Expansion homes planned on land prone to flooding

Written by MK News on Wed 15th Aug 2007

A city councillor is concerned about plans to build housing on land that was swamped by recent floods.

Flood plain fears: Fields around Stony Stratford under water after the heavy rain at the beginning of JulyPlans for the growth of Milton Keynes submitted by Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) and Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) as part of the South East Plan examination earlier this year include up to 12,500 homes by 2031 on land east of the M1, between Moulsoe and North Crawley and south of Newport Pagnell.

Sherington ward councillor at Milton Keynes Council, Sam Potts, said the fields earmarked for development were flooded at the same time as heavy rain swamped the carnival field at Newport Pagnell and saw Stony Stratford under water at the beginning of July.

He is worried that building on this land will cause future problems.

"If you build on flood plains the water has got to go somewhere, so it will go through people's letter boxes," he said.

"You only have to go round Stoke Goldington and see the damage it caused to see that it is not a sensible solution."

The plans are part of a review that was jointly commissioned by the BCC and AVDC from Colin Buchanan & Partners, in response to the city regeneration agency Milton Keynes Partnership's (MKP) long-term growth strategy for Milton Keynes.

The councils commissioned the report as they believe the MKP strategy development process failed to properly consider the potential for development to the east of the M1 motorway.

Chris Kenneford, strategic planning manager at BCC, said: "The Buchanan study did propose expansion of MK to the east of the M1, but did not propose any building in the flood plain areas on that side of the motorway."

The report, and MKP's MK 2031 growth strategy, have been submitted to the South East of England Regional Assembly to be considered in the Government's plans to build 200,000 new homes in the south east, including 70,000 in Milton Keynes.

The proposals are being considered by an independent panel that presided at the South East Plan Examination in Public. The consultation ran from November 28, 2006 until March 30 this year, and is expected to lead to Government approval of a final South East Plan early next year.

"A report from the panel is due in the next couple of weeks," added Mr Kenneford.

"It will be interesting to see what weight they have attached to the Buchanan Report's proposals."