Planning - Letters to The Bridge

A SLEDGEHAMMER TO CRACK A NUT

The Town Council are desperate to expand parking in the town. I agree the current situation outside the primary school is unacceptable but am I convinced encouraging more coaches is entirely necessary in a medieval town such as Burford? In any event, it would seem to me that OCC owned land with access to the A40 would be the best option. But BTC appear so desperate to find a car park, they are willing to support the development of 70+ houses on Sheep Street if it means it comes with their cherished parking. The same council who fought vehemently against a near identical development in Coles Field. So what has changed? Is it really their only solution? Does adding the commensurate hundreds of extra cars and delivery vans really help this precious town? And moreover is this sight not something we should preserve rather than concrete over? I know what my answers would be and hope all 1,900 residents make theirs clear in the consultation now open.

Drew Price (who supplied the photo of the site above)

COACH WARS

I would like to add my comments on the issue of coaches in Burford.  Whilst I fully appreciate it might be difficult to navigate the Burford streets and lanes and indeed our High Street on a sunny afternoon when it is packed with visitors, I feel I must make it clear that without the tourists that visit Burford in coaches there will be a vast economic downturn for local businesses. It is simply not a fact that the coach tourists do not spend money. I recognise that some of the shops, like our art galleries, don’t benefit directly from these visitors but they do appreciate the overall benefit.  I have spoken to over thirty shops on our High Street all of whom say that without this financial benefit they will struggle to stay afloat. This will then lead to closures followed by an influx of other services such as Turkish barbers.

Tourists drive economic growth by creating local jobs, increasing revenue for businesses, and boosting GDP through spending on goods.  This spending creates a multiplier effect, benefiting many sectors of the economy and contributing to infrastructure development, cultural preservation, and overall local prosperity. 

I fully appreciate it is a conundrum; we need the coach visitors but struggle with the parking. Perhaps we could look at this from a different angle, for example finding a way to police the cars parking in coaching stops, look at making the road to the car park a one-way system,  identifying a drop off point and talking to the coach companies.   Surely, we can all communicate and find the right solution for everybody.

Please support your High Street.

Kim Harvey,  The Madhatter Bookshop, Burford

BETRAYAL OF BURFORD

Strong words, but having read the robust case BTC put forward to save Cole’s Field from developers in 2023, I was astounded to read the document put forward to WODC by our town council in 2024 for the same number of homes on Sheep Street.

Gone, are concerns about the destruction of the iconic natural landscape encompassing Burford which once concreted over, will be lost forever.

Gone, is the aspiration to protect the unique historic character of this medieval town of which we are guardians. To be replaced by urbanisation at its edge, out of proportion to the size of the town and irrevocably damaging its heritage setting.

Gone, are the arguments that Burford does not need more housing and has already increased affordable housing significantly in recent years.

Gone, is any consideration for those residents who live on the single lane roads without footpaths which will become increasingly hazardous for pedestrians.

When asked for recommendations for the draft Local Plan in 2024 BTC were ‘keen to work with WODC’ to take this site forward’. BTC did list other smaller scale options for development but specifically did not recommend them to WODC. The only site recommended by BTC was Sheep Street.

Surely, when residents wholeheartedly supported BTC’s objections for 70 homes on the eastern edge of town, there should have been engagement with residents before recommending a site for 70 homes on the west of town the following year.

A. Newman

BURFORD FROM GATEWAY TO GRIDLOCK

We are deeply concerned to read of the proposal to construct a large housing estate, together with a new car and coach park, in Sheep Street.

This flawed scheme raises numerous concerns not least of which is the impact all the great many extra cars and large coaches will have on the already congested access roads.

Priory Lane and Tanners Lane are both narrow single track secondary streets that attempt to accommodate mothers dropping their children at the nursery and primary school. They have also become busy rat runs with motorist who are desperate to avoid the frequent stationary columns of queueing traffic on The Hill.

The historic and prestigious east stretch of Sheep Street has also become a bottleneck with only single lane traffic squeezing through the lines of vehicles parked on both sides of the medieval street.

This inauspicious plan will inevitably further inundate and overwhelm these roads, and even ignoring all the other legitimate concerns, the unsuitable access facts alone should have rendered the proposal unacceptable.

Derek & Sue Dear