Some residents will have received a public consultation document from developers Gladman.

They are proposing almost 100 new homes next to the recreation ground on the South Newington Road. You can download a copy of the leaflet by clicking on the graphic alongside.

Their document takes the form of questions and (their preferred) answers and so we take a look at those questions but with our own thoughts for the answers.
Who are Gladman?   Gladman don’t build. Basically they secure planning permission for land  thus increasing its value from maybe a few tens of thousands of pounds per hectare to more like a million pounds per hectare. – and of course they take their reward for this service.  Historically they have been specialists in doing this for rural greenfield sites as this maximises profit with no “clean-up” costs and a strategy of largely bolting onto existing infrastructure rather than having to create new.

How could Bloxham Benefit? Gladman believe extra population will provide an opportunity to improve the range and quality of local services.  This rather ignores the constraints at work.  The primary school has no room to expand further.  The Warriner School is already having to expand and struggling to offer a way of doing so without further increasing the school-run traffic chaos on the A361. Trade at the High St shops is limited by parking rather than population and we know from the data used by major retailers this new development is well beyond the distance most people are willing to walk with shopping. We have already had very many ‘affordable’ new homes in the past few years only a tiny minority of which went to people with a strong village connection.

Why Bloxham?   Gladman argue this is a suitable and sustainable location for new development.  The recent Neighbourhood Plan documentation challenged such assumptions on a whole range of measures including traffic, retail, parking and schools. That plan was accepted and approved by Government Planning Inspectors.

Will our roads cope?  We’ve all seen developer traffic reports  worthy of consideration for the Man Booker prize for fiction!   The recent Gladman (Bovis) Estate  on the Barford Road was approved on the condition that solutions to the traffic congestion at the mini-roundabout were sought. Three years later clearly no solution has been forthcoming:  that’s because there is no solution.  Gladman are now suggesting building 95 new homes within a few hundred metres of this roundabout.  As a comedian once said “It’s Déjà vu  all over again!”

Will our local services be able to cope? As previously mentioned it asserts that increased population equates to a boost to the local economy: either a naive or deliberately misleading statement that pays little heed to the realities of life in a village that has already almost doubled in size in recent years.

Will it increase the risk of flooding?  Developers do have a responsibility to mitigate any increased risk. Residents  will know that the adjacent slade nature reserve and the recreation ground flood rather  more often than one would like  – but Gladman correctly state the proposed site is not amongst the higher flood risk areas of the village. Given our increasingly extreme weather the question is – will proposed attenuation basins guarantee that the inevitable increased surface water run-off won’t overwhelm an already struggling water network elsewhere in the village?

Does it comply with Local Planning Law?   It is a major development outside of the built-up boundary of the village and so is certainly not compliant with the Neighbourhood Plan.

Also by extending the boundary down the South Newington Road it sets a potential precedent meaning that the fields on the opposite side of that road running up to the back of the Barford Road and the Bloxham Park Estate – for which planning permission has previously been considered – would likely be re-considered for categorisation  as infill status.

What Happens Next?

Once Gladman have formally applied to Cherwell District Council the official consultation will open via the council.
Whether you are in favour or against – you are encouraged to express your views on the proposal at that stage.  We’ll keep you informed.

Gladman themselves are also seeking your comments.   On the one hand this allows them to muster arguments to counter objections before the official planning procedures commence but equally if they receive no objections they will doubtless make great play of this.

You can email them at comments@your-views.co.uk   or via their website at www.yourviews.co.uk/bloxham