View of Harwell and Didcot from the Ridgeway
The village of Harwell is once again the site of a development proposal on greenfield – this time by Gladman Developments who want to build up to 60 homes on land north of Didcot Road, on the east of Harwell.
As part of Gladman’s ‘commitment to engage with local communities’, leaflets outlining the development proposals and seeking comments have been distributed during late January 2016 to approximately 365 households and businesses in Harwell, as part of Gladman’s pre-application, public consultation process.
Harwell residents are rightly concerned at this latest proposal, which comes on top of outstanding proposals for 80 houses at Blenheim Hill, 200 at Grove Road North, 60 at Grove Road South, not to mention the 4,500 proposed at Valley Park, Didcot and the 1,400 homes proposed in the Vale Local Plan in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the north and east of the Harwell Campus.
Together, these many development proposals amount to a concerted attack on the rural character of Harwell village and threaten to merge the village with the neighbouring town of Didcot.
A map showing the cumulative impact of all of the proposed developments in and around Harwell and Didcot can be found on the Keep Harwell Rural campaign website.
Keep Harwell Rural vigorously opposes this proposal. Firstly because it aims to remove the last open gap between Harwell village and the urban conurbation of Greater Didcot, resulting in the coalescence of the two, and secondly because it would result in the over development of Harwell.
Keep Harwell Rural will be at the Examination in Public into the Vale’s Local Plan, starting next week, challenging the District Council’s development plans for Harwell and Didcot.
Find out more about Gladman’s proposed development.
Contact Keep Harwell Rural: info@keepharwellrural.org.