Officers back 36 homes off Barnett Way, Bierton, against 188 objections and the village's own plan. Councillors vote Wednesday 9 September at 2pm.

Council officers are recommending that up to 36 homes be approved on a field off Barnett Way in Bierton, the village on the A418 just under two miles north-east of Aylesbury town centre. Councillors decide on Wednesday 9 September. (Buckinghamshire Council committee report, 25/01867/AOP)

The council’s own planning register records 190 comments on the application: 188 objections and one in support. (planning register, 25/01867/AOP) Bierton Parish Council has objected twice. The site sits outside the development boundary drawn in the Bierton Neighbourhood Plan.

Officers accept nearly all of that. Their report concludes the scheme conflicts with the council’s own local plan, conflicts with the neighbourhood plan, harms the landscape, and harms the setting of the Bierton Conservation Area. They recommend approval anyway, and the reason is a single number: the council can show only 3.73 years of housing land supply against the five years national policy requires, a shortfall of roughly 2,000 homes.

Why it vanished in August and came back

The application was listed for the committee on 19 August and then pulled from the agenda before the meeting, with no reason given in the minutes. The reason is now on the record.

The government published a revised National Planning Policy Framework on 17 August 2026, the day before the agenda was finalised. (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) The committee report had been written against the December 2024 version and rested on the old “tilted balance” at paragraph 11(d), which the new framework deletes.

Officers withdrew the item, reassessed the scheme against the new rules, and published a second report. Their conclusion: nothing changes.

  • The new framework replaces paragraph 11 with decision-making policies S3, S4 and S5
  • Because the site lies outside the neighbourhood plan’s development boundary, officers assess it under Policy S5, on development outside settlements
  • Policy S5 criterion (j) supports development addressing an evidenced unmet need, including housing where a council cannot show five years of supply
  • Annex A of the new framework says local plan policies materially inconsistent with national policy get “very limited weight”. Officers apply that to Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan policies S1, S2, S3 and D3, the very policies that would otherwise keep this field open

Officers also state that the answer would be the same under Policy S4 if a different view were taken and the site counted as part of the settlement. (NPPF update report)

This is the first application in the vale we have seen tested against the August framework, and it is worth watching for that reason alone.

The neighbourhood plan does not protect the field

Bierton’s neighbourhood plan was made in July 2025. The parish council’s objection records that 482 residents voted for it, a 94% majority.

It does not stop this scheme. National policy gives a neighbourhood plan enhanced protection only where it allocates sites to meet a housing requirement. Bierton’s plan allocates none, so officers conclude the protection is not engaged and the conflict with Policies P1 and HO2 carries ordinary weight rather than decisive weight.

What is proposed

  • Up to 36 dwellings, outline application, all matters reserved except access
  • 25% affordable housing, up to nine homes, split 80% affordable rent and 20% intermediate
  • At least three bungalows on the northern boundary, secured by condition
  • Access off Barnett Way, a cul-de-sac running north from the A418 Aylesbury Road
  • Public open space, an equipped play area and a surface water attenuation pond
  • Applicant: Storey Homes. Case officer: Tom Ansell

The scheme has shrunk twice. An earlier application on the same land, 15/03374/AOP, sought up to 70 homes, was reduced to 44 and was refused on 14 February 2017. It was not appealed. This application was submitted for 60 dwellings in June 2025 and cut to 36 in March 2026, with the developed area falling from about 4 hectares to about 1.5.

What the developer would pay

The report sets out draft heads of terms for a section 106 agreement. Buckinghamshire charges no Community Infrastructure Levy, so everything is negotiated.

  • £35,859.60 towards local GP floorspace, requested by the Integrated Care Board
  • £36,000, or £1,000 per dwelling, towards bus connections to railway stations and employment before 07:30 and after 18:30 on weekdays
  • Education contributions for primary, secondary and early years places, on a multiplier set at reserved matters stage
  • A sports and leisure contribution, earmarked for Bierton Recreation Ground, Bierton Sports Centre, land for sport in the parish, or padel and table tennis facilities
  • A maintenance bond for public open space, based on £688,563 per hectare
  • Off-site badger mitigation

Two of those figures come with caveats the report states openly. The healthcare figure is an officer estimate: the Integrated Care Board’s own calculation was done for 60 homes, the council asked for an updated one, and at the time of writing had not received it. The bus figure appears twice at two different values. Paragraph 6.37 of the report still says £60,000, which was the sum sought when the scheme was 60 homes. The Highway Authority cut it to £36,000 on 6 March 2026, and £36,000 is the figure in the heads of terms.

What the objections say

Bierton Parish Council’s objection, made in August 2025 and restated in March 2026 after the reduction, sets out its case. Its central argument is cumulative:

  • The village has around 880 properties. Four applications together would have added 245, a 28% increase. Officers note the total is 221 after this scheme’s reduction
  • 23 homes at William Hill Drive, 25/02163/APP, refused by committee on 13 May 2026
  • 47 homes on Aylesbury Road, 24/03787/AOP, refused by committee on 13 May 2026
  • 115 homes at Kingsbrook backing onto the village, 23/01995/AOP, approved under delegated powers on 10 June 2026
  • This application, now 36 homes
Four housing applications at Bierton and how each was decided Horizontal bar chart of four housing applications affecting Bierton. Kingsbrook, 115 homes, approved under delegated powers on 10 June 2026. Aylesbury Road, 47 homes, refused by committee on 13 May 2026. Barnett Way, 36 homes, awaiting a committee decision on 9 September 2026. William Hill Drive, 23 homes, refused by committee on 13 May 2026. The four total 221 homes against roughly 880 existing properties in the village. Bierton has faced four housing schemes: 221 homes against 880 properties Applications named in Bierton Parish Council's objection, with the outcome the council has recorded for each. Kingsbrook 23/01995/AOP 115 homes APPROVED 10 Jun 2026, delegated powers Aylesbury Road 24/03787/AOP 47 REFUSED 13 May 2026 Barnett Way 25/01867/AOP 36 DECIDED 9 SEPT officers recommend approval William Hill Drive 25/02163/APP 23 REFUSED 13 May 2026 The parish council counted 245 homes across the four. After Barnett Way was cut from 60 to 36, officers put the total at 221, against roughly 880 existing properties in the village. Source: Buckinghamshire Council committee report and officer notes, application 25/01867/AOP, Central & North Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee, 9 September 2026. Property and scheme counts are Bierton Parish Council's, as recorded in the report. Graphic by The Aylesbury Times
Kingsbrook is a separate strategic allocation that backs onto the village rather than a scheme inside it. The 245 and 221 totals are the parish council's arithmetic and the officer's correction to it.

The parish council also says Poplar Grove and Oakfield surgeries are both oversubscribed, that the village primary school cannot take more pupils, that the village has no shop, medical centre, post office or pub, and that traffic calming on the A418 was installed to reduce flow through Bierton rather than to carry more of it.

Officers do not dismiss the infrastructure point. They accept the Integrated Care Board’s position that catchment surgeries are over capacity, which is why a contribution is sought. Their answer on population is that about 100 extra residents against a village of more than 2,000 is more likely to help existing facilities than harm them.

What officers accept would be lost

The report is unusually direct about the harm, which is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing away.

The council’s landscape officer found in April 2026 that the development would cause “major adverse landscape impact”. Officers record all of the following as harm carrying significant or substantial negative weight:

  • Permanent loss of open countryside on Grade 2 land, classed as Best and Most Versatile agricultural land
  • Harm to the setting of the Bierton Conservation Area, which the site abuts
  • Harm to the setting of Barnett House, a non-designated heritage asset
  • Total loss of part of the ridge and furrow earthworks in the field, also a non-designated heritage asset
  • Conflict with Policy N2 of the new framework, on the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside

The site borders the Bierton Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest, former brickworks clay pits. Natural England has not objected, subject to an ecological buffer between the housing and the SSSI boundary. Three public rights of way cross the land. The council’s drainage team recorded that water failed to drain past 25% full in all four trial pits, so soakaway infiltration is not feasible on the site.

Officers weighed all of it and concluded the case is “finely balanced”, but that the harms do not outweigh the housing benefits.

What it means for you

The recommendation is not a straightforward approval. Officers ask the committee to defer and delegate the decision to the Service Director of Planning and Environment. Three things then have to happen before permission is issued:

  • the application is re-advertised as a departure from the development plan
  • a section 106 agreement is completed
  • no new material objections arrive

If any of those fails, the same delegation allows the officer to refuse instead.

  • The meeting is Wednesday 9 September at 2pm, at The Oculus, Buckinghamshire Council, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury HP19 8FF. Bierton is the only application on the agenda
  • It is webcast live, so you do not have to travel to watch it
  • To register to speak, the council’s agenda directs you to the planning team at SSC.registration@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. Bierton Parish Council had already asked for the application to be called in to committee if officers were minded to approve, which is what has happened
  • The council’s agreed deadline to determine the application is Friday 18 September 2026, so this will not sit unresolved for long
  • The next meeting of this committee is 14 October 2026

If the committee follows the recommendation, this will not be the end of it. The application is outline only: layout, scale, appearance and landscaping all return later as a reserved matters application, which is a separate chance to comment on what the houses actually look like and where they sit.

The 3.73-year supply figure that drives this decision is not specific to Bierton. It is a county-wide number from the council’s March 2026 position statement for the North and Central area, and the same argument is being run at speculative housing sites across the vale. Bierton is where it is being tested first under the new rules.

For applications near you, our Aylesbury planning applications page explains how to search the register and comment.

Sources