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. Each application is discussed at the forthcoming Planning Committee meeting, where it is agreed whether to send an approval, objection, or no objection comment to Buckinghamshire Council.
Planning applications which commenced after the 8th August 2025 can be viewed on Buckinghamshire Council's website. If you wish to make a comment about a planning application, this can also be completed via the site on any application that is currently out for consultation. To view planning applications that commenced prior to the 8th August 2025, you will need to visit the Aylesbury Vale website.
Agendas and minutes from Haddenham Parish Council planning meetings can be found on our Planning Committee page.
Local Plan for Buckinghamshire
The Buckinghamshire Local Plan will supersede the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan and the other district Council plans These allocate sites for development within Buckinghamshire up to 2045.
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. Further to this exercise, central government requested that 95,000 homes were built in Buckinghamshire. This resulted in another call for landowners to put forward land for development and the guidance from central government that planning applications close to train stations would be approved.
Buckinghamshire Council has failed to submit a local plan and therefore cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, a key requirement under national planning rules. As highlighted in a recent letter from Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook MP to Buckinghamshire Council Leader Cllr Steven Broadbent, this triggers the “presumption in favour of sustainable development.”
In simple terms, this means:
- Planning applications are more likely to be approved by default
- Developments linked to national housing targets carry significant weight
- Councils have less control over where housing is built
Without a clear Local Plan in place, this can lead to speculative, developer-led proposals rather than development being guided by a coordinated strategy.
What’s happening now?
Buckinghamshire Council has now moved forward in their new local plan. This upcoming stage requests comments on land that could potentially be used for housing, employment or mixed-use development.
Haddenham
In the ‘New & Expanded Settlements Study’ (page 61: Bucks New and Expanded Settlement Survey ), three potential main development areas around Haddenham are identified.
The study suggests:
- Up to 7,350 new homes could potentially be built
- Around 5,000 homes is considered more likely
View Haddenham's County Councillor Mormina's comments on
Facebook.
Your views matter.
Residents are encouraged to share their opinions through the council survey.
Take part here: Bucks Your Voice Survey
Please consider responding and sharing your thoughts — this process will help shape how Haddenham and Buckinghamshire develop in the years ahead.
Haddenham Parish Council's response to Buckinghamshire Council's Local Plan
Haddenham Parish Council has submitted its formal response to Buckinghamshire Council’s Local Plan Site Selection Consultation, raising significant concerns about the scale of development proposed for the village and the limited engagement with parish councils during the process. For residents who wish to read the detailed submission, a link to the full response is below.
Local Plan Site Selection Consultation - Haddenham Parish Council Submission
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, and held drop-in sessions on the 25th and 27th September 2025.
More information can be found on our Future Haddenham Page.
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 which 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 7th 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.