| Home | Campaigns | News | Events | RSS | Join CPRE | About CPRE | Contact us | Search | Green Belt Way |  
 
CPRE Oxfordshire
CPRE Oxfordshire
Campaigning to protect Oxfordshires's countryside for 75 years
 
 
Eco-Towns
  
 

'Weston-Otmoor' Proposal / Location of proposed site / GCLG Consultation Process/ Weston Front / CPRE Oxfordshire Consultation Response

News Update:

18 July 2008: CPRE Oxfordshire rebuttal to Parkridge's 'myths' about eco-town.

The eco-town developers Parkridge have recently posted a page on their website which purports to refute 'myths' (their word) about the potential impact of the Weston eco-town. CPRE Oxfordshire take this opportunity to respond to their statements: the issues are real and serious.

30 June 2008: CPRE Oxfordshire join Weston Front for rally at Westminster Square.

Approximately 30 people from Weston-on-the-Green and surrounding villages, including CPRE Oxfordshire, assembled in Westminster Square, together with groups from other parts of the UK, to protect against the proposed 'eco-towns'.

Grant Shapps the Conservative shadow housing minister addressed the crowd and promised that if his party won the next election they would scrap the 'eco-town' programme and support instead local development plans.

Represenatives from each protest group were invited to meet Caroline Flint MP after the protest rally. Tony Henman and Norman Machin from Weston Front were able to speak to Henry Cleary (Chairman of DCLG) before the meeting started. According to comments made by Caroline Flint, it seems unlikely that the second short list will be published much before the end of the year or even early next year. There was a strong implication that it is early days and anything could happen.

30 June 2008: CPRE National Office says Government should re-think its 'eco-town' programme.

As the consultation on 'eco-towns' draws to a close CPRE calls on the Government to focus on one or two truly exemplary schemes, scrap sub-standard proposals and rethink its eco-town programme.

  • See the CPRE press release here

25 June 2008:

CPRE Oxfordshire response to the 'eco-town' consultation.

CPRE Oxfordshire has submitted to the DCLG its response to the 'eco-town' consultation (the deadline is June 30th). The response focuses on the many reasons why the government should drop 'Weston-Otmoor' from its final list.

  • See the CPRE Oxon response here

24 June 2008:

- OCC to tell government it has major concerns about 'Weston Otmoor'.

Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet today sanctioned a formal response to Government that lists a series of serious concerns about the proposed 'eco-town'.

Major problems that the county council will list in its official response to government include:

  • Concerns that established planning processes are being bypassed, denying local communities a proper say in the decision.
  • That over a quarter of the site is in the Green Belt and all of it is on green fields; therefore the plan runs contrary to the government's own policies to protect Green Belt and greenfield sites.
  • That the site is adjacent to roads which are already heavily congested, particularly the A34/M40 junction
  • The overall proposed transport infrastructure budget of £350m appears to be significantly short of what is likely to be required to deliver what the developers are proposing.
  • Concerns about the impact on the economy and community of Bicester
  • The claims made by promoters of the proposal for the 'eco-credentials' of the scheme in transport terms seem aspirational in the extreme.
  • The housing and employment proposals are embryonic; for example, it is not clear how the affordable housing will be delivered.
  • Fears that the government's planning to deliver the eco-town plans will not prove effective.
  • The lack of support from the local planning authority, Cherwell District Council.

Councillor Keith Mitchell, the Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: 'There is widespread opposition to this proposal. Local people have got together in large numbers and have been very vocal in expressing their severe reservations. Those reservations are shared by Oxfordshire County Council and Cherwell District Council.

'Our response to government sets out in full the long list of concerns we have. It remains to be seen whether these concerns will be listened to or whether the people of Oxfordshire are simply being presented with a fait accompli.'

- Parkridge launches Weston Otmoor eco-town consultation.

Parkridge has today launched a community consultation programme to gather feedback from local people regarding its Weston Otmoor eco-town proposal.

The consultation programme includes a variety of community-based activities and has been developed in conjunction with Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and local authorities Cherwell District Council and Oxford County Council.

Consultation activities include: the appointment of a dedicated community relations manager; a specific project website and discussion ; a touring roadshow visiting 17 local villages and towns 2 in the neighbouring area – Weston on the Green, Wendlebury, Middleton Stoney, Bletchingdon, Kirtlington, Charlton on Otmoor, Bicester, Chesterton, Islip, Oxford, Ambrosden, Steeple Aston, Kidlington, Marsh Gibbon, Ardley, Bucknall and Blackthorn – and project update newsletters, which will be mailed to approximately 32,000 local households and will also be handed out at various locations in the area.

In addition to feedback being invited via the website, the newsletter and subsequent e-newsletters will include a questionnaire to capture the views of people living in and visiting the area.

Roger Sporle, director at Parkridge, says: 'We want to develop a truly sustainable community, with outstanding transport links, which will bring benefits to the wider area. We will use local knowledge and experience wherever possible to make Weston Otmoor a place that everyone can be proud of – consultation with local people will play a big part in this.'

Parkridge has appointed Oxfordshire-based community consultation specialist Mistral Group to manage the consultation process.

Mistral director Victoria Cross says: 'Our award-winning community consultation team works nationwide to help communities understand the planning process and have their say about the future of their local area. As a local business, employing local people, we’re very aware of the views that have been expressed since the announcement of the eco-town shortlist in April. We’re committed to ensuring that all comments, both positive and negative, are considered as the plans move forward.'

The project website is at: www.WestonOtmoor.co.uk. Content will be added as the consultation evolves. Interested parties will be able to register their email addresses to receive updates throughout the consultation.

- BBOWT meets Shadow Minister for Housing at threatened reserve.

On 24 June Philippa Lyons, Chief Executive of the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), met Shadow Minister for Housing, Grant Shapps, and Tony Baldry MP (MP for North Oxfordshire)  at the proposed site for the Weston Otmoor ‘eco-town’ development.

Visiting BBOWT’s Woodsides Meadow Nature Reserve, a SSSI, they voiced there concerns about the threats posed by the proposed development to an area of national importance for wildlife. They also discussed the importance of locating new housing, especially eco-towns, in an environmentally sensitive way.

BBOWT also demonstrated the overwhelming concern of its members about the proposed development. Home-made bunting made up of all the postcards sent by members to the Minister of State (Housing), were held up across the length of the nature reserve. 

23 June 2008: Eco-Town Challenge Panel Report.

The twelve experts advising developers on improving the sustainability of their proposals reported on Monday 23 June. The government’s ‘challenge group’, says that out of the 15 shortlisted sites, less than ten should be given the go-ahead and of those only a handful would have proper green credentials. It says that most proposals should be sent back to developers for reconsideration.The Panel said the site at Weston Otmoor in Oxfordshire risked becoming "commuterville".

Two pages of the panel's report refer to Weston Otmoor and indicate developers still face some pretty big hurdles, but it is incredibly superficial. The report touches slightly on the sustainability of Bicester, but there is no mention of the Green Belt or the SSSI.

What the panel told the Government:

THE Weston Otmoor proposal is based around a developed transport strategy.

However, it needs to address the possible wider implications on neighbouring Bicester and refine the concept to create a place where people will want to live and work.

The transport strategy is potentially transformational and uses tram-train, free travel and demand management for car-use.

As residents may simply take the tram to the park-and-ride and drive to either London or Birmingham, how will the town be stopped from becoming Commuterville?

Details are needed about how the proposed road charging will be enforced and governed.

It needs to be demonstrated how the proposed high street will be viable, given the proposed population, illustrating why residents would not shop in the larger centres of Bicester and Oxford?

22 June 2008: Weston Front rally against proposed 'eco-town'.

Weston Front, the local opposition Group against the 'eco-town' at Weston-on-the Green, held a protest rally on 22 June at Weston-on-the-Green playing field. The rally was fully supported by BBOWT and CPRE and Tony Baldry MP spoke at the event. More than 500 people gathered at Weston-on-the-Green playing fields to hammer home their opposition to the proposed ‘eco-town’. Protesters spelled out the word 'No' in human form in a bid to make their opinions heard.

17 June 2008: Oxfordshire County Council debate on proposed 'eco-town'.

At a full council debate by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) on the issue of the proposed ‘eco-town’ on 17 June, a motion was tabled by Conservative Councillor Timothy Hallchurch (Otmoor & Kirtlington) pointing out the impact of the proposed new town on the transport network, Green Belt and on the economy of Bicester, and questioned the Government’s claim that the town would be environmentally sustainable. The OCC Committee will vote on 24 June.

  • See CPRE Oxon's letter to all Cabinet Members.

6 June 2008:

- The proposed eco-town scheme near Weston-on-the-Green would need substantial amendments in order to go forward, the Government has hinted.

The Government has moved to defuse local opposition to 'Weston Otmoor' by pledging it would not permit Oxford's Green Belt to be sacrificed for new eco-homes. But the reassurance came with the message that the Government was now viewing the scheme to build 15,000 homes near Weston-on-the-Green as "a strong proposal".

- Eco-Towns Assessment Summaries.

The government have published the results of the initial scrutiny of the proposals in relation to the eco-towns criteria, and where proposals met these, looked across Government and its agencies at the transport and environment issues and opportunities in locations put forward. There is a summary for each assessment (see page 108 of the document for the issues raised for 'Weston Otmoor' - they include sewerage, water supply, flooding, A34 problems.

22 May 2008: CPRE Oxon letter to Stephen Joseph, Executive Director of Campaign for Better Transport and member of Eco-towns Challenge Panel (ECP).

CPRE Oxon is lobbying the Eco-towns Challenge Panel (ECP), designed to help bidders and local authorities review and refine proposals. CPRE Oxon has sent a letter outlining its concerns about ‘Weston Otmoor’ to one of its members, Stephen Joseph, Executive Director of Campaign for Better Transport, who will be opposing the proposed ‘eco-town’ on the grounds that it will be a ‘car-dependent commuter town’.

16 May 2008: A letter to Caroline Flint, Housing Minister on 'eco-towns' and transport.

CPRE NO has written a joint letter to Caroline Flint, Housing Minister, with its concerns about the 'eco-towns' and likely car dependency. Most of the proposed schemes are located away from existing large towns which would not allow for easy integration into public transport networks.

3 April 2008: ‘Weston Otmoor’ included on a list of potential 'eco-town' locations.

Caroline Flint, MP, announced on 3 April that a new town called ‘Weston Otmoor’ has made it onto the Government’s shortlist of 15 proposed ‘eco-towns’. A second eco-town of 5-10,000 homes proposed in Shipton-on-Cherwell quarry, to the north of Kidlington, a developed site within the Green Belt, did not make it onto the shortlist.

CPRE Oxfordshire is sympathetic to the concept of 'eco-towns' but believe that they should be exemplars of environmentally sustainable development. For them to succeed they must be well integrated into existing settlements and agreed with, not imposed on, local communities. We do not believe the proposal for Weston-on-the -Green meets these criteria and CPRE Oxfordshire is opposing this proposal.

Weston-Otmoor Proposal:

Parkridge Holdings, the developers, are proposing a new 'eco-town' for 15,000 homes, on an 828 hectare (approximatley 2,000 acre) site, just 3 miles east of Weston-on-the-Green, a proposal that was rejected for the draft South East Plan (location of proposed site). 'Weston Otmoor’ would straddle the congested A34: a ‘Florence style’ bridge bearing homes and shops may be built over the road as the centre piece of the new town. The proposal includes a rail station on a much upgraded Oxford to Bicester line, and a Park and Ride for Oxford. The eco-town will offer two secondary schools, eight primary schools, and jobs for 12,000 people. The first settlers will arrive by 2012.

  • See the Parkridge master plan of the evolving Weston Otmoor proposal.

Only about 16% of the 828 hectares could be said to be ‘brownfield’, in that it includes an MOD airfield which is currently used for parachute training and gliding. The rest is all farmed greenfield. Approximately 24.5% lies within the Oxford Green Belt, which also at this point includes a SSSI (species rich wet grassland).

'Weston Otmoor' is one of two shortlisted sites to include Green Belt, flying in the face of an announcement made by Housing Minister Caroline Flint, in a Communities and Local Government (CLG) News Release, 3 April: ‘Based on an evaluation of the bids, the Government can today announce no new homes would be built on Green Belt land.’ See: http://tinyurl.com/3xnjrn.

Oxfordshire County Council is sceptical about the scheme, saying it will be critical to ensure that the project directly benefits nearby Bicester, particularly in providing more jobs. See: http://tinyurl.com/4osykj. Cherwell District Council is strongly opposing the proposal; their policy being to focus most of its new development on expanding Banbury and Bicester. Councillor Barry Wood, Executive Leader, said that if the 'eco-town' receives planning permission the council would fund a Judicial Review of the planning process.

Opposition is led by CPRE Oxfordshire, which says that ‘Weston Otmoor' is a smokescreen for making house-building on green fields appear more palatable’. See Press Release: http://tinyurl.com/4nwprh. A community group, the Weston Front, which is representing all the local villages, is already threatening to take any approval of the scheme to judicial review. See: http://www.westonfront.com. The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), along with the RSPB, has issued a press statement opposing the proposed 'eco-town'. See: http://www.bbowt.org.uk

DCLG Consultation Process:

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation document ‘Eco-towns: living in a greener future – consultation paper’ seeks the public's views on the vision for 'eco-towns' and the shortlisted locations proposed. This is the first of four stages. The deadline for responses is 30 June 2008.

A 15 member Eco-towns Challenge Panel (ECP) has been established to help bidders and local authorities review and refine proposals. The chairman is John Walker, a regeneration expert. CPRE Oxon is lobbying the ECP (see letter to Stephen Joseph). The Panel includes:

  • JOHN WALKER, panel chairman and former chief executive of the British Urban Regeneration Association - an expert in large, mixed-use developments
  • WAYNE HEMINGWAY, founder of fashion label Red or Dead, expert in design and social issues. In 1999, he set up HemingwayDesign, which specialises in affordable and social design
  • KRIS MURRIN, TV presenter and expert in sustainable transport and children's issues. Presented The Woman Who Stops Traffic documentary on Channel 4
  • JOANNA YARROW, TV presenter, is a green-lifestyle specialist and founder of sustainability company Beyond Green. She wrote 1001 Ways You Can Save The Planet
  • LIZ REASON, director of Reasons to be Cheerful consultancy and an expert in innovative approaches to energy issues and climate change
  • LYNDA ADDISON, managing director of Addison & Associates. She is a transport and planning expert, with experience of initiating working arrangements within local authorities and with public and private sector partners
  • DR LIZ GOODWIN, chief executive of Waste and Resources Action Programme. She is an expert in use of natural resources and recycling
  • STEPHEN HALE, director of the Green Alliance, is an environmental expert
  • SIR PETER HALL, president of the Town and Country Planning Association. He is an expert in urban issues, housing and planning
  • STEPHEN JOSEPH, executive director of Campaign for Better Transport and is a transport expert
  • NICK MABEY, chief executive of E3G, is an expert in energy issues and economic development
  • BARRY MUNDAY, an architect with experience of Newtown' development and regeneration. He is an advocate of good housing design and new methods of construction
  • SUNAND PRASAD, president of the Royal Institute of British Architecture and an expert in design and architecture
  • SUE RIDDLESTONE, director of the BioRegional Development Group, is an expert in sustainability and sustainable development
  • RICHARD SIMMONS, chief executive of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and is an expert in architectural issues.

The ECP will assess the following:

  • Sustainability: how will the project achieve sufficiently high environmental standards?
  • Deliverability: how will be it be funded and managed?
  • Affordability: is the scheme affordable within funding streams available to investors and the public sector? What are the respective contributions?

What next?

Running in parallel to the public consultation is a series of technical studies. Along with County planners, Cherwell District Council have recently met with the DCLG (with GOSE as observers) to discuss the process. There are four parts to this process:

1) Sustainability Appraisal - DCLG will appoint and pay for consultants. CDC and OCC will be involved in brief.
2) Economic & Financial Appraisal - DCLG will do presumably with consultants.
3) Transport Appraisal - Parkridge will appoint and pay for consultants. CDC and County want to set this work against a model they have produced with Halcrow.
4) Eco challenge by Eco Challenge Panel - to check how it stacks up against eco criteria.
5) Socio-economic study- to include impact on Bicester and Kidlington. This will be done by DCGL consultant working to a brief prepared by SEEDA.
These technical studies are due to run through to 30 September.

Stage 1: July 2008.
From July 2008, there will be a consultation on a draft Planning Policy Statement on Eco-towns (PPS), which will provide a more detailed assessment of the proposed locations.

Stage 2: October 2008. During October 2008, Minister Caroline Flint will decide based on the technical reports (and perhaps taking into account comments received from the current public consultation up to 30 June) which sites should go forward and which dropped. Consultants Scott Wilson Kilpatrick will assist DCLG in this process. She is due to announce the final list by 31 October. A final Planning Policy Statement on Eco-towns incorporating the list will then be published.

Stage 3: from June 2008. Submission of individual planning applications, but planners must take account of the PPS.

Planning. ‘Most’ schemes, according to ‘Eco-towns: living in a greener future’, will be determined through the local planning authority. The government will try to establish a partnership approach with the local authority taking forward the eco-town and will help local authorities bring forward Local Development Frameworks where appropriate.

The Planning Policy Statement on Eco-towns will set out the framework for assessment of applications. It will specify locations ‘that have the potential to be an eco-town’, not just those in the current shortlist. The PSS will be a material consideration in whether to approve planning permission for eco-towns, especially where the local Development Plan is silent or out of date.

The Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) partial reviews due by 2011 will ‘test the longer term issues that arise from the eco-town proposals - such as the ultimate size of new settlements’.

The housing in the eco-towns will count towards the housing allocation of the planning district. ‘We want to assure local authorities which include an eco-town in their future housing plans that it will, of course, count towards those future housing targets, which in most places are likely to be more stretching’. The housing targets are due to be "stretched" in the partial reviews of RSS to be completed by 2011. In the case of the South East, the final list of eco-towns will be approved before the government's delayed response to the South East Plan, and the housing numbers are likely to be incorporated within the elevated housing targets.

What you can do:

If you want to have your say, email: ecotowns@communities.gsi.gov.uk or write to:

Eco-towns Team
Housing and Growth Programmes
Communities and Local Government
2/H9 Eland House
Bressenden Place
London, SW1E 5DU

Weston Front:

At a public meeting on 28 May, Weston Front announced that they had embarked upon a Freedom of Information application on 14 May to try to discover the criteria used to make the 15 shortlist selection. If it does not get satisfaction, Weston Front will resort to law.

Weston Front is plugged in to the national forum of protest groups and a demonstration in London is taking place at 11.30 am, Monday June 30th, at College Green.

Location:

It is unclear what the shaded area to the west of Weston-on-the-Green shown in the map above will be used for, given that it is not included in the map or location details provided by Parkridge in 'Weston Otmoor eco-town' or in the draft master plan. However, it is clear that Parkridge have options on this land and according to discussions held with Roger Sporle of Parkridge this land may be offered as compensation for the loss of land in the Green Belt.

Find out more:

Shipton-on-Cherwell

Kilbride Properties Ltd put in a bid for an 'eco-town' of 5-10,000 homes in Shipton-on-Cherwell quarry, a developed (old cement works) site to the north of Kidlington, within the Oxford Green Belt.

The developers hoped to transform the former cement works between Woodstock and Bicester into a thriving community. Its scheme would have included a new rail station, park-and-ride site, schools, shops, a marina and a nature reserve.

Kilbride Properties Ltd tried to get their scheme included in the County Structure Plan and again in the South East Plan. Both times the Inspectors threw it out.

The developer has already upset the local wildlife trust, Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), with its short-term plans for the site, which will see it used for storing cars, depots and industrial units before houses are built. See here.

CPRE Oxfordshire was dismayed when a planning application by Kilbride Properties Ltd for development of the former limestone quarry (for a mixture of uses including industrial and commercial) was approved on 14 January by the County Planning Committee.

As the decision is contrary to the development plan it has to be referred by the County Council to the Secretary of State to decide whether it should be 'called-in' for further scrutiny at Public Inquiry.

CPRE Chairman, Bruce Tremayne, put his signature to a letter by BBOWT to the Secretary of State requesting that the application be called-in, allowing for the possibility of getting the decision to approve this application over-turned.

Further Information

 

  
 
Share this page: del.icio.us | digg | furl | reddit | facebook | yahoo! | Help on sharing |
 
All content Copyright © 2005-07 Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire unless stated.
Published by CPRE Oxfordshire, Punches Barn, Waterperry Road, Holton, Oxfordshire OX33 1PP. 01865 874780.
campaign@cpreoxon.org.uk. www.cpreoxon.org.uk.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging
the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country. National website: www.cpre.org.uk.