Developers offer £3million community benefits package

The planning enquiry into the proposed development of 175 dwellings between Little Horwood Road and Shipton will start at 10.00am on 7th December at, The Oculus, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF. The previous application for this site was refused and the Town Council and AVDC continue to oppose the proposals despite some amendments by the developer.

Before the enquiry concludes the Planning Inspector must receive details of what conditions AVDC would apply and what community benefits the applicant would provide IF he were to grant permission. We understand that Gladman Developments are proposing a package which has an estimated value of around £3,000.000 and includes the following.

£1.2 million subsidy for a new half hourly bus service to Milton Keynes

£1 million (est) contribution for Secondary Education (This goes to the County Council – not Winslow)

£100k contribution to the Primary Care Trust for improvements to Winslow’s health centre and Norden House surgery

£500k towards a new Community Centre (This would add to the £600+k that the Banner Homes development will deliver)

£100k for traffic calming in Elmfields Gate, Magpie Way and at Shipton hamlet. (subject to a residents survey)

£100k in contributions for Library and Adult Education provision (again this would go to Bucks County Council – not Winslow)There would also be a play area and youth shelter on the development, and a contribution to future on-site landscape maintenance.

This is an attractive package of potential benefits for the town and would go some way to off-set the impact of the development if permission is given. However, residents have made it clear that they do not wish to see more major development and in any event this is not a suitable site. Little Horwood Road forms a clear boundary to the East of Winslow and we are concerned that if permission were granted here then we could be faced with more applications for development right up to the railway line.

The Town Council have over £600,000 to come in ‘off-site leisure contribution’ from Banner Homes in respect of the Verney Road Development and this, together with a possible £500,000 if the Shipton development were given permission would cover the basic cost of a new, purpose built community centre. With a potential 20% increase in the size of the town there is no doubt that a new purpose built facility would be a real benefit to the community. However, even if the offer was for twice as much it still wouldn’t; change the basic planning issue and that is that development beyond Little Horwood road would constitute ‘development in the open countryside’.

If the Planning Inspector decides to approve the application we will have to ensure that all of the proposed community benefits are actually delivered.

County Tories ‘scared of the truth’

The controlling Tory Group on Bucks County Council prevented the Lib Dems from speaking at last weeks Budget settting meeting because they are afraid of hearing the truth says Winslow Lib Dem Councillor Llew Monger. ” At the public hearing of the budget plans a few weeks ago it was obvious that several members of the Tory Cabinet simply didn’t understand their brief let alone the potential consequences of the budget they were putting forward. Time after time they were unable to answer questions posed by members of the Liberal Democrat opposition team” At the Budget meeting of the full Council last Thursday the Tory Chairman prevented the Liberal Democrats from having any proper opportunity to debate the budget resulting in a walk-out of all the Lib Dem Councillors. ” This is what happens when you get a virtual one- party state which has ruled uninterupted for 120 years. The appaling Tory mismanagement of recent years has left us with a Council which still has as many employees as it did when Milton Keynes was part of the County. There has been no effort to manage staff levels down to an appropriate level and we are now faced with massive redundancies to catch up. This is an awful situation for the staff who will be losing their jobs and the local residents who will be having to put up with reduced services.”

Lib Dems slam Tory snub to democracy

Liberal Democrat County Councillors led by Cllr Mary Baldwin, the Liberal Democrat leader at Bucks CC, walked out of the Budget debate at the County Council last Thursday following a heated exchange on the right of the Liberal Democrats to speak in the annual Council Tax setting debate. Cllr Baldwin said “we have objected to the way the Council meetings were run for a long time even making a formal complaint after the November meeting to the Monitoring Officer. That time it was after a series of Council meetings where the Liberal Democrat’s were not being given a chance to speak. I was reassured then that it would not happen again by the head of legal services. However yet again the Chairman was biased against the Liberal Democrats and stopped us from taking part fully at one of the most important meetings of the council – the annual budget meeting.”

Cllr Baldwin continued “The Tories have one rule for themselves and one for the opposition. The Tories have been in power for 120 years, and just ride roughshod over our democratic right to hold them to account for how they are spending tax-payer’s money. The Tory action meant we could not represent out constituents properly. We had no alternative but to leave in an attempt to make them realise that democracy is vital and that we represent the voice of about 65000 residents of Buckinghamshire. It is our job to make sure that their voices are heard and we were prevented from doing this. The Liberal Democrats view is that we were telling them home truths and hitting them where it hurts and exposing the devastating affect on frontline services this budget would have and they didn’t like listening to the truth.”

The Tories have since claimed that the Liberal Democrats were electioneering. “This is not the case and is an insult to democracy” said Liberal Democrat Councillor Julia Wassell who represents part of High Wycombe, “as an opposition it is our job to challenge the leadership and make sure decisions are based on fact. The budget meeting is one of the most important of the year and for the Chairman to clearly favour the Tories and not let the Liberal Democrats speak is outrageous.” Cllr Raj Khan said “We had held several meetings on the 3.9% budget figure and knew the outcomes of this would be service cuts which we are against. For the leader to change that budget to 3.7% without notice in his speach, while excellent news, makes us very worried about what services that are going to be slashed to reach this figure.” -ends-