A summary statement outlining the position of the society towards local housing development and the current situation regarding the focus on healthcare infrastructure.

 The Holmer Green Village Society (HGVS), together with many local parish councils and GP practices, has longstanding and serious concerns about the scale of housing growth in the area. These concerns are heightened by the apparent lack of any meaningful plans to improve infrastructure provision to accommodate the thousands of new residents expected, particularly as many developments are proposed on Green Belt land.

While we have actively objected to such developments, experience has shown that our objections represent only one voice among many within the planning process.

As the Government has made it clear that significant further housing development will take place, and as efforts to stop current developments have not been successful, we have adopted a more focused, pragmatic and constructive approach.

We will continue to evaluate each application as it comes forward and comment or object where appropriate. At the same time, we will champion the provision of essential infrastructure—particularly healthcare infrastructure—as a priority issue. As developments in any one of our three local parishes directly affect all three, we are working closely across Widmer End, Hazlemere and Holmer Green to represent the wider East of Wycombe area.

Responsibility for ensuring adequate primary healthcare infrastructure lies nationally with NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). Locally, this responsibility sits with the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire Integrated Care Board.

In September 2023, in its objections to both HW8 developments and the Terriers Farm development, the ICB stated on all three occasions that:

• “There is insufficient primary medical care capacity locally”; and
  • “The GP practices in Hazlemere and surrounding areas are at full capacity.”

At that time, while opposing the developments on those grounds, the ICB also requested that, should permission be granted, a total contribution of approximately £700,000 be paid to enable plans to expand healthcare capacity and provision at the two Hazlemere surgeries (Highfield and Roberts Ride).

Two and a half years later, with no effective development plan yet in place for these surgeries, HGVS has a working group set up with the support of our MP Sarah Green working closely with the doctors at both practices, councillors from Little Missenden, Hazlemere and Hughenden Parish Councils as well as Buckinghamshire Council to press the ICB to produce a clear and deliverable plan for the area that will future-proof healthcare provision for at least the next ten years.

Sarah Green has been actively engaged with us and has supported efforts by local communities, parish councils, and GP practices to secure proper planning for our healthcare infrastructure. She has also established high level contact with the ICB and has raised our issue directly with the housing minister at Question Time in the House of Commons and gained his agreement to meet to discuss the issue.  Her office has also been in contact with relevant NHS bodies and stakeholders to ensure that the need for sustainable primary healthcare provision across the East of Wycombe area is recognised and addressed.

A key concern is that ICB objection statements are generally accepted by planning authorities and are rarely challenged. In practice, this means the ICB is seldom held to account either for the accuracy of its statements or for the delivery of the required infrastructure. If the ICB fails to plan adequately for our area, the consequences are felt directly by our communities.

However, the ICB is also the only organisation responsible for developing Neighbourhood Healthcare Plans.

Our efforts have therefore focused on building support among local organisations, impacted stakeholders, and Councillors, to ensure that the ICB, which Sarah Green has been instrumental in leading, recognises and fulfils its responsibility to produce and implement a robust local plan.

To support this objective, we have established the East of Wycombe Healthcare Working Group (EWHWG) supported by Sarah, bringing together representatives from the County and Parish Councils, GP practices, and the three villages. The group’s aim is to assist the ICB in understanding local pressures and developing a strong and deliverable Neighbourhood Healthcare Plan that will deliver better healthcare for us all.