The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers a 96-hectare site north-west of Wing for a minimum of 1,630 homes, all expected within the plan period, plus 5 Gypsy and Traveller pitches and around 1,000 sqm of town centre uses. It requires a primary school, contributions to off-site education and GP services, and new roads including the Wing North Spine Road and Wing West Link Road. Development must protect Wing Conservation Area and the Castle Hill Scheduled Monument, provide buffers to Local Wildlife Sites, and follow a site-wide masterplan.
Transport & travel
Roads, rail, buses, walking and cycling, parking, EV charging and major schemes such as East West Rail and HS2.
188 sections of the plan, in document order.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers around 92.8 hectares at South Aylesbury for approximately 1,350 homes and 5 Gypsy and Traveller pitches, made up of five land parcels planned together. It requires a 2FE primary school, a local centre, a community building with a possible police touchdown facility, and 50% green infrastructure. Land is safeguarded for the Aylesbury Southeast Link Road, now under construction, with financial contributions towards it. Detailed flood modelling is required, including measures to help protect Stoke Mandeville Hospital from surface water flooding.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers a 113-hectare site at south-west Aylesbury for 1,400 homes and 5 Gypsy and Traveller pitches, with a 2FE primary school, on-site health and community facilities, a linear park and sports pitches. It requires a Southwest Link Road connecting the Stoke Mandeville relief road to the A418 Oxford Road, plus strategic flood defences and drainage. Outline permission was granted in May 2026, with construction expected from 2028, delivering fifty homes initially then 140 per year. A buffer is needed against noise from HS2.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers three parcels totalling around 242.6 hectares north of the A41 at Aylesbury, including Aylesbury Woodlands. It provides approximately 1,700 homes plus sixty extra care units, around 102,800 sqm of employment floorspace including the Aylesbury Woodlands Enterprise Zone, a 4,000 sqm local centre, a two-form entry primary school, a 6,000 sqm hotel and conference facility and a 16-hectare sports village. Primary access must come from the Eastern Link Road, at least 50% of the site must be green infrastructure, and employment land is safeguarded from other uses.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers around 225.5 hectares south of the A41 at Aylesbury, mainly Hampden Fields, for approximately 3,000 homes plus a sixty-bed care home or extra care facility. It includes about 6.90 hectares of employment land, two primary schools with pre-schools, a local centre, a health facility and 108.34 hectares of green infrastructure. A dualled Southern Link Road between the A413 and A41 is required, along with town-wide flood defences. Outline permission has been granted and work has started, with careful phasing needed across the merged sites.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section explains the evidence behind the sport and leisure policy. The Playing Pitch Strategy and Built Facilities Strategy inform decisions on protecting and providing facilities. Sport England's calculators estimate how many pitches and buildings a new development's population would need and the associated costs. Where a scheme is too small to justify a whole new pitch or facility, a contribution towards improving an existing site is recommended instead. The approach follows national planning policy on access to sport for health and wellbeing.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section explains which buildings count as community facilities and how any loss must be justified. The list includes local convenience stores, community halls, pubs, libraries, places of worship, local health facilities and nurseries, though it is not exhaustive. Applicants seeking to close a facility must supply at least two years of audited accounts, show they explored ways to improve viability, and normally provide five years of maintenance evidence. A marketing statement must set out the asking price, any price changes and all offers received.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This policy supports the provision, improvement and protection of arts and cultural facilities and creative industries. Proposals must suit the character of the area, avoid harm to residents, public safety and neighbouring uses, and consider access by all forms of transport. Temporary arts uses of vacant sites are supported in principle. Losing an existing arts or cultural facility will be resisted unless it is shown to be unviable, replaced with an improved offer, clearly beneficial to remove, or offset by a contribution to another local venue.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section explains the arts and culture policy. It applies the agent of change principle, meaning whoever introduces new development near an existing venue is responsible for managing its impact on that venue. Arts and cultural facilities include performing and visual arts studios, creative workspaces, museums, theatres, cinemas and music venues. The plan notes that arts and culture are important to the local economy and identity, and supports temporary use of empty buildings for pop-up exhibitions and performances.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers around seventy-nine hectares north of Martin Dalby Way on the edge of Aylesbury for an assumed 3,150 homes. It requires a local centre, a 3FE primary school, a community hall, healthcare provision and at least 50% multi-functional green infrastructure, plus a new linear park active travel route. Development must protect the Quarrendon Scheduled Monument immediately to the south, including its grazing regime, and be landscape-led given the site's open, elevated position. Flood modelling of Hardwick Brook and Weedon Ditch is required.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers Friarscroft car park, a multi-storey public car park in west Aylesbury town centre close to the train station, for an assumed 300 homes. Redevelopment must be a well-designed, high-density scheme making good use of this brownfield site, and should explore providing fewer car parking spaces. Proposals must show that the public parking is either underused or can be re-provided, managed or offset elsewhere, and demonstrate improved sustainable travel options. The scheme should complement neighbouring regeneration areas.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers The Gateway, a 20.6-hectare brownfield site in Aylesbury currently occupied by Council offices and surface car parking, a twenty-minute walk from the train station. It is allocated for 4,000 sqm of town centre and office floorspace plus an assumed 1,455 homes, with new public spaces and potentially fewer parking spaces. Development should bring culture and leisure-led uses, landmark buildings designed to soften the impact of height, active ground-floor frontages and better pedestrian links towards the town centre. An early masterplan is required.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section continues the detailed renewable energy requirements. Wind schemes on the best farmland need a sequential site assessment and must allow farming to continue on most of the site. Battery storage must show fire safety measures and should sit near substations or grid nodes. Major developments must be heat network ready where a district heat network exists or is planned. Farm bioenergy must use genuine waste rather than energy crops, and hydrogen, hydro and carbon capture schemes each have their own safety and location tests.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers the Exchange Street car park in Aylesbury town centre for a mixed development of 2,000 sqm of town centre uses, 2,000 sqm of offices, around 450 homes, new public realm and 150 parking spaces. The site has been a surface car park since around 2010 and sits next to Hale Leys Shopping Centre and The Exchange leisure quarter. Development must enhance the setting of listed buildings in Market Square and the Aylesbury Conservation Area, keep the mature horse chestnut trees on Exchange Street, and improve pedestrian links across the town centre.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This policy sets detailed requirements for different types of large renewable energy scheme. Solar farms on brownfield land are supported where contamination is addressed and impacts such as glint, glare and noise are avoided. On greenfield land, developers must justify the site, avoid prominent ridgelines and high-value habitats, keep hedgerows and show the best farmland is not needed for food production. Solar is also supported on former quarries, capped landfill, marginal land, transport corridors and car park canopies. Wind energy should go on brownfield or lower-grade agricultural land.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers the Royal Mail delivery office site, just over one hectare next to Aylesbury town centre, for an assumed 80 homes and 420 sqm of town centre retail. New buildings should match neighbouring heights and follow a design brief reflecting the local area. Access would be from a single upgraded junction off Upper Hundreds Way, with a new at-grade pedestrian crossing near the existing subway. Because of past uses, a contamination investigation is required, along with ecological assessments for birds and bats and a noise assessment.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers Hale Leys Shopping Centre, a 0.6-hectare site in the heart of Aylesbury town centre, for a mixed development of 4,821 sqm of employment space, 4,821 sqm of retail and an assumed 220 homes. Ground floors should stay in retail use with apartments above. Development must provide active frontages towards Market Square and the High Street, enhance the setting of nearby listed buildings and the conservation area, and follow a design brief consistent with Aylesbury Garden Town principles. Keeping retail on the site is seen as vital for a vibrant town centre.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers Gomm Valley and Ashwells in High Wycombe for an assumed 646 homes, 1.2 hectares of employment land and a one-form entry primary school. Development must be landscape-led and keep an undeveloped gap of at least 200 metres between High Wycombe and Tylers Green. The valley contains sensitive wildlife sites, including Gomm Valley SSSI, ancient woodland and chalk grassland, so buffers and a significant biodiversity net gain are required. A traffic-calmed spine road linking Cock Lane and Gomm Road is needed, and parts of the site already have planning permission.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers Terriers Farm, a 24-hectare site on the northern edge of High Wycombe, for an assumed 410 homes, which already have planning permission subject to legal agreements. The site must include a sport and recreation hub extending Hazlemere Recreation Ground, helping keep the development physically separate from Hazlemere. Development should retain the main north-south hedgerow, field boundaries, the pond and a wildlife corridor towards King's Wood, and contribute financially to the new primary school planned at Gomm Valley. Road, junction, bus stop and footpath improvements are also required.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section explains how the employment site protection policy works in practice. Marketing must run for at least 12 months, followed by a further 6 months at a lower price if no interest emerges. Decisions on changes of use will consider alternative employment sites nearby, effects on neighbouring uses and town centres, and demand for other non-residential uses. The policy is informed by the South Warwickshire Affordable Business Study (2026) and follows national policy on supporting economic growth.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation sets out plans for an assumed 375 homes and up to 7,000 square metres of employment space at Sword House and 11 Duke Street in High Wycombe town centre. The 0.86 hectare site includes the Totteridge Road car park and sits a few minutes from the railway station. Sword House would be kept for employment use, mature boundary trees retained, and any lost public parking spaces replaced unless shown to be no longer needed. Better walking and cycling routes to the station are also required.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation supports redeveloping the Easton Street multi-storey car park in High Wycombe for an assumed 160 homes with around 660 square metres of shops or other commercial uses at ground level. The 0.33 hectare site is next to the railway station, so a high-density scheme with fewer parking spaces is expected. The existing parking has been shown to be surplus and does not need replacing. Flood risk is a major constraint, so bedrooms and living spaces should be on the first floor or above.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section explains why affordable workspace is needed. Over 80% of firms in South Warwickshire are micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees, and these are most exposed to rising property costs. The South Warwickshire Affordable Business Study (2026) found a constrained supply of quality office and industrial space, affordability pressures for small firms and start-ups, and limited new development because of viability. Viability testing suggested large industrial sites could deliver 10% affordable workspace at 60% of market rents.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers the Council Offices site on Queen Victoria Road, High Wycombe, for a mixed development of 500 square metres of offices, retail and healthcare plus an assumed 150 homes for NHS key workers. The 1.04 hectare site is in NHS ownership beside the River Wye. Because of high flood risk, housing is not allowed in the most flood-prone areas, and developers must produce detailed flood modelling approved by the Environment Agency before applying.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation proposes an assumed 270 homes and around 1,125 square metres of town centre retail on the former Office Outlet site in High Wycombe. The 0.45 hectare brownfield site is close to the railway station, so a high-density, landmark scheme with fewer car parking spaces is expected. Housing must avoid the highest flood risk zones, and developers must carry out detailed surface water modelling and follow the Council's flood risk guidance for the site.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation supports an assumed 100 homes at Abbey Barn North, High Wycombe, designed to fit the site's bowl-shaped, sloping landscape. Conventional houses with gardens are not considered appropriate; innovative homes set within the landscape are required instead. The plans require a buffer of at least 15 metres to Deangarden Wood, retention of chalk grassland, new footpaths, cycle and bridleway links, and contributions to road, bus and path improvements. A development brief has already been prepared for the site.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation covers land off Amersham Road, including Tralee Farm, at Hazlemere for an assumed 350 homes. The layout must keep a sense of separation between Hazlemere and Holmer Green, and the existing orchard, woodland at Badger Way and field boundaries should be retained and linked by green space. Access would come from the A404 and Wycombe Road, with walking and cycling routes through the site. The development must also fund the extra primary school places it creates.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This section introduces the policies on employment and road freight. It notes that employment sites can harm the road network when transport is not considered from the earliest stage, and that growing demand for large-scale storage and logistics sites has brought a matching increase in road freight traffic. The policies support strategic objectives on jobs and economic growth, net zero carbon and connecting people to places.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This policy requires new employment development to improve sustainable transport access to the site, allowing access for all users including pedestrians and cyclists where possible. It asks developments to reduce the carbon impact of freight and work-related vehicle movements. Using electric vehicles for freight, including last-mile deliveries, and building the infrastructure to support them will be supported.
The human version (we wrote this, not the council)This allocation describes Salden Chase, a roughly 145 hectare new community at Newton Longville delivering up to 1,855 homes plus 60 extra care housing units. It includes about 2.07 hectares of employment land, a primary school with pre-school, a secondary school on 5.2 hectares, a neighbourhood centre, a GP surgery and 53.67 hectares of green open space. Road access comes from three points, with walking, cycling and bus links to Bletchley and Milton Keynes. Outline planning permission has already been granted, and part of the land is safeguarded for East West Rail.