Are developers controlling planning decisions by holding back on building?
12/11/2025
Cherwell is not achieving house building targets despite 11,000 waiting to be built
There’s now 11,000 houses which have been granted planning permission in the Cherwell District which developers aren’t yet building.
Because of this the district is not achieving government house building targets – a fact used by developers to force through planning applications in areas not proposed in the Local Plan and often against the wishes of local people.
The figure has worsened since the Council noted around 8,000 with permission but not yet being built a month ago.
At a meeting of Cherwell’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday evening Councillor Dr Isabel Creed highlighted how the council’s hands were being tied by developers. She said: “I have a concern that we are releasing land in the villages that I know that lots of representatives on here really don’t want. We have had to make very difficult decisions to some of these villages to avoid having this issue of losing at appeal.
“The concern is for me is that if you continue to have the developers getting planning permission and they don’t build the houses, then we’re going to continue to have this issue of the developers choosing wherever they fancy in Cherwell to build the houses they want.”
In February the council approved a Housing Delivery Action Plan to address delays with the delivery of new homes. Funding to support this was approved last month.
Speaking after the meeting, Chris Brant, who’s the councillor for Cropredy, Sibfords and Wroxton attacked the government for not doing enough to support council’s like Cherwell in these situations.
He said: “Instead of giving developers even more powers, the Labour Government should be giving councils like Cherwell the tools to make sure homes that already have planning permission actually get built.
“Local authorities understand their communities and want to see genuinely affordable homes delivered. Councils should be empowered to get those homes moving — not blamed for delays caused by developers sitting on land.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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