The Appeal Inquiry has been postponed

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE PLANNING INSPECTORATE

Unfortunately, we must inform you that the Inspector has been taken to Hospital this morning (26/10/2026) & will be unable to open the Inquiry 27th October 2027.

The Planning Inspectorate is therefore formally postponing the Inquiry
to a date to be agreed.

We will get back to you once we can arrange fresh options for the Inquiry to open.

The appeal site, Stoke Mandeville South, is NOT included in the strategic land allocation in the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP) 2013 to 2033, therefore there should be no development on this land.

The Stoke Mandeville Neighbourhood Plan was approved and adopted by Buckinghamshire Council on the 10^th July 2026. It therefore has FULL WEIGHT in the consideration of any planning applications within the parish of Stoke Mandeville.  The appeal site is not within the Settlement Boundary established in the Neighbourhood Plan in accord with the VALP clause D3.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework August 2026 includes clauses:
S6: Neighbourhood plans and the presumption
1. For development proposals involving the provision of housing, the benefits of approving development are likely to be substantially outweighed by the adverse effects where a proposal would conflict with a neighbourhood plan, provided the following apply: 
a. The neighbourhood plan became part of the development plan five years or less before the date on which the decision is made; and 
b. The neighbourhood plan contains allocations to meet its identified housing requirement (see policy HO2).

Local planning authorities should avoid setting housing requirement figures for neighbourhood planning areas at nil other than where:
a. The local plan already meets or exceeds the housing need figure for the neighbourhood planning area; or
b. The neighbourhood planning area has a clear and well evidenced need for no additional housing; or
c. The constraints within the neighbourhood planning area are so substantial as to preclude any additional housing of any kind from coming forward.

In the Buckinghamshire Council’s Local Plan 2026, Housing and Employment Position Statement 17th February 2026, referring to the land in Stoke Mandeville South, it states:
“ there is already a significant amount of committed development coming forward in and around Stoke Mandeville and on the southeast side of Aylesbury. The Council considers it necessary to first understand the cumulative impacts of this nearby growth - particularly on infrastructure and local services - before considering any additional allocations in this location. For this reason this site is not included in the potential supply at this stage.”

The appeal site is close to Stoke Mandeville station, but the Chiltern Line is a slow train to London only, and takes over an hour. It is of no use if residents work, or wish to travel anywhere other than directly south of Stoke Mandeville

Residents will ALWAYS use their cars from the appeal site development to access supermarkets and other shops in Aylesbury or Wendover because it is on the extreme edge of Stoke Mandeville with no reasonable access to any infrastructure close by.

Shared Utilities - water pressure to the Village is already low. When another 650 homes are drawing water on this site, the pressure will drop exponentially.

600 cars emerging from the western sector of the proposed development from 350 homes will have to travel north because Risborough Road south is stopped up.  ALL vehicles will have to travel north on Risborough Road/Lower Road or East on Risborough Road/Station Road. Both these highways already experience queues of traffic daily.

An additional 1,200 cars on Lower Road heading into Aylesbury via Lower Road/Mandeville Road/Stoke Road or onto Wendover Road in either direction will be a significant problem, on top of the 2,800 cars added by AGT1, and the 6,000 cars added by the Hampden Fields development.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is on the northern border of Stoke Mandeville Parish and often finds itself overwhelmed in the Accident and  Emergency department with residents who cannot get a doctor’s appointment. The doctors surgeries outside of  Stoke Mandeville Parish are already oversubscribed with lengthy waits to see a GP. This will only get considerably worse as the population grows in the planned strategic sites in AGT1 and AGT2.

The planning application for the eastern field on Wendover Road was dismissed between 2016 and 2019  by AVDC, an Independent Inspector, and the High Court, due to the urbanisation of the area and change of the rural character of the Village of Stoke Mandeville.

This will be the last area of open countryside left in the parish of Stoke Mandeville once all the houses are built in AGT1 and AGT2. The rural nature of Stoke Mandeville will be lost for ever.

By any measure it cannot be sensible or reasonable  to consider building houses on this land adding another 1,600 residents and another 1,200 cars to the south Aylesbury highway network before the huge strategic housing developments in AGT1, AGT2 AND AGT4 are complete and occupied.  Are the authorities going to ignore what is completely common, environmental and fiscal common sense?