Shared from FB · Princes Risborough Bypass ActioN Group BANG
Here we go again...! The BANG campaign has relaunched to fight yet another attempt by Bucks Council to destroy a very special beauty spot with an unsafe relief road route.
More than 70 BANG campaigners, joined by Greg Smith MP, gathered to form a human U-turn on the corner of Shootacre Lane and Picts Lane.
Proposals to route part of a new western relief road along Shootacre Lane and Picts Lane in Princes Risborough were put forward in 2016 as part of plans to double the size of the town with 2,500 new homes.
But following a successful campaign by BANG, the council ditched the proposed route and selected a cheaper and safer alternative route, known as the ‘Culverton Link’.
Further proposals put forward in 2019 to use Shootacre Lane and Picts Lane as an ‘interim route’ for 10 years while the main relief road was being constructed were also abandoned for similar reasons.
Picts Lane forms part of a Sustrans National Cycle Route while Shootacre Lane lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and provides a link between two bridleways - the Ridgeway and Phoenix Trail. The lanes are lined with ancient hedgerows and frequently used by horse-riders, cyclists, walkers and joggers to access the countryside.
A number of expert reports commissioned by the council have demonstrated that the rural residential lanes are unsafe and unsuitable to be used as a relief road and the council itself stated that the ‘Culverton Link’ was “more affordable, viable and deliverable than other options”.
Last year the council admitted it did not have sufficient funds to build a Princes Risborough relief road and withdrew its planning application for the Princes Risborough Southern Road Link (PRSRL).
But its new draft Local Plan, published on 23 July 2026, sets out proposals for a new relief road route along Shootacre Lane and Picts Lane, and reveals that it expects the project to be funded by private developers.
BANG, which represents residents from more than 70 households, has submitted a group submission to the council’s Regulation 19 consultation and has vowed to fiercely fight the plans once again.
Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, said: “If we are going to be forced to take so many new houses, then it’s outrageously unacceptable, dangerous and frankly preposterous to try and force all of these vehicle movements – cars and lorries - down small rural lanes like this.
"If the houses are forced upon us, adequate roads must be provided and, in this case, in the form of the Culverton Link.”
BANG coordinator Philip Hayes said: “The council has performed a ludicrous U-turn by reviving a relief road route it had previously rejected as unsafe and unviable.
“It has also failed to lawfully consult residents by failing to consider reasonable alternatives. The plan is unsound, unjustified and undeliverable.”
