The South East Plan

The South East Plan is the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for South East England and is part of the new Development Plans system created by the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Responsibility for preparing the South East Plan lies with the South East England Regional Assembly, an organisation which comprises representatives of all local authorities in the region and a wide range of economic, social and environmental partner organisations. 

A draft of the South East Plan, as submitted to government in March 2006, underwent an Examination-in-Public (EIP) before an independent panel between November 2006 and March 2007. The report of the panel was published in August 2007 and endorsed the draft plan on many counts. However, the panel also recommended an overall increase of around 10% in housing provision for the region.  In Buckinghamshire, the panel has recommended the following numbers of new homes for each district between 2006 and 2026 (the figures in brackets show the number of homes proposed in the draft South East Plan):

• Aylesbury Town: 16,800 (16,800)
• Rural Areas of Aylesbury Vale District: 4,700 (4,400)
• Chiltern District: 2,900 (2,400)
• South Bucks District: 1,880 (1,800)
• Wycombe District: 7,800 (6,600)

The panel has also recommended a further 5,390 new homes in Aylesbury Vale District (close to Newton Longville), to help accommodate the expansion of Milton Keynes in the years between 2016 and 2026. 

Early in 2008 the government will publish its response to the EIP Panel Report in the form of Proposed Changes to the South East Plan.  These proposed changes will be the subject of 12 weeks' consultation before the final version of the plan is published later that year. 

The government has recently announced its intention to phase out Regional Assemblies by 2010 and to transfer their planning responsibilities to Regional Development Agencies - the one for our region being the South East England Regional Development Agency (SEEDA). These bodies will be charged with the preparation of new Integrated Regional Strategies, combining the functions of Regional Spatial Strategies (such as the South East Plan) and Regional Economic Strategies.