UNWELCOME BREAK

Say NO to a motorway service station on Iver's Green Belt.

Welcome Break wants to build a 24-hour motorway service area on protected countryside between M25 junctions 15 and 16. It goes before Buckinghamshire Council's Strategic Sites Committee on Thursday 30 July 2026, and, outrageously, the council's own planning officers have recommended it for approval. That makes it more important than ever to write to the councillors who will decide, in your own words, and ask them to refuse. It takes about two minutes, and the wording is yours to keep or change.

Write to the committee Why it matters View the application ↗

Planning application PL/20/4332/OA. You can view it on Buckinghamshire Council's planning portal to read the plans and see every comment.

Our Green Belt is under threat and needs your help

For decades the land between Iver and Uxbridge has been protected as Green Belt, a green buffer that keeps our communities apart and stops London sprawling west. Welcome Break, working with Buckinghamshire Council as the landowner, now wants to cover part of it with a 24-hour motorway service area: a large building, a petrol station, hundreds of parking spaces, a lorry park and a new junction onto the M25.

When residents objected before, it made a difference. More than a hundred formal objections were recorded, and public bodies raised real concerns about the Green Belt, air quality and the countryside. The application is still live, which means you can still have your say.

The more of us who write in, the harder it is to ignore. Please take two minutes to write to the committee below, and ask your neighbours and friends to do the same. Together we are stronger.

The UNWELCOME Break campaign

The proposal

Why this matters

The scheme would sit on council-owned Green Belt land at Mansfield Farm, north of the A4007 Slough Road. Here is why so many residents are objecting.

Green Belt loss: This is one of the narrowest points of Green Belt between Iver and Uxbridge. Once it is built on, it is gone for good.
Air quality and health: Iver already suffers from poor air quality. Thousands of extra vehicles and idling HGVs would make it worse for the people who live here.
Iver Environment Centre: The operators of this much-loved centre, used by more than 10,000 people a year, have warned the extra pollution could force it to close.
Traffic and roads: A 24-hour site draws traffic off the M25 onto Slough Road and local lanes that are already busy, with a complex new junction and flyover.
Noise and light: A site that never closes means noise through the night and floodlighting of a valley that is currently dark and rural.
Wildlife and countryside: Building here destroys habitat, harms the Colne Valley Regional Park, and diverts footpaths and the bridleway people use every day.
Flooding: Covering open land with tarmac and roofs changes how water drains through a sensitive valley and adds to the risk of flooding.
No real need: The claimed gap in motorway services does not justify this level of permanent harm to protected land and to Iver.
A conflict of interest: Buckinghamshire Council owns the land and stands to gain financially from the development, yet it is also the authority deciding the application. Residents deserve confidence that the scheme is judged on its planning merits alone.
Write to the committee
What you can do now

Ways to make your voice count

This application will be decided by councillors on Buckinghamshire's Strategic Sites Committee, and the council's own planning officers have recommended it for approval. That makes it all the more important that they hear from local residents first.

The committee meets on Thursday 30 July 2026 at 10.00am, with application PL/20/4332/OA as item 4 on the agenda. There is still time to write to the councillors who will vote on it and ask them to refuse.
Community action

It's crunch time. Come and stand with Iver.

On 30 July, the Strategic Sites Committee decides the fate of our Green Belt, and councillors need to see how strongly Iver feels. Please come to the meeting if you can, and print the poster below to bring with you. We will gather outside beforehand and hold our posters as the councillors arrive, then take our seats in the public gallery for the hearing. If you cannot make it in person, you can watch the meeting live online.

Download the poster (PDF) Watch online ↗
WhenThursday 30 July 2026, 10.00am. Please come early, from 9.45am.
WhereThe Oculus, Buckinghamshire Council, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury HP19 8FF
BringThe printed poster, and a spare for anyone who needs one.
UNWELCOME Break poster: Protect our Green Belt. Refuse Welcome Break.

Click the poster to open the print version (PDF), then print it on A4 and bring it along.

1. Write to the committee

Email the twelve councillors who will decide this application and ask them to refuse it. Use the letter builder below to put it in your own words, then send it from your own inbox. Personal letters from local residents carry the most weight.

Write your letter

2. Watch or speak at the meeting

The meeting is webcast live, so you can watch it online. If you commented on the application before the agenda was published and were invited to speak, you can address the committee for three minutes. Register by 10am on Tuesday 28 July 2026, two working days before the meeting.

Watch the meeting ↗ How to speak ↗

3. Read the officer's report

Read the planning officer's report and recommendation to the committee, so you understand the case you are responding to and can answer it directly.

Download the officer's report (PDF)

The councillors who will decide this application

These are the members of Buckinghamshire Council's Strategic Sites Committee. Write to as many as you can. Use the buttons to grab every address at once or open a pre-addressed email, then paste in the letter you build below.

Your letter

Write to the committee

This builds a letter to the Strategic Sites Committee asking them to refuse application PL/20/4332/OA. Choose the points that matter to you and add anything in your own words. Every letter is worded a little differently, so yours is genuinely your own. When it is ready, copy it into an email to the committee, whose addresses are listed just above, and send it from your own account.

1

Your reasons

choose the ones you care about

Pick the reasons that matter most to you. A focused letter carries more weight than ticking everything.

2

In your own words

optional, but powerful
Personal, specific points count for a lot with councillors.
3

Sign off

optional

These go at the bottom of your letter. Councillors give more weight to letters from people who live locally, so it helps to include your address, but every field is optional.

4

Your letter

Have a read. You can reshuffle the wording or edit anything above.

Choose at least one reason above and your letter will appear here.

Then paste it into a new email to the committee and send it yourself. Use Copy all addresses or Email the whole committee in the section above to reach every member at once.