Plans for 300 new homes in Grove rejected

David Wilson Homes submitted an outline application to Vale of White Horse District Council, the planning authority, to build the homes on land east of the A338 Station Road and north of Tulwick Lane.

Developers said the housing estate would include 35 per cent affordable housing and is in a “sustainable location” of the town.

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In a planning statement, the developers said: The application is supported by a range of technical material and demonstrates that this proposal is capable of delivering significant benefits which contribute towards an overall conclusion that it delivers sustainable development.

An artist's impression of what the site would look like. Picture by David Wilson Homes.

“The applicant is committed to ensuring that this scheme delivers sustainable, high quality and well-designed development.”

However, at a meeting of the district council’s planning committee last night (27), councillors voted to reject the application due to the land being an “unallocated” site for development.

It has not been included in the council’s five-year-land supply, which is a list of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years' worth of housing.

There were also concerns about ruining the landscape of the area which Councillor Ron Batstone said would be “seriously disrupted” if the development was approved.

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He added: “The development is on the east side the A338 which is a fairly busy road at the moment and it is separated from facilities in Grove schools and shops by a busy road which has to be crossed by children, by anybody who wants to access Grove by walking.

“Now it has been proposed that this will be ameliorated by firstly reducing speed limits and adding Pelican crossings but this will increase traffic density and slow traffic down making it an even busier road and increased congestion.”

The proposed site. Picture by David Wilson Homes.

Councillor Robert Maddison proposed the application was rejected. He said: “For me the most pertinent one is the question of the five-year land supply.

“Unless it can be demonstrated in more definitive terms that the five-year land supply that the Vale has at the moment is not sufficient, I don't think we really have grounds to consider this supported in policy.”

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Councillor Jenny Shelley added: “It's an unallocated site in our local plan. It's in the rural landscape and [developers] have failed to provide sufficient details to assess the impacts on the Historic Environment, landscape and highways and highways network.

“More importantly, bear in mind we're looking at access, one of the accesses proposed is objected to by the Oxfordshire County Council highway team.”

The motion was seconded by Wantage Town councillor, Jenny Hannaby, and the application was rejected.

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland, she joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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