South Oxfordshire District Council today asked a High Court judge to block plans for two housing developments on the edge of the village of Chinnor.
Lawyers for the council asked Gilbart J to overturn a decision made last year by a government planning inspector allowing developers to build up to 80 homes on land adjoining Greenwood Avenue and 120 homes near Cromwell Road.
The council initially refused the developments planning permission, but their decision was overturned on appeal after the inspector found that the plans met local need.
Lawyers for the council said that South Oxfordshire was in the process of updating its development plan to take a recent report into local housing need into account.
Homebuilder Taylor Wimpey wants to develop the Greenwood Avenue site. According to its website, the proposed development is 800 metres from the village centre and covers an area of around 3.44 hectares. It is currently used as farmland.
The council claims that both schemes are contrary to council policies and “would cause harm to the character and environment of the local area”.
“In overturning the two decision the inspector did not support the council’s concerns. The inspector commented that she considered there to be large gaps in the council’s core strategy policies for site allocation in larger villages and applied the National Planning Policy Framework which sets out a presumption in favour of sustainable development,” a council statement said.
It added: “We aim for sound planning decisions in South Oxfordshire and are committed to ensuring that development only happens in suitable locations.”
South Oxfordshire District Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Planning Court (Gilbart J) 4 May 2016
