Kingshill Road Traveller Site Refused, Longwick 40 Homes Too

The Gypsy and Traveller site at Ladys Mile, Kingshill Road, has been refused planning permission. Councillors rejected it against the advice of their own officers, who had recommended approval. Buckinghamshire Council issued the decision notice on Friday 25 September.

The same committee also went against officers on up to 40 homes on Thame Road, Longwick, a village about a mile and a half north west of Princes Risborough. Members voted to refuse that scheme too.

Updated 14 October: the council issued the Longwick decision notice on 7 October. It gives three reasons for refusal, set out below.

Both decisions were taken by the West Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee at High Wycombe on the evening of Wednesday 23 September. The other two applications on the agenda were approved, as officers had recommended.

The four decisions

Kingshill Road: “not grey belt”

The case turned on one question. Is this field ordinary Green Belt, or grey belt?

Under the 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, a Traveller site on grey belt is not inappropriate development. Officers had argued the field qualified. They accepted that the council’s own draft Green Belt Assessment puts it in an area making a strong contribution to checking the sprawl of High Wycombe. But they said that finding applied to the wider area, not to this hemmed-in field.

Councillors preferred the assessment. The council’s refusal gives one reason, and it covers both harms members raised. It says the development:

• is inappropriate development in the Green Belt, which is harmful by definition
• erodes the openness of the countryside
• is visually intrusive in the Chilterns National Landscape

It adds that the site “is not grey belt, as evidenced by the findings of the Draft Buckinghamshire Green Belt Assessment (2026)”.

The notice does not dismiss the need. It says “substantial weight” is given to providing pitches against an evidenced unmet need. But that benefit is “substantially and demonstrably outweighed” by the harm to the Green Belt and the National Landscape. It cites policies CP8, DM42 and DM30 of the Wycombe District Local Plan, and policies S5, GB7, HO12 and N4 of the 2026 Framework.

The shortfall is large. As our preview set out, the council’s 2025 assessment found an unmet need of 427 pitches across Buckinghamshire. During the debate, an officer warned members that even the emerging Local Plan would still leave a shortfall of around 200 pitches. That is according to the council’s own recording of the meeting.

A 671-name petition against the site was before members. The hardstanding and an earth bund were already on the land when the application was made.

Longwick: refused on the same grounds as the site across the road

The refusal is now on paper. Buckinghamshire Council issued the decision notice for 25/06402/OUT on Wednesday 7 October, refusing outline permission to the applicant, Hawridge Strategic Land. It follows the reasons members voted for on 23 September, drawn from a refusal this committee gave in July for a site across the road.

The notice gives three reasons:

• Location. The site is outside Longwick’s defined settlement boundary, on land not allocated for housing. Building there would be an unplanned expansion into the rural landscape and would undermine the planned approach to growth in the Wycombe District Local Plan and the Longwick-cum-Ilmer Neighbourhood Plan.
• Heritage. The scale of the development and its traffic, close to the Grade II listed Sara’s Cottage and Old Orchard, would fail to preserve their setting. The notice puts the harm at “low level” and says there are not enough public benefits to outweigh it.
• No legal agreement. Without a signed agreement, the scheme would not secure 48% affordable housing (80% for rent, 20% intermediate), contributions to primary education, health care and local buses, a travel plan monitoring fee, or the upkeep of the open space and drainage.

Officers had cautioned members before the vote. The settlement boundary exists only in the Neighbourhood Plan, and under the 2026 Framework that plan now carries limited weight. At appeal, they said, the argument would move to national policy. They also pointed out that the July refusal came before the new Framework took effect in August.

The scheme would have delivered 19 affordable homes, 48% of the total. The parish council, both ward councillors and Greg Smith MP had all objected. Their arguments are in our preview.

Walters Ash and Lacey Green: approved

The two-pitch Traveller site at The Hedgerow, Parkwood, Walters Ash was approved. Its decision notice is dated 24 September, and work must start within three years. It sits about four miles north west of High Wycombe.

On the recording, members who had visited drew the contrast with Kingshill Road. They described the Walters Ash site as small and fully enclosed, bounded by roads and vegetation. Officers confirmed it is Green Belt land that also meets the definition of grey belt.

Grymsdyke Farm on Main Road, Lacey Green, was approved for light industrial use on 24 September.

What it means for you

• Neither refusal is necessarily final. The applicants can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, normally within six months of the decision notice, according to the notice’s own appeal notes. An inspector would decide it afresh.
• The Ladys Mile works are already on the ground. A refusal does not by itself require the land to be restored. The council served a Planning Contravention Notice over the hardstanding and bund before the application was decided, and no enforcement notice had been issued when officers wrote their report.
• Longwick’s reasons are now fixed. The three reasons in the 7 October notice are the grounds any appeal would be fought on. For a scheme of this type, the notice’s appeal notes give six months from the decision date, which runs to early April 2027.
• The Draft Green Belt Assessment has now decided a case. It is evidence for the new Local Plan, which must be submitted for examination by 31 December 2026. The main consultation closed on 6 September, and five evidence documents are open for comment until 20 October 2026. Details are in our Princes Risborough relief road story.

The committee next meets on Wednesday 21 October 2026 at 6.30pm, according to the chairman at the close of the meeting. We track its decisions in High Wycombe planning news.

Sources

• Decision notice for 25/05307/FUL, Ladys Mile, Kingshill Road, Buckinghamshire Council, 25 September 2026, for the refusal, its reason in full, the policies cited and the appeal notes.
• Planning register entry for 25/06402/OUT, Thame Road, Longwick, checked on 14 October 2026, showing the application refused with a decision issued on 7 October, and the decision notice itself, dated 7 October 2026, for the three reasons for refusal and the appeal notes.
• Decision notices for PL/25/4361/FA, The Hedgerow, Walters Ash and PL/25/3044/FA, Grymsdyke Farm, Lacey Green, both dated 24 September 2026.
• Webcast of the West Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee, 23 September 2026, Buckinghamshire Council, for the Longwick vote and the reasons put to it, the officer’s advice on appeal, the remaining pitch shortfall and the date of the next meeting. The minutes have not yet been published.
• Committee agenda and update sheet and the officer reports on all four applications, for the recommendations, the petition and the Planning Contravention Notice.