Hot topics under discussion at a very well attended meeting

Has there ever been such a well attended meeting of Burford Town Council as the one that took place on 3 December?  Some six members of the public had given notice of their desire to speak at the meeting and many others were interested in the question of possible housing in Sheep Street, so it was decided to hold the meeting in the old hall at the Warwick Hall.  This turned out to be a good decision as the hall was packed out, with latecomers having to stand at the back.

Objectors to the proposal that a plot of land between the surgery and the cemetery should be identified in the draft Local Plan as suitable for development set out their case.  Much of this concerned infrastructure.  The school is 55% oversubscribed, they said, the surgery is unable to take on new patients and the roads are already very busy.  Cllr Ashton explained that putting the site in the Local Plan did not mean that it would be built on.  If at a later stage a developer were to submit an application for planning permission, it would be subjected to the full rigours of the planning process and all grounds for objecting could be deployed.

Discussion then moved on to the question of access to the council chamber at the Tolsey.  It was stated that those concerned with efforts to restrict numbers of HGVs using the High Street and Hill needed access to the CCTV system to monitor traffic volumes, while the Tolsey Museum needed access to the Cheatle collection of historic documents which are stored in the council chamber.  It turned out that even the mayor did not have a key.

The council then worked its way through its agenda.  Most of the members of the public stayed on for this, although they melted away in the course of the evening.  Planning came up again as the council discussed the various sites which had come up as possibly suitable for development.  These included:

South of Sheep Street as far up as the dry stone all

The same area but extending right up to the A40 (25 hectares which could have room for 421 dwellings)

Tannery Yard in Witney Street next to the laundry

The caravan park near the top school

The West Field

Cole’s Field

The area to the east of the Cole’s Field site.

It was decided in the light of the strong views expressed by the public that the council would not support any of these.  In addition it was pointed out that the West Field (and also the Rec) were subject to a covenant that they would be used as a public open space “and for no other purpose whatsoever.”

No doubt we shall be hearing much more about this in the coming months.