The removal vans were due at lunchtime moving day for the Bucks Free Press. We were off to 21st century air conditioned offices in Station Road, Loudwater after almost 50 years in Gomm Road, High Wycombe.

Our three-storey 15,000 sq ft glass-fronted new headquarters at Loudwater Mill have been built by the Beaconsfield-based Michael Shanly construction group. The move is only the fourth in the newspaper's 150-year history.

As for the building that we have occupied since 1956, that will be knocked down and the eight-acre site will be used by Shanly to build homes.

Wycombe District Council has already given outline permission for 134 flats and houses to replace our Gomm Road offices.

This week Shanly's group planning director Steve Mellor produced a skeletal drawing to give Free Press readers an idea of how the developers hope the scheme will shape up.

He is waiting for the planners' reaction to his company's proposal to build 22 houses and 112 flats on the site. Out of that total, 41 homes will be "affordable" two thirds will be allocated to rent to housing association or council nominees and a third to buyers on a shared ownership part-rent part-buy basis.

Shanly's Matt Jackson who was responsible for the design of the new riverside homes at Bourne End Marina is producing the drawings for the latest project. In the past he has picked up civic awards for sites of flats and houses in Dorking and Staines.

The new homes planned for Gomm Road are likely to be traditional in design rather than contemporary. The plan is to group the flats in blocks with staggered rooflines around a pavioured courtyard.

The Shanly scheme includes more than an acre of open space towards the back of the site.

"The matters of detail have yet to be finalised," said Steve Mellor. "We are keen to conclude our discussions with the planning department regarding the preferred approach as soon as possible.

"We and our housing association (Paradigm pronounced Paradime, the Chiltern Hundreds housing association) need to move quickly towards formal submission of the details in order to secure the necessary funding."

The developer warned: "Without a constructive dialogue with Wycombe District Council, our desire to fund the scheme and build the much needed affordable accommodation as part of the first phase of the development in 2005-06 will become unachievable."

Meanwhile he says he is proud to have been associated with Loudwater Mill. "We were very pleased to be involved in a project that has provided the local paper with a new home still within the community it serves.

"We believe the Bucks Free Press's occupation of this site is a welcomed improvement to this part of Loudwater and it has created the possibility of further improvements."

He added: "We certainly intend to consult the community via the parish council on the future of the remainder of our Station Road site in the very near future."