Residents slam plan to build 100 new homes on sports pitches in Stoke Mandeville

Friday, 22 December 2023 07:00

By Charlie Smith - Local Democracy Reporter

Residents have slammed Buckinghamshire Council’s plans to build 100 new homes on sports pitches.

The new homes are earmarked for the vacant County Council Sports and Social Club, Lower Road, Stoke Mandeville.

The facility on the outskirts of Aylesbury closed in 2017 but is said to have been as used until August 2019 when a “barbed fence” was erected.

Mungo Duncan of Stoke Mandeville Residents Group blasted the council’s application for planning permission which claims that green space will be preserved.

He told a meeting of the Strategic Sites Committee: “The officer’s report says that significant open space will be provided in the site. It will not.

“There will be single small field remaining which is already too small to host a single full-sized pitch.”

Mr Duncan also hit out at claims that a contribution will be made to improving off-site sports and recreation facilities such as Walton Court Park and play area.

He said these facilities were more than 2.5 miles away from Stoke Mandeville and were at “maximum capacity with no scope for development”.

Meanwhile, Cllr Mark Willis of Aylesbury Town Council said the development “conflicts” with Bucks Council’s public health role.

He said: “We need more people doing sport. We need more people fit and healthy. But this does nothing to help that. I speak to you as a type 2 diabetic from not enough exercise.”

The Committee has deferred application 22/03709/AOP for approval to the council’s planning director, subject to referral to the Housing Secretary Michael Gove due to the objection of Sport England.