New 2000 home estate near Milton Keynes approved despite objections

The controversial Salden Chase proposals received the thumbs down from five neighbouring parish councils, Bletchley Town Council and city MP Iain Stewart.

But councillors in Aylesbury Vale approved the application – then delegated responsibility to their council’s officers to sort out the details.

“We are gobsmacked. We can’t believe something like this can go through when there were so many objections,” said MK Conservative councillor Edith Bald.

“On the evidence presented to the meeting, we were certain it would be refused. It is a real shock,” she said.

Edith and fellow protesters say the infrastructure proposals for Salden Chase are insufficient, and the traffic from the 1,855 new homes would cause on roads in Bletchley, Newton Longville and the rest of south west Milton Keynes..

They also believe GP services would be under pressure, as would the already-stretched MK hospital, and the burden on waste and recycling facilities would be too great.

“This application suits neither Planning authority, none of the surrounding communities and the only winner would be the applicant,” said Edith.

Conservative Candidate Iain Stewart attended the Aylesbury Vale District Council planning committee and tried in vain to get the application rejected.

He told the Aylesbury councillors: “This development of nearly 2000 houses on land to the South West of Bletchley would place unacceptable pressure on already congested local roads, and other public services.

“Both Milton Keynes Council and Aylesbury Vale Council already have sufficient plans for new houses for the foreseeable future. There is no need for this development now. Any further housing expansion must be part of a properly thought through growth strategy with adequate infrastructure. I hope this will be rejected by councillors.”

The application comes from a consortium called South West Milton Keynes. It is made up of Hallam Land management, Taylor Wimpey, Connolly Homes, William Davis Homes and Bellcross Homes.

For details of their plan see www.southwestmiltonkeynes.co.uk