A planning inspector will spend eight days in Banbury next month hearing arguments for and against development of tens of acres of ancient farmland outside the town.

The inspector will be at Bodicote House from Tuesday, February 4 at 10am to conduct the public inquiry into the planning application for Huscote Farm, on land between the A361, A422 and M40.

The application has been refused twice by Cherwell District Council in the past three years. Hundreds of people, country organisations and an action group, set up in opposition to the development, have sent in objections to the plan.

Lisa Phipps of Keep Nethercote Rural, said: “The public don't need to take any action at this point, their objections have been passed to the planning inspector. The Inquiry will be public, meaning that members of the public will be able to observe the hearing but they do need to let the council know they wish to attend.”

An aerial picture of the land Greystoke CB wants permission to build an industrial estate over

placeholder image — An aerial picture of the land Greystoke CB wants permission to build an industrial estate over

Greystoke CB was granted the appeal to the council’s refusal for planning permission for 140,000 square metres of warehousing over Huscote Farm.

A background to the applications can be read here.

Mrs Phipps said: "The ancient farmland at Huscote Farm is not earmarked for development in Cherwell District Council Local Plan and in fact it was specifically excluded by the planning inspectorate. Despite this, an application was made for a large scale industrial warehouse site across this beautiful landscape in May 2022.

“To date, Cherwell District Council planning department have had to look at three identical planning applications and a previous appeal that was withdrawn at the last minute by the applicant.

A picture of Huscote Farm from the A361 Daventry Road

"When considering the latest application, the planning officer cited 15 reasons for refusal, supported by the CDC planning committee, and the application was refused in March 24."

Keep Nethercote Rural describes Huscote Farm as ‘a beautiful, unspoilt area of Banbury countryside’.

The ancient farmland contains remnants of the Banbury area’s agricultural heritage and has links to the once-famous Banbury Cheese. The biodiversity supports an abundance of wildlife.

"Developing the area would not only have a hugely detrimental impact on our landscape and local heritage, the road network around the M40 roundabout and Banbury is already insufficient for the volume of traffic. Adding more traffic to these roads without improvements to the infrastructure will just add more misery to those trying to move about our town,” said Mrs Phipps.

An artist's impression of how the industrial estate would look

"The warehouses built along the A361 have stood empty for a number of years and nearby warehouses are unable to fill job vacancies locally, with many employees commuting from other areas, which suggests that more warehousing would not provide the jobs that local people are looking for.”

Some of the reasons for refusal given by CDC include not being earmarked for development, traffic and highways concerns, negative impact on biodiversity and loss of wildlife habitat, detrimental impact on landscape, lack of sustainability, air quality negative impacts, drainage issues, loss of agricultural land and these are the factors that the planning inspector will consider, hearing evidence from both sides to come to a decision on whether to uphold the council’s refusal.