Two Significant Residential Developments in Great Missenden 

Updated March 2025

2017-2018

In 2017, a developer called Peker submitted a planning application to convert the Old Red Lion into flats and to build around 30 new houses on derelict land between the High Street and the railway. 

The GMVA welcomed the application but there was one major problem with it - the very tight, narrow, dangerous access to the site off the High Street between the Old Red Lion and Jeremy Swan. This would be the only way in and out of the site, not only for construction vehicles, but also for all traffic when the homes are occupied.

The Council planners rightly refused to allow this access. But Peker went to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, and, incredibly, to the surprise of everyone in the county, they won.

So Peker were permitted to commence work on site. They completed the conversion of the Old Red Lion site into nine flats but they still haven’t started building any of the houses. This is because, even though they have permission to use the High Street access, they would prefer not to. So, in 2021, they submitted another separate planning application.

2021-2022 

This new planning application (PL/21/0534/FA) was for two new four storey blocks of flats on the land currently used for selling cars on either side of the entrance to the station. Significantly, this application also included an access road for all vehicles entering and leaving Peker’s site for the new houses behind the High Street.

The developer submitted the original planning application in March 2021, with redesigns in November 2021, January 2022 and August 2022.

On each of these four occasions, the GMVA wrote to the planners (letters on our website). We welcomed the development of this brownfield site and we certainly welcomed the new access road for the housing scheme behind the High Street. However, like many individual residents and local organisations, we objected to the height, mass and materials selection of these blocks of flats and considered them inappropriate in a village of our size and character. We also objected to the shortage of parking spaces and raised concerns about the absence of any traffic management at the junction with Station Approach. The redesigns have made use of softer materials and have slightly reduced the number of flats but the fundamental concerns remain.

No final decision has been made by the planners. This is because, in 2022, a new ruling was issued to Peker and all other developers of new homes within a 12.6km radius of Tring Woodlands and the Ashridge Estate, which have been declared a Special Area of Conservation (the station site is just inside this radius). Before a planning decision can be made, the developer must agree with the council and Natural England the location and costs of a Sustainable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) for the residents of the new homes to utilise instead of going to Tring Woodlands or Ashridge.

2023-2024

To Peker’s frustration, many months of discussions ensued regarding the location of the SANG. In July 2023, Peker issued a Press Release, as follows:

“Developer Peker Holding has today regrettably announced that they will be forced to build around 30 homes behind Great Missenden High Street with all construction traffic using the High Street.

This comes as a result of continued delays by Buckinghamshire Council to develop a policy for Sustainable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG). The lack of SANG policy has directly impacted on the determination of their planning application for the Station car park, which would have solved the issue.”

Clearly this Press Release caused considerable concern to all of us in our village, and the GMVA held meetings with Peker, the Parish Council, Bucks Council, and others, including Greg Smith MP, in order to try to expedite matters.

The GMVA’s and Parish Council’s preferred site for the SANG was near the centre of the village, adjacent to Boug’s Meadow, between the Link Road and the A413, which is walkable from the new homes and is where facilities are available. Natural England, however, who chose not to liaise with us, the Parish Council, or any other local groups, despite many requests to do so, unilaterally and regrettably decided that the SANG should be at Abbey Park, between the A413 and London Road, to the east of Missenden Abbey. So, at last a site was finalised, albeit not our preferred one, and Peker issued a planning application (PL/24/1909/FA) for the SANG at Abbey Park in June 2024. 

2025

Although Peker have started removing trees adjacent to the station car park, this planning application is yet to be decided by Bucks Council…. and therefore the planning application for the station site, which includes the preferred access road for the High Street homes, cannot be decided yet either…….and therefore the health and safety risks and the physical and economic damage to our historic High Street, implicit in Peker’s 2023 press release above, remain.

So long as the SANG and station site planning applications remain undecided, the GMVA Committee will continue to stress our concerns to Bucks Council about these risks, and we will continue to do what we can to influence a positive resolution to this apparent impasse.

Updated March 2025