Plans to build huge warehouses on M40 between Banbury and Bicester are refused
Plans to build huge warehouses on land off the M40, which were initially approved last summer, have now been refused after they were brought back to the council for reconsideration.
Developers Albion Land and Tritax Symmetry Ardley submitted four separate planning applications to build four warehouses on land on both sides of the A43 between the Baynard’s Green roundabout and junction 10 near Banbury and Bicester.
Cherwell District Council approved all but one of the applications last July after a five-hour long council meeting.
But the plans returned to the planning committee at the meeting on Thursday night (January 15) due to “several material changes in circumstances”.
After another four-hour long discussion, all of the plans were refused this time.
There were more than 500 objections to these plans, and dozens of protestors gathered in the rain outside the meeting room entrance at Castle Quay shopping centre in Banbury, before the meeting began.
Nick Barnes, chair of Stoke Lyne Parish Council, said at the meeting: “Contrary to what officers said at the last meeting, of course there are sound planning reasons to say no.
“Securing jobs in an isolated area five miles from Bicester is no justification, especially as the low-wage and low-skilled and do not align with the high skilled jobs plan Oxford-Cambridge arc.
“Securing a few junction improvements and a cycle lane that hardly anyone will use is no justification.
“This will generate thousands of new car journeys.
“A bit of landscaping that will take at least 15 years to mature is not going to hide these massive structures.
“These are flawed applications, wrong jobs in the wrong locations.”
Solicitors on behalf of Stoke Lyne Parish Council wrote to the council prior to the meeting, alleging that officers had “misdirected members at committee”.
Officers confirmed at the meeting that the plans had to come back to the committee because the local plan review, which was submitted for public examination shortly after the meeting, had not been considered in the officers’ report.
Councillors were told to consider the plans “afresh”, despite having discussed them before.
Cllr Rob Parkinson said at the meeting: “This is an area of open country.
“Consider how dramatically those places are changed if this proposal is allowed […] it would be catastrophic.
“The buildings are 70 feet high – six double decker buses stacked on top of each other, with a hugely long silhouette and profile formed by the roofs – quite alien structures in our landscape.”
Speaking after the meeting, Kelly Holden-White, who protested against the plans, said the decision was “massive for our local community and the wider community”.
She added: “People use the green space, bridleways and Stoke Wood for much needed escape from the busy local towns.
“Our area benefits more than just the people of Stoke Lyne.
“The impact of the increased traffic which would have been caused by these XL metal sheds was recognised by the committee, as was the light pollution, noise pollution and visual scarring of the landscape.
“We are delighted that [the planning committee] feel the same way that we have been feeling since these proposals darkened our doorsteps five years ago.”