Planning loophole exposed

Town mayor Henry Wilson said: "This clearly will be 18 new homes whichever way you look at it. This is a disgraceful example of how these developers operate and it seems that SBDC are being taken for a ride by having to consider two separate applications on the same piece of land by the same developer."
Councillor Les Davies said: "This is a major over-development of the site and is another example of a developer trying its luck and getting away with it."
John Brown, chairman of Beaconsfield Old Town Residents Association, said: "Something smells here. This developer is getting away with absolute murder. The government is always going on about affordable housing and not the £1m homes that these are going to be.
"It is already like a car park down Lakes Lane and this is only going to make it a lot worse."
A spokesperson for SBDC said the council were looking into changing their planning policy to make sure this situation is not repeated.
She said: "This is a subject of local and national concern and has to be considered whenever such a situation arises.
"It is regrettable if sites get developed in phases that avoid the provision of affordable housing, and the council currently does everything it can to prevent this, and is developing a policy as part of the new Local Development Framework in order to avoid this occurring in the future."
Banner Homes Ltd told the Advertiser they do not comment on individual developments.
The second application is recommended to be given planning permission at a SBDC planning committee on Wednesday (24/9).
In a report seen by Advertiser, planning officers say "there is no evidence to suggest that the developers had deliberately split the site to circumvent the need for affordable housing, but merely that the further piece of land had become available to the developers at a later date.
Keep checking this section of the website for the full outcome next week.