PLANS to build 10 more homes at a new estate have been blasted as 'making a mockery of the planning process'.

David Wilson Homes has submitted a planning application to add the homes to a 260-home estate it is building off Burford Road in Witney.

An application to build 270 homes at the site was originally refused by West Oxfordshire District Council, but approved on appeal in 2016 by Secretary of State Sajid Javid – with a reduced 260 homes.

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David Wilson Homes subsequently bought the site and started building the housing, but now it has sought permission increase the number of homes at Kingfisher Meadows from 260 back up to 270.

The developer also wants to move a playground on the estate closer to the nearby Flogas gas storage facility.

The estate is in the ward of district councillor Andrew Coles, who said: “I object most strongly to this application.

"This is a very controversial development which caused much upset in the local community when the first application was made back in 2014.

Oxford Mail:

“This current proposal seeks to overturn the original planning decision, which reduced the number of properties from 270 to 260 and shows flagrant disregard for due process and brings into question the integrity of the whole planning process.

“The plans appear to reposition the playground away from one of the safest areas on the site to one closer to the hazardous gas plant and closer to one of the main thoroughfares through the estate, unnecessarily increasing the risk to the children using the playground.”

Alison Smallman, who lives opposite the development, said: “We do not need more homes, there are lots of sites in and around Witney that haven’t been sold.

“They haven’t got planning for 270 therefore shouldn’t be granted planning for an extra 10.

Oxford Mail:

“It’s crazy, the traffic in and around Witney is chaotic as it is.”

Oxfordshire County Council said the proposals ‘will result in a reduction of the number of visitor parking spaces and the availability of on-street parking, causing an unacceptable impact on highway safety’, while Thames Water said it did ‘not agree’ to the increase in homes.

Lewis Owens, chair of Windrush Valley Protection Group, said the application ‘makes a complete mockery of the planning process’.

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David Wilson Homes said that after a meeting with the district council, ‘the principle of development of an additional 10 dwellings on site was considered acceptable and the way in which the proposals would be considered was discussed’.

The company said its proposal ‘creates an opportunity to facilitate the delivery of additional dwellings in Witney through the more efficient use of development land’ and ‘will assist in meeting West Oxfordshire’s housing delivery targets without the need to release additional land’.

See the plan at westoxon.gov.uk using code 20/01117/S73.