Rejected - inspector throws out plan for acres of industrial units on the edge of Banbury
Plans for an enormous industrial estate on the east side of the M40 at Banbury have been thrown out.
Campaigners at Nethercote, who would have had warehouses on their doorstep, have expressed huge relief.
A planning inspector spent eight days at a public inquiry in Banbury hearing arguments for and against the Huscote Farm plan, submitted three times to Cherwell District Council. Hundreds of people, organisations and an action group objected to the plan.
Greystoke CB was granted the appeal to the council’s refusal for outline planning permission 140,000sq m of warehousing. The agency made the first application in May 2022.
Inspector, Patrick Hanna, said while the proposal was ‘at Banbury’, its location failed to comply with the Cherwell local plan (LP) policy requirement to be ‘within the settlement’.
"The appeal site was originally identified by the council as an employment site for the LP but it was removed by the Inspector following examination of the plan in 2015, with concerns centred around landscape, highways and need,” Mr Hanna said in his report.
"The impacts on the highway network in terms of capacity and congestion, with particular regard to Hennef Way and Southam Road, cannot be satisfactorily addressed. This matter attracts substantial weight.
"The conflict with the locational aspects... as a result of the site not being within the built-up limits of Banbury attracts significant weight. Landscape and visual harm would be caused, albeit highly localised. Heritage harm, caused principally by the loss of ridge and furrow, is limited.
“Turning to the benefits, the proposal would meet the distinct locational need for smaller sized units in the shorter term, generating some 1,838 full time equivalent permanent direct jobs and contributing to the local economy both directly and indirectly. The combined economic benefits would be substantial.
"In terms of accessibility, the site is in a suitable location for the reasons given above, and there are no reasonably appropriate alternative sites, such that this attracts limited weight in support of the proposal.
"The contribution towards improved bus services would potentially benefit the wider public, attracting limited weight, but other infrastructure and service obligations are necessary to mitigate adverse impacts from the development and attract no weight.
“Drawing together the harms and the benefits, the adverse impacts of the proposal are not outweighed by the benefits. The proposal would conflict with the identified development plan policies and with the plan as a whole, and there are no material considerations to indicate a decision other than in accordance with it. Even if the locational policies of the LP were deemed out of date such that the tilted balance were to be engaged, my conclusion would remain unaltered.”
Lisa Phipps of Keep Nethercote Rural, said: “We are pleased the Planning Inspector has upheld the decision made by CDC to refuse this abhorrent proposal to destroy the ancient farmland at Huscote Farm.
"Some of the reasons for refusal given by CDC included the location not being earmarked for development, traffic and highways including concerns about the impact on an already buckling infrastructure, the negative impact on biodiversity and loss of wildlife habitat, the detrimental impact on the beautiful countryside in this area.
"We agree wholeheartedly with the decision. These issues would have been hugely detrimental for Banbury and the Cherwell area had the appeal been allowed.”