Planning - the councillors' view

From Hugo Ashton - Executive Member for Planning on WODC and councillor for the Burford ward

As many of you will have seen, West Oxfordshire District Council has published its Preferred Spatial Options Consultation Paper on how and where to allow development to meet the government’s challenging housing targets. The consultation will run to just before Christmas.  We have also published the draft HELAA (Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment), which is our planners’ view of the 250+ sites that came forward from the previous assessment in 2016 plus from the District’s call-for-sites in late 2023.

Please look at the consultation and comment on the sites where you have knowledge, whether it is to support the assessment or to raise concerns, for example if you believe an issue with the site has been overlooked or understated.  Also, for any allocated site in the Spatial Options Paper, this is an opportunity to suggest what infrastructure requirements should be specified as a condition if the site is taken forward into the draft Local Plan.

Your views will be taken into account when the draft Local Plan is prepared in the spring next year. There will be further consultation at that stage before a final Plan is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for approval.

The main focus of the HEELA is on the sites put forward in 2023. However, for completeness, it also carries forward, and in some cases reassesses, sites that were put forward in 2016. In Burford’s case this includes Coles Field (Land East of Barns Lane) and Westfield even though these sites are not being actively promoted. The former has been assessed as not suitable for housing development (good!), but the latter has been assessed in the draft HEELA as suitable (surprising!). My advice is “don’t panic” as I believe that legal, rather than planning, restrictions on that land would make this irrelevant.

Of the 250+ HEELA sites, only 23 have been selected as ‘Preferred Options’ for consultation. Part of one of these is in Burford, i.e. the land immediately south of Sheep Street.  Understandably there has already been a reaction to this and a campaign is being mounted to argue that it should not be taken forward.  This is a natural reaction to change, but let’s have an open, cordial and fact-based debate about its merits and issues.  At this stage, the debate should be about the  principle of development on this site in the context of the needs of Burford, and the national requirement for more homes which translates into a 30% increase in the District’s housing stock by 2043.

Hugo Ashton

District Councillor for Burford, Fulbrook and Taynton

hugo.ashton@westoxon.gov.uk or 0771 2490517

From Derek Cotterill - Mayor of Burford

In the November Bridge there was a letter objecting to any housing and other development in the Sheep Street area beyond the doctors’ surgery. At the 31 October Town Council Traffic Advisory meeting with the police, county council, and West Oxon DC tourism, residents expressed their objections to coaches and traffic in various locations. The primary school has expressed its objections to coach traffic. All these objections are valid but we need to accommodate and not prevent visitors, because we cannot. Several areas on the periphery of the town will be studied for coach parking, ingress and egress, turning etc, for these 15 metre vehicles. However, the suitable location will require engineering work, maybe that will cost £50,000, not known at present. Where does the money come from? It comes as S106 or CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) from development - but residents are objecting to development!

The Cotswold Gate development paid £1.3m into the S106 fund for local development. That was used to build an extra classroom at the primary school, install a traffic light crossing on the A40 between the bus stops, traffic calming on the Shilton Road and install dropped kerbs and extensions to the pedestrian islands on the roundabout. Recreation grounds and play parks were enhanced or built, almost £300k went to the bus company to improve facilities and a substantial amount went to Carterton Leisure Centre. We did bid for money to extend the car park but the Planning Inspector ruled that it was too far from the development to qualify. Now the many local residents who have moved into the Beechcroft apartments drive into town for events etc, as we foresaw but one can’t win every time.