This meeting of the Central Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee included an update on the availability of its members to attend site visits, and confirmed the date of the next meeting as 15 January 2025. The Committee's report pack included three planning applications for the Committee to consider.

24/03361/APP - 24 Penrith Way, Aylesbury

This application concerned a proposal by Buckinghamshire Council for the change of use of a dwelling house to a children’s home for up to three children. The report considered the potential for increased traffic from the change of use, concluding that:

The care home would have a comparable level of vehicle movements to the existing residential dwelling and would see no net increase in trip generation.

The report also included information about the impact of noise from the development:

A management plan has been provided and given the small-scale nature of the use, the level of movement to and from the property would be like that of a dwellinghouse, noting that a dwelling house would not be subject to a management plan.

24/02612/APP - Units 1 -3 Vale Retail Park, Vale Park Drive, Aylesbury

This application concerned a proposal by B&M Retail Ltd for the erection of a fence, lighting, a storage compound, and alterations to the car parking to create an external garden centre at the existing Vale Retail Park. The report considered the impact of the proposal on the surrounding area:

The external garden centre would be positioned at the eastern side of the building, facing Park Street and it would be uncovered. Although it would be visible from the public domain, it would remain ancillary to the retail units in terms of scale and would be viewed in the context of the larger structures behind it.

The report also considered the application's potential impact on traffic:

The new garden centre would have a low trip generation of approximately one trip in the AM peak and two trips in the PM peak. In total, the store could generate an extra 34 trips in the AM peak and 66 trips in the PM peak. The Highways Officer raises no objections to the level of increase shown in this application.

24/02590/VRC - Units, 1, 2 and 3 Vale Retail Park, Vale Park Drive, Aylesbury

This application concerned a proposal by B&M Retail Ltd for a change to the existing planning conditions that apply to the Vale Retail Park, to allow the sale of food and drink in Units 1, 2 and 3. The application proposed to vary condition 5 of the existing planning permission:

The premises shall not be used for the sale of food other than confectionery or for the consumption on the premises ancillary to the overall use of the site for retail warehousing, with the exception of Units 1, 2 and 3 where up to 574 sqm can be used for the sale of food and drink goods for consumption off the premises.

The report explained that:

The application site lies within Aylesbury Town Centre, about 250 metres from the Primary Shopping Area (PSA). Consequently, the application site is edge of centre having regard to Annex 2 of the NPPF.