Authority Monitoring Report 2023 to 2024

The Duty to Cooperate (DtC) was created by the Localism Act 2011. It means that Buckinghamshire Council (BC) must engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis with other councils and agencies on strategic cross-boundary matters. The aim is to make sure that planning is joined up across the wider area and make local plans work well together.

In its Planning White Paper, the Government signalled its intention to abolish the Duty to Cooperate. The Government has recently announced that it will introduce strategic planning areas that will produce spatial development strategies (SDSs) by the end of the parliament. BC is required to develop a local plan using the Duty to Cooperate until it is abolished.

In April 2021, the Council drafted a scoping statement for the DtC. It listed the other councils and agencies we believe to be relevant to the Council’s plans and what subjects we might need to discuss.

We sent this draft statement to the other councils and agencies for their comment. We received a good range of responses and have updated our list to take account of their feedback. Since undertaking this action, we have engaged with appropriate partners to discuss relevant issues. A summary of activities in 2023/24 can be found below in sections 8.2 and 8.3.

A very significant issue for the DtC is if the need for housing is reapportioned across different areas. At present it is too early to say whether the Council will need to ask other areas to help meet Buckinghamshire’s need for housing; nor whether the Council has capacity to meet the need for housing from other areas.

The Council has provided comments to a number of other councils’ plans and programmes. More significant consultations and meetings are highlighted below.

Officers from the two councils met in December 2023 to exchange updates on the preparation of their respective plans. As both plans are at an early stage, there is no indication yet as to whether there will be any cross-boundary housing or employment needs, or other strategic issues to consider. Both councils are part of the joint effort to address recreational impacts on the Chiltern Beechwoods SAC, specifically the Ashridge Estate.

In November 2023 BC responded to a consultation from Cherwell expressing concerns about two sites proposed for allocation within Cherwell. BC considered there would be negative impacts on traffic on the A41, and suggested a strategic approach is taken to the A41. BC supported Cherwell meeting Oxford City's unmet need so that Oxfordshire overall could meet its needs within its boundaries.

In December 2023 BC responded to a consultation from Dacorum noting that Dacorum was proposing a housing requirement that was 90% of that calculated by the government's standard method. BC confirmed there was no scope for us to assist with meeting any unmet needs. BC requested on going engagement on planning for school provision in the Aylesbury / Tring and Chesham / Bovingdon areas.

In June 2023, the Councils met and MKCC informed us their Local Plan timetable was being pushed back to allow for evidence to be developed and a more comprehensive consultation. Reg 18 will be summer 2024, still submitting by June 2025.

In March 2024 the Councils met again, and MKCC confirmed that their Reg 18 consultation will commence in July 2024. Confirmed will meet own residential needs, however they were not able to meet full employment needs.

In August 2023, the RBWM responded to our Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Assessment consultation to say that there was a potential cross boundary issue around the need for a transit site to meet Gypsy & Traveller needs.

In May 2023 the Councils met and BC updated on the ongoing vision and objectives consultation, forthcoming approaches consultation and emerging evidence. Slough updated on revised Local Development Scheme, Wider Area Growth Study publication and corporate commitment to the plan.

In November 2023 BC responded to TRDCs Local Plan consultation, BC expressed concern about their proposal to plan for a housing scenario lower than that calculated by the standard method and stated that BC had no current scope to assist with meeting unmet needs. BC also expressed concerns about transport impacts of allocations near Maple Cross and asked to be involved.

In November 2023, Wokingham requested BC to assist with meeting their Gypsy & Traveller needs. Also, BC responded to Wokingham's DTC letter, noting their ability to meet their housing needs. Regarding Wokingham's unmet employment needs, BC noted that our employment evidence was still emerging, and we could not confirm capacity in BC, that BC lay outside the Central Berkshire Functional Economic Market Area, that the closest part of BC to Wokingham was very constrained, and on that basis that we could not assist in meeting unmet employment needs. BC noted Wokingham's unmet Gypsy and Traveller needs and updated them on our Gypsy & Traveller work. Bucks noted concerns regarding any flooding impacts on BC and also requested ongoing engagement on wider infrastructure issues.

We responded to a consultation from the Mayor of London completing a general survey on issues relating to Gypsies & Travellers in Buckinghamshire.

We have engaged actively with National Highways (formerly Highways England) on the development of a new transport model for the Council. The Council has exchanged technical information about the model with National Highways and responded to any issues raised. Conversation with National Highways will be ongoing as we develop our approach to testing growth and mitigation scenarios for the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire.

In September 2023 BC conducted a scrutiny review into Planning for Future Primary Care Provision in Buckinghamshire. This resulted in a report being published with a number of recommendations outside of this monitoring year, on 7 May 2024 – these recommendations will be discussed in the AMR for next year.

No Minerals and Waste duty to cooperate activities have taken place in 2023/24.