THE OWNER of an arboretum has hit out at the district council after he was denied permission to build a 'sorely needed' crematorium.

David Wilson, of Weaveley Arboretum Natural Burial Cemetery, near Woodstock, saw a second planning application for a crematorium with additional car parking refused by West Oxfordshire District Council yesterday.

The plans were refused based on the impact the development would have on the site's 'character and appearance', although the council admitted the facilities were needed in the area.

West Oxfordshire does not have a crematorium, with residents having to travel to Oxford, Banbury, or Frilford, near Abingdon if they require one.

Mr Wilson, 77, has spent the last year trying to push these plans through, but the first application was rejected in February.

The applicant submitted the second application in July, but will now wait for an independent planning inspector to visit the site next week and make a decision.

The plans were rejected despite very few objections from the local community, leaving the applicant baffled as to why he has not been allowed to build the crematorium.

He said: “There’s a great need for a crematorium in West Oxfordshire.

“The timescale has been incredibly long and the council haven’t come up with anything.

“The first application had no objections from the public, which is apparently unheard of for a crematorium.”

Mr Wilson was originally refused permission to build an eco-burial site in 2012, but one year later plans to build a roundhouse, access road, car parking and 3,300 trees were approved.

Last May, plans to reclad an office and build a workshop and equipment store were also approved, but to the applicant's immense frustration he has not been able to make progress since then.

The arboretum notified 63 nearby parish councils of the intention to build a crematorium, with not one objection.

Questionnaires were sent out to 129 funeral directors in the county and 24 were returned with positive feedback, while residents added 33 signatures of support on an open day for the proposals.

This has strengthened Mr Wilson's belief that there is demand for a crematorium, with the ex-property developer supported by members of the public who use the arboretum.

He said: “The general public’s view is we need a crematorium - we get four or five people a day who tell us they're interested.”

“The site has got the wow factor - everything down there is in absolute apple pie order and we could start doing it immediately.

“This could serve the public for a very long time.”

Mr Wilson believes the acceptance of West Oxfordshire District Council's Local Plan boosts the need for a crematorium, with 15,950 homes promised in the district by 2031.

He said: “They’re putting up almost 16,000 houses - that’s about 47,000 people they are adding to Oxford, Witney and Carterton.

“The council is taking a shortsighted view.

“We’re always going to need graveyards - it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

The plans satisfy regulations that say such facilities must be a minimum of 400 metres from any dwelling.

But the council refused the initial application for having an ‘adverse impact’ on the character of the countryside and said yesterday that the ‘harms outweighed the benefits’.

Phil Shaw, development manager at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “This particular proposal was refused because of concerns about the impact of the additional buildings and the additional hardsurfacing, parking and related additional comings and goings on the character and appearance of a site that was until recently an agricultural field and is still effectively surrounded by open countryside and that takes its access off what is effectively little more than a quiet country lane.

“The Council took account of the planning benefits likely to arise from the proposal, as it does with all planning applications, including the need to provide additional cremation facilities in the general area.

“However, this general need does not mean that any particular site is necessarily acceptable and in this case, the Council decided that the planning harms outweighed the benefits.”

He added: “An independent planning inspector will now assess the case in the light of the arguments for and against the proposal.

“If the applicant is able through his planning consultant to persuade the Inspector that the proposal has sufficient merits despite the Council’s concerns, the proposal will be granted planning permission."