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How to Lobby your Local Councillors & Politicians

What happens next?

We were awaiting the Council's responses to the Green Belt Consultation comments they received before 12 December 2016 and have since seen their response in the Post Preferred Green Belt Options Report of November 2017.
 
The Council now propose to publish a final draft Local Plan in Spring 2018 which they indicate is likely to include the Lye Green site being removed from Green Belt and “safeguarded” for future development either after the Plan Period (in 2036) or at any 5 yearly Local Plan Review.  Please note that the final draft Local Plan has been delayed from its original date of Spring 2017.  Its publication will then result in another period of public consultation.  We will try to publish news on this website when we get it.  In the meantime, this is a crucial period.

Do NOT assume the lack of news means we have been successful!  We were always advised this campaign will be a marathon, not a sprint.

Start (& Keep) Writing Letters

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​We must keep reminding Councillors of the issue.  It is recommended that as many people as possible write to the Head of Chiltern District Council (Isobel Darby) and/or the local Member of Parliament (Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP) in the coming months while we await the Planning Department’s response.

​When writing to Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP, be sure to congratulate her on her most recent appointment as President of the Buckinghamshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.  She has always been a staunch campaigner to protect the Chilterns environment so we can expect the highest level of support from her.
​

Letters get more attention than emails so PLEASE revert to writing/typing a brief letter.   Obviously if you want to copy in your District Councillor it may be more convenient to send a copy of the letter you sent to him/her by email too but again written letters by post is most effective.

What to Write

​Please do not copy and paste from this website.  Try to use your own words to express the following sentiments:

  • You have been following the public consultation proposing to remove a large site to the North-East of Chesham from the Green Belt and build 900 homes there.  
  • You registered your objection to this proposal either by making comments during the consultation period to the Planning Dept and/or by adding your name to the Petition organised by the Brown Not Green Group.
  • You anxiously await news that this site is NOT going to be brought forward for any further consideration for development or removal from Green Belt designation as:
    • You are concerned about the adverse effects it will have on the whole town (increased traffic, congestion, air quality, loss of amenity/open countryside, loss of Lye Green as Chesham sprawls outward, effect on the endangered species of wildlife that have been observed on the land, increased congestion on Tube Station and increased demands on schools, doctors dentists, etc.
    • You feel this site is too far from the Town Centre (i.e. it is “unsustainable”).
    • There are no “exceptional circumstances” to warrant this site being removed from Green Belt and the proposal is contrary to National Government Guidance.
 
Conclude by asking the Council/MP to do all they can to ensure this site is removed from further consideration for development. 
Try to encourage others to write too.
Please check back on this site regularly as we will try to publish any news updates promptly. 

Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP

Isobel Darby Head of Chiltern District Council

​The MP is Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP and the address to write to is either:
 
7a Hill Avenue,
Amersham,
Bucks
HP6 5BD
 
OR
​

House of Commons,
London
SWA 0AA
 
Further details are at https://www.cherylgillan.co.uk/about-cheryl
The Head of Council Cabinet is Isobel Darby and her address is:

Halfway Cottage 
2 Copthall Corner
Chalfont St Peter
SL9 0BZ

​Further details are at https://isa.chiltern.gov.uk/democracy/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=118

Your Local District Councillor

 To find your local District Councillor by Ward go to: https://isa.chiltern.gov.uk/democracy/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=TABLE&PIC=1

Write to ​The Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP

Following Cheryl Gillan MP seeking assurances earlier in 2017 from Sajid Javid MP that the Green Belt would be protected in house building plans it would be wise to echo her sentiments in letters direct to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. 

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
To see Chesham Society's list of Local Government contacts click here

Reference Documents 

We have collated the key documentation to help you with your lobbying.
​
Click on links to see reference documents:
  • How to object to a planning application A really useful guide on how to object to planning applications written in simple layman's terms. 
  • Plan Your Objection - Cheat Sheet A useful one-pager from www.IObject.co.uk 
  • Planning Reform Proposals Briefing Paper July 2017 A follow up paper to the Feb 2017 White Paper below
  • Latest Government White Paper on the Housing Market Feb 2017
    • Plus a brief synopsis of the key points raised in the White Paper that affect the Brown Not Green Campaign
  • ​The Council’s Preferred Options Consultation Document in full.  North East Chesham is Preferred Option 1 on page 10
  • Key extract from the Council’s Green Belt Appraisal of land at Lye Green – Preferred Option Site 1 – KEY DOCUMENT!
  • The Council's Green Belt Assessment Part 2
  • Chiltern District Council Planning Dept website relating to emerging new Local Plan
  • Council's “Evidence Base” for emerging new Local Plan
  • National Planning Policy Framework
  • The Chesham Society 
  • More than a million homes possible on suitable brownfield land - Campaign to Protect Rural England
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