Campaigners lose fight to stop building on the Green Belt

They lost their case in the High Court last week.

Cherwell's Local Plan Partial Review proposes to build 4,400 houses on the Green Belt around Begbroke, Kidlington and Yarnton to meet Oxford`s housing need.

Ever since it was set in motion in 2015, local campaign groups have been fighting the plans for development.

In 2019, five of them formed an association – the Cherwell Development Watch Alliance (CDWA) – and took Cherwell and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to court in a last-ditch attempt to challenge the Plan.

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Mrs Justice Thornton`s decision to dismiss CDWA`s challenge ended six years of campaigning and widespread local representation against the Plan.

CDWA`s claim for a Judicial Review was on two grounds, both of which failed: the acknowledged fall in the level of Oxford’s housing need and the allocation of the North Oxford golf course for development despite inadequate provision for a replacement site.

In relation to housing need the judge accepted that the Inspector of Cherwell’s Plan could rely on the findings of another Inspector who examined Oxford’s Plan.

On the golf course she considered that the evidence before the Inspector was sufficient for him to have made a rational decision.

On both grounds she noted that, in law, Inspectors have considerable latitude to exercise their planning judgement and were not required to give detailed reasons.

CDWA’s chair Suzanne McIvor said: “Most cases fail to get to court, so we did well to get as far as we did. We faced powerful interests with substantial resources and a system which can ignore both local opinion and rational argument.”

David Young of golfers group Greenway added: “Though we knew there was a high bar to overturning such a decision, we did think that in these particular circumstances, we had a genuine chance.

“This and future generations will doubtless look at whatever is developed on this precious green lung gem – and themselves be the real judges of whether the sacrifice of a 114-year-old course was in any way justifiable.”

A series of planning applications are now expected to be submitted on the six sites allocated for development in the Plan. These will build on Green Belt in the gaps between North Oxford, Kidlington, Gosford, Begbroke and Yarnton.

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The character of the area will be transformed into a northern extension of Oxford, claim campaigners.

All four affected local parish councils and the district councillors representing those wards opposed the plan.

Linda Ward, of Kidlington Development Watch, said: “I’m deeply saddened that Kidlington is now set to merge with Oxford and surrounding villages. The ‘growth at all costs’ policy is already ramping up more plans to cover much of our beautiful, rural county in concrete.

“I'm disillusioned with the whole public consultation process. The planning and legal systems have all failed us but the ultimate responsibility for ignoring opposition and adopting the Plan does not actually rest with the planning Inspector. It rests with Cherwell Council and in particular those Cherwell councillors who supported their leader Barry Wood in voting it through.

“The current consultation on the Oxfordshire 2050 Plan includes ominous signs that there is more to come. It will be important to tell our councillors and MPs what we think and, if they don’t listen, to vote them out.”

CDWA acknowledged the importance of Oxford University to the local and national economy but remained concerned about the impact of the University’s aspirations for ongoing growth and expansion on the local environment and the people who live there.

Ms McIvor again: “We know that the University intends to put staff housing on the golf course and to retain 1,000 of the proposed homes in Begbroke for its own use. We think this is why these sites were allocated by Cherwell District Council. The Plan stated that it had been prepared in order to meet Oxford’s unmet need and failed to mention the number of University homes to be built.”

However, she added: “Throughout, we have been encouraged by knowing that we overwhelmingly represented local opinion. We thank all the organisations and individuals who supported us and generously provided funds to meet the substantial costs.

“It was important to take a stand for local voices and we remain proud of what we have done.”

Helen Marshall, director of countryside charity CPRE Oxfordshire, commented: “We are hugely disappointed by this outcome, which shows the weakness of Green Belt protection, despite Government’s claims to the contrary.

“There’s now 19,000 houses planned for the Oxford Green Belt, expanding the City by a third. This has serious consequences for the countryside and surrounding villages and the City itself, putting incredible pressure on already overstretched infrastructure.

“The low-density executive housing that is likely to come forward will do little to tackle the need for genuinely affordable housing.

“We should not be sacrificing the countryside on our doorstep in this way and we urge all those concerned by this outcome to share their views with their councillors and MP.”

In a statement, Cherwell District Council said: “There was a legal challenge to the Plan which was dismissed on 30 July 2021 by High Court Judge The Hon Mrs Justice Thornton DBE.

“The court’s decision confirms the Planning Inspectorate’s finding when the Plan was examined; that it is legally sound. The Plan continues to have full weight in any planning decisions.”

Oxford University declined to comment.