As 2021 begins, it seemed appropriate to update all our supporters.  Many of you will already be aware of a significant success being achieved in the concluding months of 2020. 

The Local Plan that had allocated the Green Belt NE of Chesham for development of up to 900 homes and a gypsy travellers’ site was formally withdrawn from any further public Examination by the Council on 23 October.  BNG and others had made numerous written submissions raising concerns about the Plan’s lack of legal compliance under the Duty to Co-operate with neighbouring areas, and the Local Plan Inspectors advised the Council to withdraw the Plan due to this. Although the Plan's withdrawal is a very significant victory, the war is not yet won and BNG’s campaign continues as we want to strengthen the protection of this land should this issue be revisited in the next Local Plan. 

BNG therefore had reapplied for Asset of Community Value (ACV) status in September 2020 (namely before the announcement about the Chiltern & South Bucks Local Plan being withdrawn). Supporters will recall we had achieved ACV status in July 2019 only to see that decision shamefully revoked by the Council on most tenuous grounds about a year ago.  Sadly, and despite submitting substantially more evidence this time supporting this second ACV nomination, our latest efforts have recently been similarly dismissed again.  We are now contemplating a formal complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman as we fail to understand how evidence of between 200 to 300 people per day using the land for informal, recreation could not be meeting the statutory test of improving community well-being.

However, in a further effort to ensure the land at Lye Green does not resurface in the next Local Plan that the new Buckinghamshire Council have announced they are now preparing in the next few years, the withdrawal of this draft Local Plan now removes a legal restriction that had hitherto prevented BNG from seeking registration of the fields around Lye Green as a Town or Village Green (TVG) under provisions in the Commons Act 2006.

Accordingly, BNG submitted comprehensive applications for TVG registration on all the fields around Lye Green within 10 days of the Local Plan being formally withdrawn. The decisions on this are awaited but may take some time.

The test for a Village Green is whether “a significant number of the inhabitants of the locality have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years;” We have already submitted over 50 Statements from people who have lived nearby for over 20 years representing over 1,700 years of local recollections confirming this point.

Both the TVG and our anticipated referral to the Local Government Ombudsman about the ACV issue will involve BNG maintaining active representations in 2021 all with the aim of preventing this issue resurfacing in the next iteration of the Local Plan.

Thank you again for all your donations & support over the last 5 years and please follow our progress via CrowdJustice or via our website at www.brownnotgreen.com   

Happy New Year!

Your contributions and patience ARE paying off!

On Tuesday 13^th October 2020, BNG noted that Buckinghamshire Council published a Press Release announcing that at the next Council Meeting on 21 October 2020, the Council will  withdraw the draft Chiltern & South Bucks Local Plan from the Public Examination process.

BNG take no pleasure in seeing over 5 years of work abandoned at local ratepayer expense.  However, BNG have long been opposed to the draft Local Plan which was deeply flawed and given the independent Inspector’s criticism questioning the legal compliance of the Plan, which BNG had itself alerted the Council to as far back as 2016, this is the only practical course of action for the Council. 

Accordingly, BNG welcome this proposal to finally consign this deeply flawed Local Plan to the rubbish bin.

As that Plan had contained proposals to remove significant areas of Green Belt land and to allocate these areas for development, including land NE of Chesham near Lye Green for between 500 & 900 homes plus a gypsy site, this news represents the removal of that immediate threat. However, the Council have further announced that it is their intention to now commence work on a new county wide Local Plan which itself may yet take several years to prepare and we have no indication yet whether the land NE of Chesham will still be earmarked for development in that.

As a director of BNG, I have commented to the Press that, “This news is most welcome and represents a significant victory for the Local Community who have understandably been very concerned about these protracted proposals. As the land may still be under threat in any new iteration of the next Local Plan, this campaign is therefore not yet finished and BNG will continue to take all the action it can to protect Green Belt around Chesham. “  

In this respect, BNG have recently resubmitted a Nomination for the land at Lye Green to be re-listed at an Asset of Community Value.  This follows BNG's efforts throughout 2020 including a formal complaint made to the Council about the unfair revocation of the ACV status in December last year as well as significant new evidence BNG have presented supporting a further Nomination. Details will be available on the BNG website very soon. See https://www.brownnotgreen.com/

In the meantime, the directors of BNG would like to thank the many hundreds of local people who have supported BNG and donated money to its legal fundraising efforts which will continue.

Thank you.

Many people in Chesham will already be aware that last year BNG successfully managed to get the land NE of Chesham “listed” as an Asset Of Community Value (ACV) under S 88 of the Localism Act 2011.  Many people therefore expressed outrage when the land was unfairly withdrawn from this listing by the Council shortly before Christmas in what was a nakedly sef serving decision that certainly was NOT in the community's best interest.  

Although BNG could have sought a judicial challenge to this, it did not have sufficient funds to do so in the limited time available for bringing such challenges.  BNG has instead since submitted a formal complaint to the Council under its “Complaints Policy”.   Despite this complaint being submitted on 24 March, and over 12 weeks have now passed, yet BNG have not received a considered response.  

This is probably grounds for a complaint in itself particularly given three earlier written assurances that a response from the Council could be expected “soon” or in “a few days”!   As such, BNG continue to press this matter and may have to escalate this to the Local Govt Ombudsman. 

The BNG Complaint highlighted the unfair nature of the ACV Review Decision including the extended time frame: most Reviews are conducted within 56 days of the original decision and the first notice BNG had of this was Review was received 133 days after the decision.  

BNG also complained of the limited time (just 7 days) they were given to respond to the Council together with subsequent breaches of confidentiality by the Council regarding BNG’s finances.  However, the most important complaints related to lack of consideration to the case law BNG had recited justifying the land being listed and the incorrect conclusion by the Council that community use of the land was merely “ancillary”, despite BNG evidence that nearly 300 people per day use the land.

BNG’s formal complaint made regarding this maladministration and the unfair review decision is still awaiting a response despite the passage of over 12 weeks since submitting the complaint.

Even though the Local Plan that sought to allocate this land for development appears to be struggling through the Public Examination by independent Inspectors, BNG still want to get the ACV status reinstated on the land NE of Chesham as it is a much loved and well used area by the community.  Indeed, surveys reveal that since the public health crisis, public use of this land for informal recreation has increased by over 60% and now involves over 450 people per day.  Hardly "ancillary" or occasional use!

Please share this update and consider making a further donation to BNG as it seems BNG may now have to escalate this complaint to the Local Govt Ombudsman or beyond, in their efforts to rectify a flawed and nakedly self-serving decision by the former Chiltern District Council who are desperately trying to hang onto their flawed Local Plan to develop Green Belt around Chesham.  

Many will be aware that the Local Plan Public Examination has been delayed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 crisis.  What many people will not know is how the Council have responded to recent criticism from the Inspectors nor the level of professional criticism emerging about the Council’s Local Plan and the behaviour of some of its Officers & Councillors.  Some of this is now being recited on YouTube in a professional series called “Have We Got Planning News For You” and on other social media channels.  The background to all this is recited below.

On announcing the delay to the Local Plan Hearings, the Inspectors requested all Participants to the first cancelled hearing session, to submit supplementary written responses to concerns the Inspectors had raised which they felt might indicate whether the rest of the Local Plan Examination should even take place. As BNG had already raised formal concerns about such matters, BNG were invited to participate in this written exercise.  The BNG supplementary evidence is all on the BNG website.  

The Inspectors then announced on 7 May 2020 that they have “serious concerns” about the Local Plan and specifically failures under the Council's legal Duty to Co-Operate with neighbouring Authorities. There then followed an exchanges of letters between a Senior Planning Offer in the Council & the Planning Inspectors as well as an astonishing Press Statement made by a Councillor responsible for Planning in the new Buckinghamshire Council that was inaccurately suggesting the Council are being required by Inspectors to accommodate Sloughs housing needs.

Even the most cursory reading of the Inspectors letter will reveal this is not what the Inspectors have said but whatever the reason for this misinformed Statement, it does not reflect well on the Council.

Neither does the response of one of the Council’s Senior Planning Officers who on 12 May wrote an extraordinary letter back to the Inspectors. This letter has drawn the most astonishing and rare public criticism from various planning professionals too.  

Aside from the tone of these exchanges making headlines in Planning Magazine & in other professional journals, the Council’s responses were also openly criticised on a normally light-hearted weekly internet broadcast now on YouTube that had started during the Covid-19 period called, “Have We Got Planning News For You”.  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDr6AFQO9VM&feature=youtu.be   - Episode 5 at circa 29 mins in is the relevant section.  This weekly broadcast is hosted by a panel of distinguished barristers & QC’s that now goes out to over 2,000 planning professionals including other lawyers, planners & local authorities, and anyone interested can watch the relevant segment from circa 29mins into that broadcast. This panel of planning experts criticised the Council for being “petulant” and suggested this “was not their finest piece of work”.   

BNG do not rejoice at the content of the Inspectors letter of 7 May nor the Council’s embarrassment or criticism by professionals, given that all this suggests the Local Plan is failing and if it is later rejected or is now required to undergo substantive amendment,  it marks an extraordinary waste of public money combined with a prolonged continued period of uncertainty for the community.  

It is still unclear therefore if the land at Lye Green NE of Chesham is going to remain under threat from removal from Green Belt protection and development (initially) for 500 homes, a 5,000 sq ft convenience store, community facility and 15 gypsy pitches.  As such, BNG feels it must continue in its defensive strategy for the area.

Please continue to donate to BNG legal fundraising efforts to protect this much loved local area of Green Belt.

Despite many assurances by the Council that the Local Plan Examination hearings would commence in December last year, and the Council also saying they were "ready" & submitted their draft Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in September, the Local Plan timetable is still awaiting publication as we approach the end of January 2020!

Two Independent Inspectors have been appointed by the Planning Inspector and they have raised numerous questions of the Council who attempted to respond just before Christmas and who continue to submit additional documents as part of the Local Plan evidence base.

In the interim, on 3 Decembers, and with indecent haste, the Council concluded an unexpected "Review" of their earlier Decision to grant Asset of Community Value status to the Green Belt Land NE of Chesham and on 3 December, that status was revoked by the Council in what appears a nakedly self serving decision.

BNG sought legal advice when given just 7 days to respond to the unexpected Review and submitted extensive new evidence to the Council which appears to have been ignored as none of it was mentioned in the Review Decision published barely 48 hours after BNG submitted its responses to the Council. 

Accordingly, BNG have recently sought legal advice on this as they have no automatic right of appeal but their barristers opinion is that there may be several grounds for seeking a Judicial Review challenge to the Councils Review Decision.   However, a Judicial Review does not come cheap and will involve both a solicitor & BNG’s retained barrister and tens of thousands of pounds.  It could also take over a year to conclude and first requires “leave” of the Court.  Additionally, there are strict time limits on when a JR challenge can be filed.  The problem for BNG now is whether they can raise enough cash donations (rather than pledges) in time. 

Accordingly, BNG have just extended their fundraising target and is making an additional call for funds to see if they can mount this legal challenge.

Even if it cannot raise enough in the limited time required to file a JR, they will be seeking to retain Landmark Chambers to appear at the long awaited Local Plan Examination Hearings to probe the Council on their flawed Local Plan & to try to have the Plan modified so that the Green Belt is preserved and other alternative schemes that have not been adequately considered are adopted instead.

Please share this information with family & friends and consider donating again to BNG's legal fund.  Thank you. 

BNG were astonished to learn on 3 December, barely 48 hours after BNG had submitted its response to the Council after being notified by them that the Asset of Community Value status of the land at Lye Green was under “review”, that the Council then revoked the land’s ACV status that they had previously approved on 5 July! 

The Council made no mention in its Review Decision to ANY of the substantive points BNG had hastily made in defense of the land’s designation. They also ignored over 50 statements submitted from members of the public and other evidence that the land is visited by up to 300 people per day describing the community use of the land as merely "occasional"! 

Normally, any review request by a landowner is concluded with 56 days of the original Decision yet Chiltern District Council extended this period to beyond 133 days before even telling BNG that a “review” was even being undertaken.  BNG were then given just 7 days to respond including to present "evidence" of funding that BNG had the ability to buy the land if any Right to Bid arose anytime in the next 5 years. 

This outrageous behavior has all the appearance of the Council sidestepping a compensation claim from the landowner and/or desperately trying to keep Lye Green as a housing development site in the draft Local Plan.  

BNG continue to resist these unsustainable Local Plan proposals that will have serious adverse effects upon the whole town.  Obviously BNG has faced unexpected legal costs on this unexpected ACV issue and the question of whether we may have to seek a Judicial Review of the Council's latest decision remains open at this time pending legal advice.  Whether we go down this route or not,  your donations are desperately needed to help BNG continue fighting to protect the Green Belt at Chesham. Thank you for your continued support.

Please accept our sincere thanks.  

Your generosity and prompt response has seen our Round 2 Crowdjustice campaign get off to an amazing start.

In less than 24 hours from the portal going "live" we have already raised £1,242 which is 49% of our initial target for Round 2 on CrowdJustice.  

Amazingly this has come from 22 visits to our page ALL OF WHICH made pledges averaging £56 each!

Please can I ask you to share the link to our Crowdjustice portal on any or all of your social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc as by spreading the word we will really gain traction.  The link is;  https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/use-brownfield-land-not-green2/

Thank you so much for responding as you have done already.