The Local Plan for Buckinghamshire
What a local plan is
A local plan sets out a vision and framework for the future development of an area.
It addresses the needs and opportunities over the next 20 years for:
- housing
- the economy
- community facilities
- infrastructure
Our aims
We would like to ensure that Buckinghamshire remains a thriving and sustainable place to live.
The local plan will help protect the county’s rural character and valued landscapes, support healthy and inclusive communities, encourage economic prosperity, and enhance biodiversity. To achieve this, sustainable growth and thoughtful placemaking sits at the heart of our approach.
National planning requirements mean we must plan for around 95,500 new homes over the next twenty years. This is significantly higher than under previous national calculations. Despite this challenge, we remain committed to protecting our precious Green Belt, supporting well‑designed and sustainable neighbourhoods, and helping our town centres and local economies to grow.
Our progress so far
We've been gathering a wide range of evidence to understand Buckinghamshire’s future needs. This includes research on:
- housing
- employment land
- the economy
- transport
- the environment
- climate
- infrastructure
We've engaged with residents, landowners, town and parish councils, neighbouring authorities, and infrastructure providers through a series of formal consultations and call for sites. More than 1,300 people took part in formal consultation during 2025. And we engaged with many more through a series of workshops and meetings.
We received over 1,400 site suggestions through our 'Calls for Sites' exercises. These have been carefully assessed against environmental, infrastructure, and planning considerations. Around 400 sites are now being published for further engagement and technical review.
Our next steps
Buckinghamshire Design Code
We are currently consulting on a draft Buckinghamshire Design Code and are asking for your comments by 12 May 2026.
The design code sets out county-wide design requirements for all new development to ensure the quality of new development in Buckinghamshire is of a high level.
The design code is divided into various topic areas, including:
- context
- identity
- built Form
- movement
- nature
- homes and buildings
- resources
The requirements in the design codes will give applicants more certainty about our expectations for the approach to design and the quality of outcomes.
You can view the documents and take part in the survey for the Design Code on Your Voice Bucks.
Parking Standards for New Developments
We're also consulting on the draft 'Parking Standards for New Developments'.
The draft Parking Standards set out our approach to the level of parking expected for different types of development. This includes requirements for how parking should be designed and managed.
The standards are supported by guidance on Car Clubs and Mobility Hubs, which encourages developments to provide a wider range of transport choices and integrate parking effectively with the wider transport network.
Together, these documents form a key part of the transport strategy and provide clarity on our expectations to ensure parking provision is:
- safe
- accessible
- proportionate.
Previous progress
We have also done the following:
We used a questionnaire survey to start early discussions and find out the issues that local residents and organisations think are important in shaping the future of the area.
The survey ended on 11 February 2022. View details of the survey and how we involved residents and other organisations in the Statement of Consultation (PDF, 770 KB).
We asked the public and organisations to complete a questionnaire. This was to find out opinions on our draft Local Plan vision and objectives for Buckinghamshire up to 2040. We asked for suggested changes. The questionnaire also covered the draft vision and objectives for the Local Transport Plan 5 (LTP 5).
This draft vision and objectives were developed from responses received through the Local Plan Questionnaire Survey 2021 to 2022.
The survey ended on 4 June 2023.
The responses to this questionnaire are being considered and will inform the next stage of the Local Plan.
See the draft vision and objectives (PDF, 165 KB)
Vision and objectives consultation statement (PDF, 984KB)
In 2021 we carried out 2 'call for brownfield sites' engagement exercises, asking residents to submit previously developed land for consideration.
Following an initial assessment, we concluded that not all these sites will be suitable, achievable and available.
Between June and September 2022, we carried out a separate ‘wider call for sites’ exercises. Over the three exercises we received over 1,000 sites which are currently being assessed.
After a new national policy was introduced that changed the way we calculate our housing need for Buckinghamshire, increasing our local housing need figure significantly under the government's revised standard methodology (December 2024), we carried out a fourth call for sites, called 2025 Call for sites, from 12 of March until the 23 of April.
View more information on how to tell us about a site for development.
View our updates that went up to the end of 2025.
Draft Local Plan for Buckinghamshire Consultation 2025
We recently consulted on parts of the Local Plan that have been prepared to date.
The consultation ran from 17 September to 29 October 2025.
We have received over 1,300 representations and are currently reviewing them to identify the key issues and how best to address them. The statement of consultation will be available when we publish the plan in July 2026, explaining how the feedback has shaped the Local Plan.
Draft Local Plan consultation documents and supporting material
View the Draft Local Plan:
- Evidence
- Part A Spatial Strategy (PDF, 1.7MB)
- Part B Development Management Policies (PDF, 3MB)
- Consultation video
- Further information
- Summary leaflet (PDF, 6.23MB)
- Virtual Exhibition Boards
Call for Gypsy and Traveller sites
The Local Plan for Buckinghamshire (LP4B) will allocate sites for development in the period up to 2045 to meet the housing, economic development need including the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople needs of Buckinghamshire.
A targeted Gypsy and Traveller call for sites took place between 17 September – 29 October 2025.
The promoted sites will be assessed on their suitability, availability and achievability and the outcomes of these assessments will be published in due course.
The informal sites engagement exercise, which ran from February to March 2026 as part of the Regulation 18 stage of plan-making, has now closed.
The deadline for submitting feedback was 11:59pm on 16 March 2026 and we are no longer accepting responses.
What happens next
We are now reviewing all feedback received from landowners, developers, town and parish councils and infrastructure providers. This will help us refine the evidence base and shape the emerging strategy for where future development could take place.
The outcomes of this work will feed into the publication version of the Local Plan in the summer.
About the engagement (now closed)
During the engagement period, we invited feedback to validate the availability, suitability, and viability of approximately 400 potential development sites. This included sites with potential for housing (including gypsy and traveller provision), employment or mixed-use development.
This site engagement exercise formed part of Regulation 18 stage of drafting the Local Plan. This has been an important stage where initial site information has been shared and gathered views from those with a direct interest in development land.
Documents published during the engagement
You can view documents published during this site engagement on our draft local plan evidence page.
You can view the sites on our interactive map (last updated 16 March 2026) allowing users to find the location of all assessed sites:
- select the icon in the top left corner (the middle button, with 3 dots)
- sites included in the potential housing and employment supply are shown in turquoise
- sites requiring further assessment are dark blue
- sites within the grey belt that are not included in the potential supply are shown in grey
If you have questions about the sites engagement
You can view our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (PDF, 286 KB).