A planning application goes to Cherwell District Council this Thursday (18 May) for 180 houses on an arable field that lies within the River Ray Conservation Target Area (CTA) – next to a Local Wildlife Site (LWS), important for wildlife and one of the few remaining wildlife habitats in Bicester (not to mention green lungs in this fast growing ‘eco-town’ town).

The application (15/00837/OUT) on land to the north east side of Gavray Drive, Bicester (on the west of Langford Brook), is part of Cherwell’s Local Plan.

Land both west and east of the Langford Brook is part of the Local Plan ‘Bicester 13’ allocation for 300 houses.

The Save Gavray Meadows campaign group is opposing the development, since what happens on the west side of the Brook will impact on the Conservation Target Area and also the Local Wildlife Site.

The Local Wildlife Site contains lowland meadow important for a rich variety of species including: Song Thrush, Barn Swallow, Common Kestrel, Common Swift, Common Bullfinch, Common Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, European Water Vole, Greater Water-Parsnip, Eurasian Badger and Bullhead.

The application is recommended for approval, despite the Council receiving 60 objections from third parties.

Find out more about Save Gavray Meadows

See the Agenda for the CDC Planning Committee, 18 May

Need not Greed Oxfordshire has signed a joint response to the Housing White Paper from organisations and individuals committed to the provision of affordable housing in Oxfordshire.

NNGO is committed to working to overcome the challenges to the lack of affordable housing in Oxfordshire and we welcome the opportunity to comment with other like-minded organisations and individuals on the Government’s Housing White Paper and to share our views on how the proposals will impact on the provision of affordable housing in the county.

See the Joint Response: Affordable Hsg and HWP 2017 – Joint Response FINALdocx

In the run-up to the County Council elections this Thursday (4 May), members of the Need not Greed Oxfordshire coalition met with all the local Leaders of the main political parties.

NNGO believes Oxfordshire is facing a planning crisis, and so we wanted to know what the Leaders plan to do to fix this. We posed the same question to each of them: “How do you intend to fix the planning crisis?’

All the Party Political Leaders in Oxfordshire agree that the national planning system – the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – is broken and needs fixing.

Read more …→

In February, the government issued a white paper – ‘Fixing our broken housing market‘, setting out a broad range of plans to help reform the housing market and boost the supply of new homes.

The consultation ends today (2 May).

Need not Greed Oxfordshire has submitted a response to the consultation (see below).

Read more …→