An update on the M40

I recently received an update on the work of the M40 Chilterns Environmental Group from Dr Ken Edwards, the group’s chairman and I have enclosed a copy of his letter below.

Aylesbury Housing: Inspector’s Report on Quarrendon Fields

Last month, the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State upheld AVDC’s refusal of planning permission for about 1400 homes, a primary school and other facilities in the so-called Quarrendon Fields area which lies between the approved development areas at Berryfields and Weedon Hill/Buckingham Park.

The documents, including the full text of the Inspector’s report can be seen HERE. The Inspector sets out her reasons for upholding the Council’s decision in paragraphs 121 onwards.

The arguments set out here strike me as very relevant to the current planning application in respect of the so-called Hampden Fields area between  Bedgrove and Weston Turville. I suspect that both AVDC and the development consortium will be looking carefully at the Inspector’s reasoning.

 

Some good news from the Department for Transport!

No, it’s not about HS2, but I was pleased to get a letter from Philip Hammond the other day which told me how much Buckinghamshire was going to get from George Osborne’s £200 million pot-hole repair fund that he announced as part of his Budget Statement last week.

 

Bucks will be getting just under £2.5 million (£2, 489, 970 to be exact). The distribution between the different English local councils is being done according to a Department for Transport formula that takes account of the total length of the road network and its condition. Bucks County Council will have to publish details on its web site by the end of September this year, showing how the extra money is being spent.

At a time of necessary austerity, it’s good to be able to report that some of the Department’s savings have been redirected into funding for these repairs. And I also think that we ought to salute our own County Council Leader, David Shakespeare, who I know has been pressing central government for a dedicated pot-hole repair fund in recognition of the severe damage done to local roads by the very cold weather of the last two winters.