Starting gun fired on 3,000 home Milton Keynes expansion plan consultation

A meeting yesterday (Tuesday) heard that developers are champing at the bit to build on the land near to Wavendon, Walton, Woburn Sands and Bow Brickhill.

The site has been allocated in Plan:MK since 2019 to take around 3,000 homes, a secondary school, two primary schools, options for seven gipsy and traveller pitches, and parkland.

And because the so-called South East Milton Keynes Strategic Urban Extension (SEMK SUE) has been rubber-stamped by the Government, Cllr Marland said Milton Keynes Council risks having to approve un-planned development if a master plan is not adopted.

Cllr Marland (Lab, Wolverton) said: “It is very important that we take this forward. We have had a letter from a minister telling us not to let covid get in the way of planning.”

He said the SEMK Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document needs to be in place to allow council planners to control proposals that come forward.

“We know of one developer who is champing at the bit to put in a planning application,” he added.

David Hopkins, who is one of the three Conservative borough councillors for the Danesborough and Walton ward asked for a 12-week consultation period to give parish councils in the patch time to consider their responses.

“Twelve weeks is what we need to get this done,” he said.

The start date of the consultation will be February 8, the meeting heard and Cllr Marland said he could compromise on 10 weeks.

“We can use the days to February 8 to make resources available to parish councils,” he said.

“Let’s call it a deal,” said Cllr Hopkins.

The delegated decisions meeting heard that options are being left open as the council waits to see what will happen to the East West Railway line.

The plan is also having to go ahead while there is no clarity on the route of a possible Oxford to Cambridge Expressway (OCE) road.

Background papers say that further work on the route of the expressway was paused in the March 2020 budget announcement.

“Since then no further announcements about the Expressway have been made by Government or the Department for Transport,” the report says.

“If, however the OCE is progressed in a manner that would affect the development of the allocation, then the SPD will need to be reviewed,” it adds.