This page has been set up to by the Parish Clerk to provide information and useful links on all aspects of the proposed redevelopment of the Marsworth Airfield site.
Planning Applications Click links to review formal applications and add comments and objections
IIf you are unable to load your comments on to the planning portal, then please email
DevControl.av@buckinghamshire.gov.uk for Buckinghamshire who can do so on your behalf. The reference is 23/01594/AOP
planning@dacorum.gov.uk for Dacoum who can do so on your behalf. The reference is 23/01254/OUT
Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan
Click Here for link to the VALP 2013-2033
Marsworth Parish Council FINAL agreed Objection 3 July 2023
Objection to the Marsworth Airfield Development by Mr Stephen Wooler ex Deputy Legal Secretary to the Law Officers
The files below, provided by Mrs Jean Fox of Wilstone, detail and summarise the planning policies that are applicable to the Marsworth Airfield development and how to object..
Everything Marsworth Post -5th June 23
320 New Houses on the Marsworth Airfield Site
Ainscough has resubmitted its planning application to build 320 houses on the old airfield site in Marsworth Parish. Marsworth Parish Council is objecting to this planning application but needs your support to object on both the Buckinghamshire and Dacorum Planning Websites.
Please register any objections on the Planning Websites by Wednesday 5 July 2023
On the Buckinghamshire Planning Portal at:
https://publicaccess.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/online-applications and enter the reference number 23/01594/AOP in the Search box.
On the Dacorum Planning Portal at:
https://planning.dacorum.gov.uk/ and enter the reference number 23/01254/OUT in the Search box.
Note that objections lodged to last year’s planning application will not be considered this time and you will need to resubmit them. Previous objections can be accessed via the above links (Bucks reference 22/02189/AOP, Dacorum Reference 22/01678/MOA) and the text can then be copied and pasted to the new application.
All information, up to date news and useful links can be accessed on the Marsworth Parish Council website: https://www.marsworth.org.uk/planning-matters/marsworth-airfield-development/
The planning application for the development of 320 residential properties was withdrawn last year but has now been resubmitted.
The closing date for comments to Buckinghamshire Planning has been extended to Wednesday 5th July
Note that all objections submitted to the last application WILL NOT be taken into account for this new application AND MUST BE RESUBMITTED.
Previous information on the planning application made in 2022
Proposed response to BUCKS CC Planning re Ainscough application- Version 4
This is the final version of the Parish Council's response to the Planning Application fon Marsworth Airfield. It will be submitted to the Buckinghamshire Planning Website on Wednesday 17th August.
The text of the document is given below or can be downloaded from the link following the text.
1) The development was not considered suitable for many reasons in the approved Vale of Aylesbury plan and Bucks are not short of their housing targets to enable a windfall development of this size and nature. The reasons the site is unsuitable remain the same.
2) The site is remote and, although a bus service is proposed, most dwellings will use cars, many more than one. This will create an unacceptable additional traffic volume through both Gubblecote and Marsworth village itself passing over a narrow humpback bridge and past a primary school where congestion occurs regularly.
3) The proposed widening of the road outwards towards Gubblecote to 6 metres with a 2 metre footpath seems impossible given the narrowness of the lane currently.
4) The road between Long Marston and Tring, passing through Gubblecote, has no pedestrian footpath and is dangerously narrow for such an additional volume of pedestrians and cyclists as proposed.
5) Similar sized housing developments in this area of Bucks have proposed facilities such as pubs, schools, employment hubs and shops but none have ever materialised, and these cannot be guaranteed by the applicant, nor can the proposed bus service.
6) The site is far more than the stated 20 minutes from most essential local facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. Banks, Doctors’ Surgeries, and Supermarkets are all miles away.
7) There are no mitigation measures to protect the Chiltern Beechwoods SAC from the additional population which would arise. There will be considerable damage to the environment and biodiversity from such a development, especially during the construction phase.
8) The proposal suggests Tring school would handle children of secondary age, which is improbable given the size of additional developments occurring around Tring which Herts will need to prioritise over Bucks children. In any case, since it is nearer to Tring than most of Ivinghoe and Pitstone, families there would lose the option of sending children to Tring, possibly where siblings already go.
9) 2 previous large scale developments have been refused, including 1 at appeal, for reasons which should apply equally to this proposed development.
10) The site has been subject to continuous violations of planning regulations to the detriment of local people and the applicant should be disadvantaged accordingly.
11) Marsworth Parish Council and Tring Rural Parish Council have jointly arranged the attached report which addresses transport and highways matters more throroughly.
12) The applicant states that the site is a brownfield site. In the NPPF Brownfield sites exclude land that is or was last occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings for which the vast majority of buildings on the site have been used for many years. Most of the buildings which have been more recently used for non-agricultural uses have done so without planning permission and in clear breach of the findings of the 2 large scale development refusals/appeal. Those refusals/appeal both stated that the land was for agricultural use only and nothing has changed since then from a planning standpoint. It is understood that the land was requisitioned by the MOD for WW2 on condition that it was returned to agricultural use after the MOD no longer needed it, and that is what occurred. In any case the vast majority of the site cannot be claimed to be Brownfield.
13) The sewerage system serving Marsworth and nearby villages in Herts is already overloaded and frequently fails. Adding 320 dwellings would cause massive disruption regularly.
14) Similarly the water supply to the area from Thames Water has reduced pressure forcing the Fire Brigade to use canal water in a recent fire. Adding 320 houses would further limit supplies.
15) There is an underground oil pipeline running through the western end of the site (Dacorum) which will forbid any excavation nearby, see attached picture. This will limit drainage and water supply possibilities for the development and prevent housing or building in its immediate vicinity.
16) The humpback bridges at The Red Lion and Dixons Gap are under consideration for downgrading to 7.5tonnes as part of the Ivinghoe Freight Strategy which will limit commercial traffic to/from the site both during and after construction. Since there is no gas supply in the area most new homes will use oil, which is delivered in trucks over 16 tonnes.
In the unlikely event that Bucks CC approves this application we make the following representations:
a) That the proposed facilities by way of shop, school, employment hub, and bus service are made legally binding.
b) That the road widening towards Gubblecote is carried out completely before site construction or demolition commences
c) That 2 separate access roads are put into the site to reduce congestion
d) That a reasonably short time limit (suggested 2 years) for completion of total site build is put in place to limit the disruption to the locality from construction activity
e) That additional signage preventing heavy goods vehicles from using the Red Lion bridge is put in place
f )That no attempt is made to separate out the site from Marsworth Parish and village, as suggested by the applicant
In the event that this application is refused and it goes to appeal, then Bucks must insist all parties have much more time to prepare a thorough case against the appeal.
Village Flyer distributed 10-12 August
Guidance on the planning process and how to make your objection count by Jean Fox
Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan
Click Here for link to the VALP 2013-2033
Background
Members of Ainscough Strategic Land (Ainscough) presented to a meeting of Marsworth Parish Councillors prior to the Parish Meeting
at 7pm on Monday 8 November 2021.
Present:
Marsworth Parish Council - Councillors
R Kennedy, Chairman, H Chalmers, D Cornwall, G Monks, J Woodruff
Clerk to Parish Caroline Smith
Cllrs Derek Town, Peter Brazier and Chris Poll
Ainscough
Andy Hughes – Director, MPC Consultancy (Community consultation & stakeholder engagement)
John Brookes – Planning Director, Ainscough (Land promoter)
Freddie Palmer – Account Director, MPC Consultancy (Community consultation & stakeholder engagement)
Niamh Hession – Design Director, Turley (Masterplanning)
Amy Cooper – Associate Director, Turley (Planner)
Tim Russell – Associate Director, Croft Eddisons (Transport consultant)
Ainscough stated:
MPC opinion (by majority) is that it is far too much housing and in the wrong place
It is to be put forward as a ‘windfall site’ as it is not part of the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP).
Planning submission to take place by the end of this year.