The 100,000 new homes Buckinghamshire Council says are planned for the county over 20 years have prompted warnings about more frequent flooding.
Conservative councillors raised concerns that the new Labour government’s proposed reforms to national planning policy and plans to build 1.5 million new homes over this parliament could see new development in areas of Buckinghamshire at higher flood risk.
If approved, the reforms would see the annual number of homes required to be built in Buckinghamshire rise by 42 per cent from 2,912 to 4,122.
Cllr Mick Caffrey said: “There is going to be a lot of temptation to build on places that we wouldn’t have built on before or considered.”
Speaking council’s transport, environment and climate change select committee, the councillor said flooding risk should be given greater weight in determining applications for new developments in the future.
He told the meeting: “I went out to see one only last year built at the bottom of a road that’s been flooding for years and the development of two houses was built below road level.
“It flooded. The owner says, ‘councillor what are you going to do?’ So, we have got to be realistic about where we build.”
Cllr Michael Collins also told the meeting he had received queries from residents relating to the impact of Labour’s housebuilding blitz in his Aston Clinton & Bierton ward.
He said: “There are a lot of flooding issues – the last big one was in Weston Turville – as a result of so-called overdevelopment.
“So, when we consider these programmes, let us not underestimate the kind of issues that are going to be facing us because of the current proposed and much increased development over the next few years.”
During the meeting, councillors were presented with a cross-party rapid review of the flooding response in Buckinghamshire, including in relation to planning matters.
One recommendation said water companies’ comments must be given due importance ‘in at-risk areas regarding sewage capacity’, including over the ‘capacity of downflow sewage treatment plants’.
Despite the flooding concerns over Labour’s reforms, the new government’s plans have not been confirmed and it has not said how many new homes would be in Buckinghamshire.
However, the Conservative leader of Buckinghamshire Council, Martin Tett, claimed in September the county faced 100,000 new-builds over the next 20 years under the plans.
The council leader said the bulk of these would come from the 42 per cent increase in the county’s annual allocation, added to which would be a five per cent ‘buffer’ on top of authorities’ five-year housing land supplies.
Added to this, he also claimed Buckinghamshire was in line for one of the towns of 10,000 homes Labour is proposing to build.
However, Cllr Tett’s calculations were dubbed ‘speculation’ by Bucks’ new crop of Labour MPs, including Wycombe’s Emma Reynolds.
Speaking in September, she said: “I don’t recognise the statistic used by the council leader about the number of homes as he’s making assumptions about the government’s plans.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article