Save Our Green Belt

The Beaconsfield Society’s Save Our Green Belt (SOGB) campaign began in 2015, when we were monitoring the then emerging South Bucks Local Plan as it passed through the various committee stages at South Bucks District Council (SBDC). Since November 2016 we have held many big SOGB public meetings which resulted in our comprehensive responses to each of the initial consultation phases of the daft Plan, as it became known. We kept the town informed throughout, via emails, leaflets, posters and presentations, and without this many would not have known of these plans. Residents in their thousands generously supported our campaign, and the town has united behind us to save our Green Belt.

Following the initial consultations, SBDC published the draft Local Plan and it was a shocker. The so-called ‘Option 9’ for Beaconsfield had been included: 1,700 homes, a business park and a travellers’ site on over 100 hectares of Green Belt between Amersham Road and the golf club as well as around Pyebush roundabout, including the cricket club and land on the west side of the A355 approach to J2 of the motorway. The daft Plan also included plans for a supermarket/retail on Altons car park, in addition to other pockets of development in the town such as on Warwick Road car park too.

Additional sites in the Green Belt were also thrown into the hat by their owners/would-be developers for consideration for development, such as more land adjacent to Amersham Road up to and beyond the railway, the Hall Barn land on both sides of the A355 south and along the A40, other Inland Homes land and the Timberstore land.

At that time, our Town Council’s response was very weak. At least 2 of the then Town Councillors fully supported the daft Plan, others supported Hall Barn Green Belt development and we believe still do. Some current Town Councillors positively support development of our Green Belt.

Why did we oppose the daft Plan? Successive governments have sought to force development of Green Belt by requiring Councils to meet “housing targets”. However, close examination revealed that that the method used to calculate the so-called housing targets was deeply flawed, using out-of-date data and artificially increasing the requirement in a misguided attempt to make the housing more affordable. This resulted in the target figure doubling, beyond any real housing need or any realistic population growth. Put simply, the housing target numbers were, and still are, gerrymandered to falsely justify Green Belt release for “housing need”.

We all know that the housing currently being built on our Green Belt (for example at Wilton Park) is not truly affordable, and nor will it be affordable in the future. The case for Green Belt Development fails on both affordability and environmental grounds. We would be losing our natural surroundings and wildlife simply for profit and no community benefit.

As we start down the road of the new Bucks Local Plan consultation process which began in 2025, the fight continues…