Plans for 350 homes in Bucks take big step forward

Friday, 29 December 2023 07:00

By Charlie Smith - Local Democracy Reporter

Major plans to build an estate of 350 homes on a former Ministry of Defence site in Bucks have taken a big step forward.

Planning consent for 304 new houses with 46 retained homes at the site of the Former Defence School Of Languages on Gorell Road, Beaconsfield, was granted in 2019.

The final MoD buildings were bulldozed earlier this year and some of the properties are now built and marketed by Bewley Homes as part of the Wilton Park development, with others still under construction.

However, the already approved plans have now taken a further step forward after ground investigations into potential contamination have been completed.

The findings of the investigations – which were a condition of the 2019 planning consent – have now been published and were submitted to Buckinghamshire Council for approval last week.

Contamination of the ground and ground water “was not encountered” during the investigations, according to the geo-environmental assessment report.

Asbestos fibres were also not encountered within any of the soils analysed, the report said, however, asbestos containing materials and asbestos fibres were encountered during the demolition of buildings.

Plans for the estate also include public open space, including local park and sports pitches, as well as a new access road, footpaths and cycleways.

The former MoD site, disused from 2013, was used by the Armed Forces from the 1960s, before which it was a large country home, which was leased to the War Office to house senior/high ranking prisoners of war during World War Two.