The Local Plan for Buckinghamshire: Help us plan for the future

We asked, you said, we did update originally published on 4 August 2022. Updated on 27 January 2023 with new link for more information about the survey responses.

As part of the discovery and exploration phase for the new Local Plan for Buckinghamshire, we asked for views on:

• what is important to residents and workers in Buckinghamshire
• what problems and issues they currently face
• what future needs they have

The Local Plan for Buckinghamshire will set out where new development will be located and what we will need to protect.

We asked for views from 29 November 2021 to 11 February 2022.

We received 3,439 responses to the survey:

• 3,407 from the online survey
• 32 from letters and emails

For the following questions, respondents were given options and asked to select their top three, in order of preference. The three most frequent options are outlined below:

What do you value the most in your area?

• Countryside / wildlife (67% of respondents included this in their top three)
• Good local facilities (48%)
• Quality of life (40%)

What is the best location for new homes?

• Brownfield (86%)
• Within existing towns (64%)
• Close to a main town (51%)

What are your views on supporting the local economy?

• Accessible employment sites (89%)
• Protecting existing employment sites (83%)
• Land / sites for new infrastructure (41%)

What do you think should be the priorities in relation to mitigating climate change?

• Energy efficiency measures in new buildings (52%)
• More green spaces and tree planting (49%)
• Protecting from flood risk (46%)

What sort of new infrastructure we will need to plan for?

• Healthcare facilities (73%)
• Schools - primary and secondary (42%)
• Cycle lanes (33%)

What improvement to the natural environment would you like to see in your area?

Respondents could select as many options as they liked, the top three were:

• Tree planting (75% of respondents selected this option)
• Linking pathways and natural environments (63%)
• More green space (59%)

What priorities should Buckinghamshire Council be focused on?

We asked respondents what they felt the council’s top three priorities should be across all issues covered in this Local Plan survey.

The top themes for priorities were:

• Environmental policies and practice / climate change (840 respondents suggestions mentioned this theme)
• Protect the greenbelt / AONB /countryside (781)
• Sustainable travel - public transport, cycling and walking (765)
• Transport infrastructure and road improvement (643)
• Green space / natural environment (616)
• Brownfield site development (543)
• Infrastructure and services for new development (488)
• Affordable and key worker housing (453)
• Sustainable, environmentally friendly housing and development (383)
• Health and social care (316)
• Protect the environment (235)
• improve existing infrastructure and services (212)

For more information about the survey responses, please see the The Local Plan for Buckinghamshire website.

We will use the results from the survey to help inform the vision and objectives for the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire, which in turn will help shape the Local Plan policies. 

The preparation of the Local Plan is currently focusing on evidence collection to understand the current needs for Buckinghamshire. 

This includes housing and employment provision, infrastructure and environmental enhancement opportunities.

Keep up to date

For news and updates about work on the Local Plan, please visit the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire webpage.

If you want to keep in touch with Planning Policy, including the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire, please register on our online consultation database.