Blueprint scheme stops developers swamping village with new housing

Jun 11 2009 By Jack Abell Jackabell@Trinitysouth.Co.Uk, Buckinghamshire Advertiser

A PARISH council is calling on residents to help protect the village from careless development in future years.

Chalfont St Peter parish council is set to produce a Village Design Statement (VDS) which will state where they believe new houses should be built in the area and how the village will be able to cope with them.

When it is completed, they will present it to Chiltern District Council, which will consider it before making a decision on where to place new housing in the village.

However, in order for the VDS to be successful, the parish council needs as many villagers as possible to become involved in putting it together.

Richard Allen , chairman of the parish council, said: "Anyone who wants to get involved in this should get in touch. We are looking for people with skills such as drawing and photography, or people with interests in architecture.

"More importantly, we just want people with enthusiasm to get involved, because we need as many as possible to help us put this statement together if it is to be successful.

"New houses are going to come to this village, and we are not against this happening, but we want to be able to have a say in where they go so that we can retain the character of the village.

"If we do not act soon it will be too late and we could have a load of houses stuck in places in the village where we don't want them."

Mr Allen said that this is what happened in the 1960s when the St Peter's Court precinct was built at the bottom of the village, which many current residents now see as an eyesore.

He added: "It is vitally important we protect areas like the Holy Cross site from developers.

"That is an historic part of the village and is the area that the village originally started from.

"It is currently underused so is an obvious site for development, but we need to make sure this doesn't happen. This is why I think moving the C of E School there is a great start."

If you would like to get involved in putting the statement together, write to Richard Allen, PO Box 1288, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 9AP, or email him at secret@delirium.co.uk