South Bucks and Chiltern District Councils are preparing to publish their Emerging Local Plan.  The Local Plan will then be submitted for formal scrutiny by an independent Inspector at a future public inquiry.
 
Lobbying councillors is now irrelevant and the campaign is now dependant on what legal evidence and planning issues the community can submit to an Inspector. 
 
The Local Plan still includes:

• removal of all the land at Lye Green from Green Belt status
• (initial) plans for 500 homes, plus a community hub
•  5,000 sq ft shop
• 15 gypsy traveller pitches

All this will affect the town of Chesham.  

The Council has also only recently announced removal of twelve villages from Green Belt including Botley & Ley Hill.   This is disappointing, but our campaign is far from over!  

PLEASE COME TO THIS MEETING AND TELL OTHERS WHO MAY BE INTERESTED TO FIND OUT;

• WHAT BNG ARE DOING TO PROTECT OUR LOCAL GREEN BELT & THE TOWN
• HOW TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS TO THE INSPECTOR AND WHY YOU SHOULD 
• WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

The community will shortly have just 6 weeks in which to make final comments on these unsustainable proposals once the Draft Plan is published.   This is your last chance to persuade the Council of their folly before we get into the formal consultation/Public Planning Inquiry process. 

FUNDS
We also need to raise more money as we have now retained expert consultants to advise and comment on issues of Landscape Quality, Green Belt, Sustainability, Traffic & Air Quality. In addition, we have retained a barrister from Landmark Chambers to represent us at the future Planning Inquiry Examination in Public.  

Please make any donations to BNG via the methods on our website.
please visit:  www.brownnotgreen.com/fundraising

​LEAFLET VOLUNTEERS
Our campaign would be nothing without our ever-willing cohort of leaflet volunteers.  This is a small band of very dedicated individuals who have worked tirelessly distributing leaflets around the Chesham neighbourhoods.  We are always looking for extra volunteers who wish to play a role whilst getting fitter and healthier at the same time!  We are particularly keen to hear from volunteers in the Eksdale Avenue and White Hill areas of Chesham.   Can you help?  Contact us via the website if you can.

SOCIAL MEDIA VOLUNTEER REQUIRED
We urgently require an individual who can pick up social media responsibility for the Brown Not Green Campaign.  Although we have our webmaster and email communication roles covered, a lack of time and expertise mean we are not maximising our communications over social media.  We need someone who would be prepared to take on full responsibility for feeding our social media outlets to get our message out to as many people as possible.  Might ideally suit a graduate who wishes to add another skill set to their CV.  All applications considered.  Please contact us via the website if you can help in this area.

Thanks again for your continued support.

​The BNG Team.

Chiltern District Council are meeting this Wednesday, May 15th to discuss and approve the Publication Version of the Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan.

This is despite the fact there being no further evidence work that BNG had been promised by the Planning Department around the area of:
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• Sustainability
• Traffic generation
• "Exceptional Circumstances" as required by the National Planning Policy Framework.
  
  

​From our understanding the District Councillors have not been made aware of any further evidence around these areas.  If they have, they are keeping it quiet.   BNG cannot understand how they will be able to approve publication of a Local Plan that removes the fields to the North-East of Chesham, known as Lye Green, without first seeing this crucial evidence.  If there is evidence that is being held back, BNG feel it would be a cynical ploy for the Council to dump it all on the Evidence Base at the last minute to thwart our efforts to properly scrutinise it before the end of the 6-week Consultation Period.

Sadly, our efforts to communicate with all our District Councillors have been met with a stony wall of silence, something we as a campaign group will be considering when recommending which Councillors to vote for in the upcoming Unitary Council elections,   The Councillors who have been genuinely helpful to our cause are in the absolute minority.  There has been a shameful lack of acknowledgement to our efforts to communicate with them from our elected Councillors and this will not be overlooked next time their names appear on the ballot paper.

For this reason it is essential we have as many supporters as possible attend this meeting that is open to the public at the:
Council Chamber, King George V House, King George V Road, Amersham
The meeting starts at 6.30pm, on Wednesday May 15th.
Full details click here

As well as attending the meeting, we also now need everyone to write to their local District Councillor.  Letters are better, emails are OK, both is best.  A template letter and instructions can be found by clicking here.  We, at BNG, cannot stress enough to our supporters that we have as many people as possible at that meeting and also writing letters and emails to their Councillors.  Please spread the word and let's make some noise.

Further Action To Take

If you live on land bordering the Greenbelt under threat or are a habitual user of the fields and woodland for recreational purposes like walking. etc. please also see our pages:

• Asset of Community Value
• Gate Owners' Prescriptive Rights
• Public Rights of Way

​You can still legally play a key role in protecting our Greenbelt just from your everyday activities.  Again, this requires urgent action so please click the links above.

Thanks again to everyone in our continuing support.   We are getting to the "business end of the season" in this fight to protect our Greenbelt.  If everyone does a little bit, we will be far more powerful than a few doing a lot.

​The BNG Team