Buntsford Hill: 112 objections, one letter of support

The outline application for up to 293 homes at Buntsford Hill has drawn 115 public comments in three weeks. 112 of them object. One supports it.

The council wrote to 32 neighbours. More than three times that number have written back. Twenty-three of the comments arrived on Wednesday 2 September alone, two days before the neighbour consultation expires.

The register for 26/00834/OUT gives the tally on its own comments tab: 115 received, 112 objections, 1 supporting. The application is still marked “Pending Consideration”. We reported the scheme when it opened for comment in our first story on the 293-home plan.

What the objections actually say

We read all 115 published comments on the register and counted how many raise each theme. A single comment usually raises several, so the figures below add up to more than 115.

The museum is the headline. 85 comments name Avoncroft, and 50 mention the windmill specifically. Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings sits immediately north west of the site, across a hedge line, and its Danzey Green windmill stands on the high ground looking out over the fields the application would build on. The applicant’s own planning statement offers a strip of open space along the western edge “to set development back from the windmill”.

Where the comments come from is worth noting too. 64 of the 115 give a B60 postcode, the Aston Fields, Stoke Prior and Buntsford side of the town nearest the site, and 11 give B61.

Only six of 27 consultees have replied

The council consulted 27 organisations on 10 and 13 August. Six have answered. None of the six has objected.

Two of those are worth reading properly.

The county archaeologist has asked for work that has not been done. Its comment says the submitted Heritage Impact Assessment covers built heritage but “does not address the potential impact on archaeology”, and that the desk-based assessment and geophysical survey recommended at the pre-application stage “does not appear to have been undertaken”. It asks for geophysical survey and pre-determination trial trenching before the application is decided, so that the potential for below-ground archaeology is actually established. That comment is dated 13 August and cites paragraph 207 of the National Planning Policy Framework. The government published a rewritten NPPF four days later, on 17 August 2026, replacing the numbered version the comment quotes.

Natural England has not assessed it. Its response says the body “is not able to provide specific advice on this application and therefore has no comment to make on its details”, and points the council to its own Impact Risk Zones and standing advice instead. That is a standard Natural England reply, not a verdict on the site, but it does mean the national nature body has looked at 13.67 hectares of farmland and offered nothing case-specific.

On flooding, North Worcestershire Water Management confirms most of the site is in flood zone 1, with a strip beside the River Salwarpe in the south in flood zones 2 and 3, and part of the south at risk from reservoir inundation. It holds no record of flooding on the site itself but does hold reports of flooding immediately north, east and south of it. Storm water would discharge to the Salwarpe at 11.5 litres a second, the greenfield rate for the developed area, and the Environment Agency would have to permit that work because the Salwarpe is a main river.

The bodies residents worry about have not answered

The most-raised objection themes are the ones the council has not yet heard back on. Still to reply, three weeks after being consulted:

• Worcestershire Highways and National Highways, on the traffic
• Worcestershire Schools, on school places
• NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board, on GP capacity
• Historic England and the council’s own Conservation Officer, on the museum setting
• Stoke Parish Council, the site’s own parish
• the Environment Agency
• the council’s own strategic planning and conservation team

A consultee can reply at any point before the decision, and silence is not agreement. But with the neighbour window closing on Friday, nobody has formally answered the three questions residents raised nearly 90 times each.

Three closing dates on one application

The council’s own dates tab carries three different deadlines, which is why the advice going round locally has been inconsistent:

The council has set itself an internal target of 28 October to decide the application, with a statutory determination deadline of 4 November 2026. No committee date has been set.

What it means for you

• Comments are still being accepted. A new comment was logged on the register on 3 September. If you want to be counted, use the application page and quote 26/00834/OUT, and do it before 8 September rather than relying on the 17 September site notice date.
• Say what planning can act on. Highway safety, flood risk, heritage setting, ecology and the Green Belt or grey belt test are all matters the council must weigh. Loss of a view, or the number of people who object, are not.
• The archaeology point is live. If the county archaeologist’s survey work is not done, that is a reason the council can require more evidence before deciding.
• This is one of two large schemes running at once. The Bromsgrove Golf Centre application for 700 homes is being determined on a similar timetable.
• Background on the plan the district is still writing is on our Bromsgrove planning news page.

Sources

• Planning application 26/00834/OUT, comments tab, read 3 September 2026, for the 115 comments, the 112 objections, the single supporting comment, the 32 neighbours consulted and the text of every published comment.
• Consultee comments tab for the 27 consultees, the six responses and their text.
• Worcestershire Archive and Archaeological Service comment, 13 August 2026 for the archaeology request.
• Natural England response, 20 August 2026 for the “no comment” reply and the standing advice.
• Worcestershire Regulatory Services noise response, 20 August 2026.
• Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue response, 13 August 2026.
• Application dates tab for the 4 September, 8 September and 17 September dates, the 28 October target and the 4 November determination deadline.
• National Planning Policy Framework, published 17 August 2026 for the date the rewritten framework replaced the numbered version.
• Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings for the museum and its collection of re-erected buildings.

We do not name the individual residents who commented. Their names and addresses are published in full on the council’s register, which anyone can read.