THE hunt is on for more brownfield sites in Wycombe district to help solve the housing problems of the next 15 years

Council bosses hope the countywide search will mean that fewer homes will have to be built in green fields.

Buckinghamshire has been told by the Government that it may have to find land for about 3,210 new homes a year from now until 2006 and possibly more in the following ten years.

County planning officer Adrian Cannard is about to start the brownfield search, working with officers from Wycombe, South Bucks, Chilterns and Aylesbury Vale district councils.

Forms will be going out to get landowners and parish councils to nominate sites.

The forms go out with a warning though suggesting your bit of land doesn't necessarily mean it will get planning permission.

Cllr Bill Chapple, deputy leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, said this urban capacity study was to help reduce greenfield developments.

It would root out suitable places that had not been considered before.

Cllr Chapple said the next thing the joint panel would have to do was decide individual housing figures for each district.

He added: "This is where the study will be useful.

"If you walk round Wycombe you find areas that have been run down. If these areas are adapted they would be ideal."

Cllr Pam Priestley, leader of the ruling Tory group on Wycombe District Council, praised the idea of looking for more brownfield sites.

"No stone should be left unturned," she said.

A spokesman for Wycombe District Council's planning department said he was hopeful, adding: "They always come up out of the woodwork."