The Miller homes development to the west of Warwick road has been granted after an appeal. You can read the full transcript here.
Unfortunately it appears the planning inspector has agreed to allow the creation of an extra junction along Warwick Road instead of using the Hardwick roundabout. Though this is seen to be adding more housing to an already huge number it is hoped that this development would see off the expansion to the North of Hanwell Fields. This development is livable and in many ways makes sense. As we’ve always said we are not against house building just poorly planned ones. This fits in with the purpose of the Northern Boundary. The hope now, if somewhat of a gamble is that we can argue the 160 houses proposed by Amber and Rapleys to the north (which are very poorly planned) are no longer required as this site exceeds the additional numbers for BAN5.
Category Archives: Miller Homes
Miller Homes Application update
I have received a letter from the council regarding the Miller Homes application for more housing to the top of the estate just off Warwick Road, next to Drayton Golf Club. Cherwell Council have withdrawn their reasons for appeal based on the recent Deddington homes decision. Therefore it would appear this application will most likely (though not definite) be passed. The hearing which is scheduled for 10.00am on Tuesday 14 January 2014 at the Council Chamber, Bodicote House, White Post Road, Bodicote. Will only proceed for 1 day instead of the original 5 days. Hanwell Fields will now be expanding by a further 300 houses.
Can we all just thank the council for being overwhelmingly useless. The blame for any of the passed housing, not just around Hanwell Fields but around Banbury falls 100% on their shoulders. If the likes of Cllr Gibbard and the incompetant planning department had done their jobs correctly and produced a viable plan (thinking about it they needn’t have even made it viable) then a lot of the housing would not have been allowed.
The only reason all the housing has been passed is because of the lack of a local plan. Cherwell Council have made very serious mistakes in this regard and as such I would like to see resignations from Gibbard and the planning department.
Miller Homes Planning Appeal – Jan 2014
Miller Homes have appealed the Cherwell District Council decision over the refusal of developments on the Warwick Road, next to Drayton Golf Club. A hearing will take place on the 14th January 2014 with the planning inspector prosiding over the decision. This take place at Bodicote House, Banbury and is expected to last 5 days.
Having seen recent decisions over Deddington, Saltway, Bloxham and Hook Norton, one can only assume this will be given the green light also. The only people responsible for such decisions is purely Cherwell District Council because of the incompetency of the planning department and the planning committee to produce a Local Plan to any sort of standard and within realistic timescales. Their failings are our suffering.
Latest News Oct 2013
For those that have not heard about the latest situation regarding planning around Banbury, the developments in Bloxham, Saltway and Hook Norton have been appealed and overturned by the Secretary of State, Mr. Pickles. This is a scandalous result for the residents of Banbury and more importantly for those communities that will be effected….much like our’s. However the likes of Cllr Gibbard and the planning department are completely 100% to blame for this. They have been working on the Local Plan for 7 years and it’s still a complete disaster. If these people were in a real, private sector job they would have been dismissed by now. They have failed us.
For the past 18 months HFDAG have repeatedly told CDC about their Draft Local Plan, we have told them their numbers are wrong, we have told them the whole plan is wrong. We now hear that North Warwickshire has had its Local Plan dismissed by the planning inspectorate because their data is out of date, well CDC is basing their figures on even older information which means it’s inevitable that the CDC plan will also be rejected, or delayed until a more up-to-date version is created. Therefore the developers can appeal a decision on the basis that the Local Plan is not fully implemented. Erik Pickles then asks the district council for proof to reject the plans. They can’t, so he has no choice but to pass them.
It is for this reason and this reason alone that CDC should be held accountable for their incompetence and their failure to deliver.
This now leads me on to other news regarding the Miller Homes Development on West of Warwick Road, They have now lodged an appeal to Mr. Pickles, given the recent results of other local appeals why wouldn’t they. In all honesty they’ll probably win. So I can see us getting more housing besides BAN5 and BAN2. Perhaps (a big leap in faith, I know) the developers may hold off on BAN2 at least. That seems like the least likely to make it through to development.
I have been told that work has started on the Bankside development, which I believe they have started now because other builders are getting permission, but who knows.
As yet still no sign of an application from Amber Developments for the field opposite Winter Gardens Way.
Miller Homes has been refused
The Miller homes application has been refused. Many members were in favour of this development as it would have the least impact on the area. Out of all the applications presented to the planning committee this site was the only one that had positive comments and yet was turned down….so much for the Localism Act, so much for the council actually listening to it’s residents. We asked our local councillors to help us fight these developments, did they ? hell no. Except when it affected one of their own. We’ll hear all sorts of rubbish about how they haven’t done that. In reality they should have helped us FIGHT ALL of the developments. Shame on them, they’ve lost my vote in the future.
The Miller homes application was byfar the most thoughtout and well planned of all the applications. I really hope CDC get their just rewards and we see the removal of the planning department, the removal of the Chief Exec for being incompetant, and finally the local councillors for having no backbone and no diginity.
Miller Homes Application
As you are aware we are fighting these developments on many levels.
Firstly on a very local level we are fighting individual developers on individual development sites. Persimmon and Amber at BAN5 and Pandora at BAN2.
Secondly we are making cases against the areas of BAN5 and BAN2 using the northern boundary for instance as one of our arguments.
Thirdly we are fighting CDC on a district level against their proposed numbers, hoping to prove they are incorrect. All of these objections are relevant and as such all should be supported.
Recently the press has reported that we are against the Miller Homes development, for the record we are not – as a group we don’t support it either. The Miller homes development may not be justified with the housing numbers we are suggesting which is at the top level of our campaign. So here’s where we have a bit of problem, Yes we oppose any of these developments because of the numbers. However I have recently been contacted by Sue Smith who writes to say the council will be sticking with their housing projections and that’s what has been sent to the Secretary of State. That does not mean we should give in about proving them wrong, it does mean that we WILL be fighting developments at BAN5 and BAN2 as CDC are adamant their numbers are correct.
So we come down a level, to the boundary issue, again in the correspondence off Sue Smith she has confirmed that CDC have never guaranteed the boundary won’t be built upon or past, again this is not to say they are correct but this is what they have submitted to the Secretary of State.
We have to come down yet another level fighting the developers at BAN5 and BAN2, this is where Miller Homes has the potential to help us. I won’t lie it’s a bit of gamble and one I can’t take on behalf of everyone. The strategy being that if we support the Miller homes build we can argue that we don’t need Persimmon or Amber houses.
NOW the tricky decision, the risk being that if we support Miller homes and that gets the green light then we could actually get all of the developments including Persimmon and Amber.
Therefore I will put TWO letters on the site for people to either agree with the development or oppose the development, that decision will be down to you.
By Blocking all developments we could be considered NIMBY’s. I can assure you we are not. As I’ve always said we understand the need for more housing. We just don’t agree with the reason, the numbers, the locations or the demand. The whole local plan is a joke and the council show no interest in listening to the residents of Hanwell Fields, Banbury or the whole of Cherwell. This group was formed because housing to the North of Banbury does not make any sense. Please refer to why we oppose these plans to see all of our reasons.
Looking at the council website their are a number of people that are not part of HFDAG from other areas near to the Miller Homes site who are objecting to these plans on the grounds of increased traffic on the Warwick Road. If I could be so bold and ask them why they think the development on Warwick Road, roughly 100 yards further North but on the opposite side of the road would not have an impact on the traffic to Warwick Road. Given that it is for more houses.So why are they not opposing that development ?
Miller Homes – Objection
Miller Homes – Support
Press Releases, Meetings and CDC numbers
Things are picking up a pace, Cherwell Council are sticking to this ludicrous idea of planning numbers by insisting the local plan is based on the old, out of date SE plan. This actually says a whole lot more about the council as much as their policy. They are infact the ones that are out of date. What we want to see is a clearly defined local plan that CDC can say with validity has been produced using the right methods, with the right skills for the right reasons.
As we have said time and time again the latest NPPF does not require such a number of houses over such a period of time. Using the NPPF, as they should, CDC only need to produce a small local plan which shows Bankside and Canalside. (these site constitute 12.6 years worth of housing). Our Latest Press Releases say it all.
We are arranging a meeting with the CDC councillors, we are planning for May 11th, 3pm at the Hanwell Fields Community Centre. If you are interested in attending then please contact admin via the contact page
Latest Press Release’s
HFDAG Press Release 122 – Impact of proposed developments on North Banbury
Press Release 122
HFDAG Press Release 121 – Cherwell housing plans are still wrong
Press Release 121
HFDAG Press Release 120 – The worst planning application yet, “Land Grabs”
Press Release 120
HFDAG Press Release 119 – Letter of objection sent to Cherwell District Council, January 2013 North Hanwell Fields proposed development (BAN2)
Press Release 119