Councillors backed up to 36 homes off Barnett Way on 9 September, against 188 objections. A publicity round still to come could turn it into a refusal.
Councillors have backed up to 36 homes on a field off Barnett Way in Bierton, a week after we reported that the application was heading to committee against 188 objections.
They did not grant permission outright. The Central and North Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee met in The Oculus on Gatehouse Road on Wednesday 9 September, sat from 2pm until 5.41pm, and resolved to hand the decision to the council’s Service Director of Planning and Environment. (Buckinghamshire Council, draft minutes, 9 September 2026)
The resolution, proposed by Councillor Robin Stuchbury and seconded by Councillor Caroline Cornell, is that application 25/01867/AOP be:
“deferred and delegated to the Service Director of Planning and Environment for APPROVAL subject to satisfactory completion of a publicity period during which the application will be publicised as a departure from the Development Plan, subject to a suitable S106 agreement being agreed seeking to secure various matters… and subject to the conditions as proposed… by Officers and receipt of no new material representations, or if these are not achieved, for the application to be refused for such reasons as the Service Director considers appropriate.”
That last clause matters, and it is why this is not over.
The application is still open on the register
As of Tuesday 16 September, the council’s planning register still records 25/01867/AOP as “Awaiting decision”. It logs 190 comments: 188 objections and one in support. (Buckinghamshire Council planning register, 25/01867/AOP)
The register also shows the application was last advertised in the press on 11 March 2026, and that its most recent site notice was posted on 28 August and expires on 18 September. No advertisement describing the scheme as a departure from the development plan has appeared on the register yet.
The applicant is Storey Homes. The site is a field off Barnett Way, a cul-de-sac running north from the A418 Aylesbury Road.
Why it counts as a “departure”
A departure application is one an authority proposes to approve even though it conflicts with the development plan it is legally required to follow. Where that happens, the application has to be publicised as such before it can be granted.
The council’s own case officers do not dispute the conflict. Their update report to the committee lists it plainly. The proposal remains contrary to:
- VALP Policy S2 (Spatial Strategy)
- VALP Policy S3 (Countryside and Settlement Identity)
- VALP Policy D3 (Non-allocated Sites)
- Bierton Neighbourhood Plan Policies P1 and HO2
(Buckinghamshire Council, update report to committee, 25/01867/AOP)
Bierton’s neighbourhood plan was approved at referendum on 17 July 2025 and made by Buckinghamshire Council on 10 September 2025. Policy P1 draws development boundaries for Bierton village, Burcott, Broughton Crossing and Oldhams Meadow. The Barnett Way field is outside them. (Bierton Neighbourhood Plan 2025 to 2033, made version)
Officers’ answer is that the plan does not get the extra protection national policy offers, because it does not allocate any sites for housing. Their report says the committee’s conclusion on that point “remains robust and unchanged”.
The new rulebook did not change the recommendation
The application was pulled from the 19 August committee agenda after the revised National Planning Policy Framework was published on 17 August 2026, so officers could reassess it. The original committee report had been written against the December 2024 framework and relied on the old paragraph 11(d) “tilted balance”, which the new version removes.
Their conclusion was that nothing changed. Two findings in that reassessment are worth reading twice.
First, the council’s own local plan policies now carry less weight than the shortage of housing land. Officers write that VALP policies S1, S2, S3 and D3 “are to be given very limited weight as these development plan policies are, in part, materially inconsistent with the national decision-making policies in the Framework”.
Second, the number behind all of it. Buckinghamshire can demonstrate only a 3.73-year supply of deliverable housing sites in its North and Central area, against the five years national policy requires, a shortfall of roughly 2,000 homes. That figure is the council’s own, published in March 2026. (North and Central Area Five Year Housing Land Supply Position Statement, March 2026)
What officers weighed on each side
On the harm side, the report accepts that the council’s own Landscape Officer maintains the development “would result in a major adverse effect on the landscape parcel itself and adverse visual effects within the local area”, and that the scheme conflicts with the new framework’s countryside policy.
It also accepts three separate heritage harms:
- harm to the significance of the Bierton Conservation Area, through the loss of part of its rural agricultural setting
- harm to the significance of Barnett House, a non-designated heritage asset, through erosion of its immediate agricultural setting
- total loss of a portion of the ridge and furrow earthworks within the site
Bierton village has three designated conservation areas, and the neighbourhood plan records a fourteenth-century Grade I listed church, 20 Grade II listed buildings and a scheduled moated site within the neighbourhood area.
On the benefit side, the report counts up to 36 homes, 25% of them affordable (up to nine), at least three bungalows, and the contribution to the council’s housing shortfall.
Officers’ verdict: “the adverse effects of the proposal do not outweigh its benefits.”
Who spoke
The local member, Councillor Julie Ward, spoke, as did Councillor Lorna Fisher for Bierton Parish Council. An objector and a supporter also addressed the committee, along with the applicant’s team.
Councillor Kathryn Gibbon declared an interest as the local ward member and Councillor Phil Gomm declared an interest as a landowner in the area. Both said they remained open minded and took part in the debate.
What it means for you
The decision has not been issued. Until it is, there are two practical points for anyone in Bierton.
One. The resolution requires a publicity period advertising the scheme as a departure from the development plan. That advertisement has not yet shown up on the register. When it does, it opens a fresh window in which comments can be made, and a comment made in that window is not a repeat of the 188 already logged.
Two. The Service Director’s authority is conditional. If a new material representation is received, or the section 106 agreement is not settled, the resolution says the application is to be refused instead, for reasons the Service Director considers appropriate. “Material” means it raises a planning matter, such as landscape, heritage, drainage, highways or infrastructure capacity, rather than a personal or commercial one.
Comments go through the application page on the council’s planning register. The committee’s next meeting is on 14 October 2026.
There is now a second scheme in the same village to watch: an outline application for up to 55 homes off Burcott Lane went live on the register last week, and comments on that one close on 7 October. We have covered it in Bierton 55 homes: the Burcott Lane application.
Our earlier report, written before the vote, is here: Bierton planning application: 36 homes backed, vote 9 Sept. From 31 October, councillors and parish councils lose the right to call applications like this one in to committee at all: Aylesbury planning: councillor call-in ends on 31 October.
More local applications each week on our Aylesbury planning news page.
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