Two separate developers attended the Parish Council Meeting on Wednesday 16 March:
– representatives from Mewslade who are responsible for the vacant plots north of Rau Court / Thompson Drive and off Springfield Road; and
– representatives from the Vistry Group (a merged company of Bovis Homes and Linden Homes) about their proposals for the land at Dymocks Farm to north of the village.
The discussion was broadly the same from both developers, but about the different areas of land.
Both developers had submitted the areas of land to Cherwell District Council under their latest call for sites for the review of the Local Plan.
It was acknowledged by both developers that neither of the projects would be able to go ahead unless CDC changes the village categorisation in the latest review: the current categorisation is Category C (which allows minor development, infilling and conversions to individual properties).
Both developers were indicating producing a number of high quality housing together with affordable homes.
Mewslade were suggesting up to 85 houses on the plot behind Rau Court and between 15 and 20 houses on the Springfield Road site with the addition of a village green and play area or other amenities which the village may wish.
The Vistry Group were suggesting 1,000 homes on the land to the north of the village with associated amenities (community centre, school, shops, green space etc).
Both developers acknowledged that there were currently no facilities in the village and believed that it would be good to provide these amenities.
Neither developer has yet had discussions with CDC and no planning applications have been submitted.
