New homes to give Banbury caravan site new lease of life

The regeneration of Banbury's Canalside area has taken another step forward with the approval of 63 apartments to be built off Station Approach.
Bodicote House Cherwell District Council OfficesBodicote House Cherwell District Council Offices
Bodicote House Cherwell District Council Offices

During last week’s Cherwell District Council’s planning committee meeting the plans for outline planning permission for the scheme were approved unanimously.

The 63 dwellings will replace the disused caravan site with housing development which occupies land to the west of Banbury Railway station adjoining both the Oxford Canal and the River Cherwell.

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The apartments would be a mixture of one and two-bed homes with the council requiring 30 per cent to be affordable. Funding towards pedestrian bridges over both waterways is also proposed as part of the scheme.

Cllr David Hughes, chairman of the planning committee, said: “It has long been the council’s ambition to redevelop the Banbury Canalside area.

“There is a high demand for affordable one and two-bedroom homes for local people and this proposal promises to reinvigorate a site which needs to be made use of given how close it is to the town centre and the railway station.”

The scheme features on-site car parking for residents and will need a further, more detailed planning permission before building work can begin.

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The proposals approved on Thursday are an updated version of a scheme which was refused planning permission last year.

Access to the development for pedestrians and vehicles, the reason for refusal upheld by a planning inspector, has been improved in this approved version.

Developer contributions to the improvement of the canal towpath and sport and public art, among other matters, will be secured by a Section 106 planning obligation. Conditions include the creation of a 10-metre ecological buffer zone between the new apartments and the River Cherwell.