Local Plan closed on 4 June 2023.

The Vision and Objectives set out the context for new development to 2040. They set out key principles for the environment, climate change, transport, infrastructure, new housing and the local economy.

Further information on the Buckinghamshire Local Plan can be found on Buckinghamshire Council's website.