Jackson Ng at East & South Bucks Area Planning Committee, 11 November 2025

Also, I have received correspondence that allege that I acted in a professional capacity against the applicant in my professional capacity as a barrister before, of which I cannot recall. But nevertheless, I'd like to confirm on record that I come to this meeting with an open mind and without any prejudice and predetermination. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. I absolutely accept that. And obviously, on advice of legal and the monitoring.

Thank you very much for coming today. So the site already has permission for a very large property, a family home, and you talked about how this area is a special character, residents and children play. I'd like to know more in further detail how, you know, what are your biggest concerns on a day -to -day basis, you know, on the impact of these seven, proposed seven apartments, because, you know, it's one house or it's, you know, the footprint of the building, you know, essentially is one. It's one building. What difference does having seven apartments there have on the residents or the area? Thank you. Thank you, yeah. You're right to say it's a...

I've got a question about SUDS. We heard from the planning officer earlier that there's questions about SUDS and the national changes to SUDS. My question is quite simple, twofold really. One is, I can't see from the documentation in simple terms who will be responsible for maintaining the SUDS in the long term. How would it be funded? And second of all is the national new guidance has come in as of July 2025. Does your proposal robustly address those changes that's recommended by the government? Thank you. So thank you. Obviously SUDS were raised in the original application. That matters.

What if the management company fails to maintain the suds? What happens there? What built -in mechanism? What I'm trying to assess is that your client builds the property, sells it off to seven owners. The seven owners presumably will form a management company to run the freehold and the land and the suds' maintenance. But what if the maintenance company, as is very prevalent at the moment in the news, a lot of them are bust, people can't pay service charges, who will be responsible for the suds? Because I'm concerned about flooding in this area. Thank you. Let's make no mistake that we're not talking about something that...

So based on your answer, I would like to know, because this application came in front of this exec committee, of which I wasn't a member of, and it got rejected due to the committee's concern over development's character and density. Now whilst the inspector did not agree to it with this committee's views, clearly it was good enough for this committee to reject it, and this committee felt so strongly about it. Why have you not chosen to address the concerns of the councillors on the previous planning committee and the residents in relation to, you know, the fact that this is a, you know, an area of special characteristics? Thank you. Well, I mean, doing that would be conceding to the...

Appendix D, this is the unilateral undertaking between your client and, I suppose, Buckinghamshire Council. Can you inform me whether this unilateral undertaking binds any successes to, if your client was to sell the property on or the land onwards to a third party, would it bind any other third parties? Or is it only between Buckinghamshire Council and your client? I'd have to defer answering that question. I'm not legally trained. I think we can pass that question to the officers and do legal training.

Unilateral undertaking, and I can't spot a clause where this undertaking will bind future landowners. Can you point me to that? Because I'm looking at clause 4 .5, 4 .6, 9 .1 and 9 .2. It seems to be only binding on the applicant, and it will appear, from my understanding, to die as soon as ownership is changed. How does that protect Buckinghamshire Council and the residents and the Beaches, Birmingham Beaches SAC? Thank you. Councillor Ng, as far as I'm aware, as Richard has actually said...

That money's not been paid. What happens then? Under section 106, subsection 3, a planning obligation is enforceable by the authority against any...

Do you come back for another set of planning application? No. If we have a unilateral undertaking that is completed at the time by the person who is...

Because it's within the legislation, it doesn't have to be within the agreement.

This question for the planning officer, this is in relation to the standard 7 of the national SUDS which came in in July the 31st, 2025. Now, I think at the beginning of this committee you've mentioned that it's not binding, but it's recommended by the government, and in my opinion they've recommended it for a specific reason. Now, my understanding is that standard 7 of the national SUDS standards relates to the question I asked earlier, which is explicit about the need for a lifetime management and maintenance plan, given the amount of flooding that's been happening around the country due to overdevelopment, etc. But the officer's report does not appear to reference the submission of such a plan quite the contrary. I think we've understood that the applicant has effectively replicated its previous application, and my understanding, well, what am I saying factually is that the planning, the local flood authority officers, we've held their permission to this application in July 2025, it was only when the applicant resubmitted its previous application documentation around drainage that it was then reviewed again, and it was only reviewed, it was reviewed, but it's not clear whether it's reviewed on the standard 7. I don't think it has been, but if it's not been, can you explain why this authority does not feel the need to implement what is best guidance by the national government? Because on one hand, you know, we've always been told, well, this is what national government says, we should follow, we should do, and then sometimes we say, well, it's optional. It's just guidance. So I'm trying to understand, because I'm trying to look at the long -term impact, because I'm slightly concerned that in 10 years, 20 years' time, or 50 years' time, how can this committee be assured that the drainage system is going to function and not cause problems for the council further down the line? Thank you. Thank you. So I've discussed the matter with the council's drainage. Thank you.

For this committee, is it binding or is it just a strong material consideration? Just want to clarify the legalities of this. Well, it's the member's decision to make, but in making that decision you need to have regard to all the...

Did you want to go with the motion or do you want to speak now? Yes, speak now. Thank you, Chairman. I think it's always very difficult when you're looking at this as a member of this committee with local knowledge. And I note that three of the previous unitary councillors put this in, including myself, on a neutral basis, can I add. And the previous committee effectively refused permission. It went to planning, the inspector, which I acknowledge and I've read the report. I completely understand when the legal officers are coming in, the planning officers are coming in. Three weeks ago, I happened to be in high court and I bumped into one of our colleagues, well, your colleague, the legal officer's colleagues, who were in court 17 when I was in court 18. And I got to watch a full judicial review of a planning inspector decision in full. And I can see the cost involved in it. And that's cost to the taxpayers. But it's also difficult, on the other hand, because we are elected as members, as councillors, and being appointed to this committee to look after our local areas, heritage, look at the long -term planning impact that might happen on our area with or without the local plan, with the NPPF, etc. And it puts me in a very difficult position, because I do have local knowledge. And, you know, these are streets that I've walked my dogs on on a driven pass. But I'm very conflicted, because I completely understand professional and legal implications. And I think on this occasion, just reading from the room, I can see where members are going on this. I will not be exercising my right to vote on this. I'll be abstaining. Thank you. You have every right to abstain, as does any other member. But thank you, Councillor Unantum. I'm very fascinated.