Authority Monitoring Report 2022 to 2023

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. It proposes to replace this legal requirement with a soundness test of ‘alignment’. The Council continues to act to sustain good conversations with other councils and agencies. These can become more strongly focused when there is more clarity on what an alignment test entails, and as the evidence base for the Plan develops.

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 2022/23 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 July 2022 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 December 2022 Buckinghamshire and Cherwell exchanged a draft Statement of Common Ground which agreed that Cherwell District does not require Buckinghamshire Council to meet any of Cherwell’s housing or employment needs. It also agreed that being in its early stages, the LP4B does not result in any strategic cross-boundary matters at this time.

BC is actively engaging with Dacorum BC and Natural England to monitor and manage potential impacts of development on the Chiltern Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation (SAC), specifically at the Ashridge Estate.

The Councils exchanged letters in September 2022 agreeing topics for cross-boundary strategic matters. Officers from the two councils met in October 2022 to exchange updates on their plan preparation.

In March 2023, the Councils met and MKC presented information on the housing and employment needs.

In August 2022, the Oxfordshire Local Planning Authorities jointly announced that they were unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs within the framework of the Oxfordshire Plan.

The issues of housing needs in Oxfordshire will now be addressed through individual Local Plans for each of the City and Districts. They confirmed that will cooperate with each other and with other key bodies as they prepare their Local Plans.

Buckinghamshire Council will continue to engage with the individual Oxfordshire Local Planning Authorities and Oxfordshire County Council in the preparation of the Local Plan.

In March 2023 the Councils’ respective Cabinet Members met to reaffirm their commitment to continuing cooperation of Slough Borough Council with Buckinghamshire Council to on strategic cross-boundary matters.

In May 2022 South and Vale consulted on issues for their joint local plan, and published scoping documents for comment. Buckinghamshire provided comments on their scoping of the Duty to Cooperate and Habitats Regulations Assessment.

In September 2022 St Albans arranged a Duty to Cooperate workshop for neighbouring councils. Buckinghamshire attended this workshop. We agreed that there were no strategic cross-boundary issues between the two councils.

From January to March 2023 TRDC consulted on Additional Sites for Potential Allocation, some of which are close to the boundary with Buckinghamshire and so have potential for cross-boundary effects. It was agreed that Buckinghamshire Council will continue to engage with TDRC on site updates and information on un-met development needs, how the sites will be dealt with and other strategic cross boundary issues.

In June 2022, Buckinghamshire provided responses to Wokingham BC on a questionnaire regarding an update to their Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment.

During 2022 and 2023, Buckinghamshire corresponded with West Berkshire regarding a request to help meet their employment needs. The Council’s position is that at this point it is not known whether our current employment provision is sufficient to meet Buckinghamshire’s future employment needs to 2040. The Local Plan is at an early stage and the evidence base is not complete.

The West Berkshire Background Paper on Employment refers to the Berkshire Functional Economic Market area (FEMA). There is no connection between this FEMA and Buckinghamshire and no reasoning for a connection has been provided by West Berkshire Council apart from the comment in their Background Paper that Buckinghamshire is within a one-hour drive of West Berkshire. Buckinghamshire Council will participate in discussions with West Berkshire Council about the employment land position. However, this does not confirm agreement that this is a strategic issue shared by both authorities.

Buckinghamshire will continue to exchange information with West Berkshire and share the results of studies here on employment and retail.

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 2022 the Council provided comment to Thames Water on their draft Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan.

We have met with the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and BOB ICB to discuss the scope of the Local Plan and to understand their priorities for the future of hospital infrastructure, GP surgeries etc.

We were invited to comment on the Hertfordshire Minerals and Waste Draft Plan consultation, with a response sent in September 2022.

A letter was received in February 2023 regarding mineral movements. A response confirming the movements and highlighting future issues with movements was sent in March 2023.