Latest News

2010

March 2010: Public consultation begins on West Oxfordshire Core Strategy.

West Oxfordshire District Council is preparing a new plan for the District to 2026 that will identify where new homes, jobs, shops and infrastructure will be located.

The Council has set out the preferred approach to help meet the challenges expected to be faced by the area over the years ahead. The preferred strategy focuses larger scale new development on towns and villages with services and facilities – particularly Witney, Carterton and Chipping Norton.

Smaller scale development will also take place in these towns and in some other towns and villages to meet local housing and employment needs, although sites are not identified at this stage.

You can look at the full report and supporting documents online here.

Or you can visit all District Council Offices or go to your local library.

Closing date for comments is 22 March 2010.

• See: CPRE West Oxon Core FINAL Strategy Response here.

2007

August 2007: Cornbury Estate shelves plans for development of Finstock Heath area.

The Forest Action Group report that Cornbury Estate has shelved all plans for development of the Finstock Heath area and that Cornbury Estate has shelved all plans for development of the Finstock Heath area.

September 2006: CPRE West Oxfordshire objects to proposals for holiday homes on Cornbury Park Estate.

CPRE West Oxfordshire has objected to proposals for holiday homes on Cornbury Park Estate.

06/1042/P/OP 90: Holiday Lodges at Finstock Heath

CPRE accepts that tourism is an important contributor to the local economy and that estates such as the Cornbury Park Estate might reasonably seek to generate income for their upkeep from tourist-related developments. We also accept that such developments have the potential to benefit local communities by helping to support local businesses and by widening public access to the countryside by improved footpaths and cycle routes. However, we wish to make objection to the proposed development on the following grounds:

• Proposed ownership and management of the development. The Assessment of Demand prepared for the applicants by Messers Saville asserts that smaller developments of all-to-let accommodation are not commercially viable and that the only practicable way to finance the scheme is to sell the individual units to private purchasers who would then occupy or let them as they chose. The impression is given that a large proportion of the owners would use them as an investment for short –term lets, and the some of the reasons given for the attractiveness of the site – proximity to tourist attractions such as Blenheim and Oxford – seem to envisage its major appeal as being to short-term holiday- makers. However, the potential purchasers are characterised as families with children who wish to have access to the countryside or couples who would use the property for short breaks or longer holidays. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that a large proportion of these lodges would function as second homes, used at week-ends and school holidays, empty for much of the time and therefore contributing little to the local economy.
• Size of the development. Although the development would be screened by trees on all sides and not intrusive visually, it is, nonetheless, on the edge of the village of Finstock and, at 90 units, constitutes a large extension to it. It would be a significant generator of traffic. If, as the applicant would have us believe, the development would be economically integrated with the local community, it must be acknowledged that it would place some severe strains on local infrastructure- parking by the village shop in Finstock for example. If, on the other hand, it would be largely self-contained, the arguments for it based on stimulation of the local economy fall. There are no statistics or arguments given to show that a smaller development could not be viable.
• Benefits to the local community. Apart from the stimulus to local businesses, the chief benefits to the local community are set out as improved footpaths in the area. The Planning Design and Access Statement shows the proposed changes to the footpaths in the area. (fig.12). We note that the only new footpath running through the estate would be reserved for the residents of the new development and that the other proposed footpaths run round the perimeter, providing safer routes for pedestrians than the current access along the road, but not essentially giving access to new areas of the estate. We consider that, in amenity terms, the local community will benefit little from such a large and lucrative development.

Gillian Salway, Chairman, CPRE West Oxfordshire. 7 September 2006.