Agenda item

To be presented by Mrs U Diallo, Aylesbury Garden Town Project Lead.

Ms Ulrika Diallo, Aylesbury Garden Town Project Lead, Buckinghamshire Council gave an overview of the presentation appended to the minutes.

The masterplan link: https://www.aylesburygardentown.co.uk/masterplan

It was outlined the Garden Town Project in general:

1) Aylesbury had been awarded Garden Town status in Jan 2017 and the Garden Town team had now developed a Masterplan to 2050 (to be circulated after the meeting) and a governance structure was also in place;

2) Garden Town status aimed to develop Aylesbury as a more sustainable and ‘green’ town;

3) The Garden Town Strategic Board oversaw the project, with representation from Councillors, NHS, Homes England, Parish Councils, Town Council, and Local Enterprise Partnership;

4) Ms U Diallo sat within a Project Delivery Team, which included officers from transport, property and planning, while ‘working groups’ sat under that group;

5) Homes England funded the project via central government, which included 50 similar Garden Town projects across England;

6) The Garden Town Masterplan sought high level targets including (i) 50% of land as public green space in new communities, (ii) an increase biodiversity net gain of 20%, and (iii) at least 50% of trips originating by sustainable modes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All high ambitions, but achievable;

7) Headline projects included: (i) Garden Way, which had been drafted on a plan by urban design specialists and landscape designers, aimed to connect existing and planned blue and green infrastructure, walking and cycling routes (bridleways, footpaths and Gemstone cycling routes; (ii) Town Centre Action Plan (includes a socio-economic study looked at why Aylesbury fell short of similar market towns to attract visitors and shoppers); (iii) an Infrastructure Supplementary Planning Document sat under the new Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP) that focused on a design guide for Aylesbury; (iv) a link road network that removed traffic from the town centre, with the Garden Way sitting inside the link roads; and (v) community projects would include a food growing network, Friends of Aylesbury Station to improve the arrival experience (installing hydraulic bike stands and revamping the station, such as hanging basket).

Communication and engagement would take place, to emphasie feedback, collaboration and ownership by the public. The existing Market Square and Kingsbury Square development projects would work in parallel with the Garden Town teams. A ‘Design Charette’ would take place (an extended workshop) to include Aylesbury residents. Initial ‘capacity funding was through Homes England to develop strategies and design principles, but future funding bids would be needed thereafter. Visual design examples were noted in the presentation slides.

The following points were raised in discussion:

• Mr D Briggs asked how much would the Garden Way cost? At this point there was no set budget for the Garden Way project, but having looked at other commissions locally, such as the Waddesdon Greenway, it was likely to cost approximately £15 million, taking into account the cost per kilometre.
• It was confirmed that stakeholder mapping was currently underway, and this would be extensive. It was confirmed that schools, hand cycle users and local cyclists to Aylesbury would be included in the process.
• Mr R Jennings suggested a loose surface wouldn’t be appropriate for activities such as shopping and he would like early input on surface design; Mrs Heath suggested Flexi-pave was preferred by horses.
• Mr R Jennings requested a further offline conversation with Ms Diallo on stakeholder input from cyclists.

ACTION: Mr R Jennings/ Ms U Diallo

• Mr A Clark raised questions on long-term maintenance and protection of greenspaces. Maintenance was uncertain, but it was likely a stewardship model would be set-up to engage local communities to manage each green space. The land would be protected, but the mechanism by which this would be secured was uncertain.