Hands off the AONB - Letter to the Bucks Free Press

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 1st Jun 2008

Dear Editor,

At its meeting on 13th May, Chiltern District Council's Conservative Cabinet considered where to allow the building of 2,900 new dwellings. Under the South East Regional Plan, Chiltern District Council must build 145 new dwellings per year over a 20 year period. In delivering this politically driven top down housing target, it has been suggested by some that it is acceptable to build in the heart of the Chiltern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on new green field sites.

At the last Council housing and planning committee meeting for example, the Conservative councillor for Little Chalfont specifically "queried the exclusion of Missenden and Prestwood" from the range of options currently being considered by the Council. But green field development around Great Missenden and Prestwood is and should be excluded precisely because they are at the heart of the AONB. That status should mean something.

When I stood as a Council candidate in 2005 and 2007 this was a very big issue for local voters.

The fact is that there are already intense pressures on the AONB from the development of Aylesbury and Stoke Mandeville to our north and from Chesham to our east, without Chiltern District Council now contemplating a policy of further AONB loss around Great Missenden and Prestwood. Any green field development around Great Missenden and Prestwood would set a very dangerous precedent for further ribbon type developments extending into open countryside and yet further despoilment of the AONB. Once it's gone it's gone forever.

At the last two elections, protecting the green belt around the villages was a key issue raised by voters. We will be watching closely to see what steps the Conservative District Council now takes to ensure that the AONB around Great Missenden and Prestwood remains protected from new development.

Yours sincerely,

Seb Berry

Chairman Great Missenden, Prestwood and Heath End Liberal Democrats