Today the Secretary of state announced his decision on the developer appeals by Gladman (Barford Rd) and Frampton. (Milton Road.)  His answer was that the developments should go ahead – which is really no surprise given what has been allowed to happen elsewhere across England.

This will come as a bitter disappointment to all those who took part in the ‘Keep Bloxham Rural’ campaign’  trying to constrain the galloping urbanisation of Bloxham. It also makes a rather unpleasant joke of the government’s ‘localism’ agenda given that these developments were rejected by about 200:1 locally.

If we are calmly reflective about the situation then our resistance has not been wasted.  Not only did it result in developers improving their plans and placing fewer houses on the sites but it has also placed a spotlight on the infrastructure needs of the village. This seems to have led to more infrastructure work (drainage, electricity and gas) over this summer than most people have seen in the past 25 years!

Although, in the absence of an expensive legal judicial review, it is almost certain the developments will go ahead the battles are far from over.  What the developers have received is outline planning permission.    We need to keep a VERY close eye on the actual development plans  – not to mention the development itself  – to ensure they do not push the envelope to maximise profits at the expense of poor design and harmful visual impact.  We will keep you informed of what’s happening here.
Even more importantly this won’t be the end of it.  We all know Millers Homes have already launched an appeal over the Tadmarton Road development. They will doubtless be delighted with today’s announcements.
We can also be very sure the success of the Gladman and Frampton appeals will encourage other developers  to try their luck with any old field they can find around the village

The only way we can stop this happening over and over again is by having in place a Neighbourhood Plan.
Groups have been doing background work on the plan and we are now reaching a stage where we will be consulting residents on how they would like to see the village develop over the next 15-20 years.
The plan will only be accepted if we can demonstrate major engagement and support from villagers so it is VITAL that you help us by turning up at forthcoming exhibitions and meetings to give us your ideas.   It is also vital that you help us by returning (of prefereably completing online) the questionnaires that we will be putting out later in the year.

You can see copies of the letters of approval by clicking  here for Gladman   and here for Frampton

You can look at the Inspectors report and the secretary of state’s decision letter here from 1:00pm today or simply click here for Gladman full report or here for Frampton full report.