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Plans for another 175 houses north of Dukes Meadow Drive pulled
14/06/2023
The plan was due to be discussed at this week’s Planning Committee meeting
A proposal to build 175 houses on farm fields to the north of Dukes Meadow Drive in Banbury has been withdrawn by the applicant.
The plan was pulled just days before it was due to be discussed by Cherwell District Council’s Planning Committee, where Council officers were recommending the application be refused.
The proposed site sits opposite the shops on Lapsley Drive, and immediately behind a field where Cherwell District Council has already agreed to 78 homes being built. The developer described that as “the first phase”.
The withdrawn outline planning application for Manor Oak Homes would have seen building further up the hill, visible from nearby Hanwell.
Comments were received from 102 members of the public with the large majority against the proposal and the report to Councillors noting just one letter of support.
Bourton and Hanwell Parish Councils strongly objected to the application, with Banbury Town Council also against the plan.
A report to Councillors was due to have been discussed at a Planning Committee meeting tomorrow (Thursday). This recommended Councillors reject the scheme. It said: “The site is located in the open countryside between Banbury town and Hanwell village.
“By reason of its location and proposed scale of development, the proposal would have a poor and incongruous relationship with the existing development, appearing unduly prominent and divorced and threaten coalescence between the two settlements.
“The development proposed would therefore have an adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area.”
Last year, at the time the application was submitted Labour Councillor Andrew Crichton, who is one of the elected representatives for the area, said: “I know we need more housing nationally, I know we need more housing in Oxfordshire, but the Hanwell Fields area has already taken a lot of new housing.
“Residents were promised another community centre – an extra one – which has failed to materialise. Before we have more housing we need to know what investments are going to be made in local infrastructure and where this community centre is, which has been promised to residents but not delivered for the last decade.”
No reason has been given for the withdrawal of the application. However, if the applicant submits a revised application “of the same character and description” within 12 months from the date they submitted the first application (October 6, 2022), they will not need to pay a planning fee for the second application.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam