A councillor says they are ‘deeply disappointed’ by the rejection of a Beaconsfield neighbourhood plan which would have ‘reaffirmed a commitment to opposing development on the green belt’.

The town’s electorate went to the polls on Monday, September 9, to vote on the plan, which officials said would give Beaconsfield “a collective voice” on relevant issues including environmental policies and large-scale developments proposed for the area.

Members of local amenity group The Beaconsfield Society have fiercely fought against the proposed plan, however, insisting that it “doesn’t do enough” to discourage building on the green belt and would instead welcome invasive projects with a handful of box-ticking requirements like cycle paths or animal habitats.

Such naysayers engaged in a long-term fight to turn locals against the proposal – which one dubbed “worse for the town than no plan at all” – including through signs plastered around Beaconsfield and a number of meetings discussing why it “would leave us vulnerable and make greenbelt development more likely”.

And it seems they have accomplished their goal – while only 26 per cent of the 9,000-person electorate showed up at the polling stations yesterday, 65 per cent voted against the plan while just 35 per cent ultimately got behind it. 

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Cllr Alastair Pike, chair of the neighbourhood plan steering group, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the result.

He added: “This means we will not be able to deliver policy in line with how we want the town to develop, through a design code, additional local green spaces, smaller housing and more.

“And, most importantly, there will be no planning policy reaffirming the town council’s commitment to oppose developments in the green belt.”

Mayor Paul Mason, who previously pledged to hold an ‘extraordinary’ council meeting to review changes to the plan if it was approved, also struck a dour tone.

He said: “I would like to thank all the volunteers who have worked so hard on this project for the last four years and all our residents who attended exhibitions and provided feedback about the plan.

“Despite engaging a highly recommended planning consultant, full support from Buckinghamshire Council and receiving a positive Independent Examiner report, the town rejected the plan, and we have to take that on board.”

The mayor previously said the need for a Beaconsfield Neighbourhood Plan was propounded by the Labour government’s reform of the country’s planning system – and especially its drive to re-designate green belt land as ‘grey belt’ to boost the economy and housing targets.