Pickles refuses planning appeal because area already has five years worth of future housing supply

Pickles concluded that there was enough housing land in the District to cover the next five years and he said he was "not in favour of this scale of development, in this location, at this time".

Harbour Castle appealed the decision of Wycombe District Council to refuse outline planning permission for up to 400 new homes. Other proposals for the development included shops, offices for financial and professional services, restaurants and cafes and up to 13.5 hectares of public open space and community facilities.

In his decision letter (97-page/1.2MB PDF), the Secretary of State agreed with the Planning Inspector's recommendation that the appeal be dismissed and planning permission refused. 
Pickles acknowledged that the site is allocated as a site potentially suitable for housing in a saved policy, however attached limited weight to this given that it was the Council's intention to remove it from this policy. 

Pickles concluded that there was a "sufficiently robust case made for there being a five year supply of housing land across the District", and said that he agreed with the Inspector on the "relative importance to this appeal of the five year supply question". 

In his decision letter Pickles agreed that the site represents a "reasonable choice" for housing development, apart from a few issues with its connections to the town centre. 
He also concluded that the development would help address the needs of the town, including a need for affordable housing, and said the development "would further the aims of the Ministerial Statement on Planning for Growth".

However, despite these positive factors, Pickles concluded that there were "significant doubts" as to the need for this size of development and on its effect of the character of a small market town. The loss of the best and most versatile agricultural land is not therefore acceptable in this case, said Pickles.

The development would fail to protect the character and features of Princes Risborough that make it an attractive place in which to live, work and visit, said Pickles. There would be unacceptable long-term consequences which outweigh the positive aspects of the development, he said. An outline planning application was refused for the same site in 2007, which proposed up to  570 dwellings and associated open space and landscaping.