A CALL for Oxfordshire County Council to question plans for 3,000 homes on Chalgrove Airfield was rejected with Conservative and Labour councillors reluctant to interfere in planning matters.

Controversy has rumbled on since Homes England acquired the former Ministry of Defence site when it was deemed “surplus to requirements”.

A planning application for the 3,000 homes was submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC), the authority which decides such matters, but was withdrawn.

READ MORE: Work underway to reopen COSMO on Magdalen Street in Oxford

However, by November 2021 Homes England stated it “remains committed to the development at Chalgrove Airfield” to “address the immediate housing needs and bring significant investment to the wider area”. 

The statement said Homes England was “positively engaged with the Civil Aviation Authority, Environment Agency and Oxfordshire County Council” over “a revised strategy for the scheme in 2022”, including “new roads and junction improvements at Stadhampton, Chiselhampton and Cuxham that will meet the requirements of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan”. 

It remains a site allocated to housing in SODC’s local plan.

Councillor Freddie van Mierlo (Lib Dem, Chalgrove & Watlington) put forward a motion – something that forms a statement of intent for the council when they are accepted – for the county council to express “reservations in the strongest terms as to the suitability of the site”. 

That was amended to take the focus away from the site itself to avoid legal complications and focus instead on the viability of larger developments in rural areas in general, including the dependency on cars for people to go about their day-to-day lives if they move there.

Cllr van Mierlo did not hold back, though, claiming that a Freedom of Information (FOI) request over how the site became allocated had yielded nothing and described the land sale as a “secretive process”.

He said proposed changes to the local plan had been “blocked” by then-Secretary of State for Housing Robert Jenrick and Ian Hudspeth, leader of the county council when the Tories were in power, and that they were “ably supported by Labour in doing so”, inviting the red part of the chamber to “correct the record” by offering support. 

Conservative leader Councillor Eddie Reeves (Banbury Calthorpe) was “grateful to the Green group” for the amendment which he said had “improved beyond measure the original” motion.

He offered his support but said: “I really don’t think as a matter of course that we should be bringing planning matters to this place, it isn’t the right way to proceed and it sets a worrying precedent.

“Moving forward, we must not make this routine. We must not bring matters that pertain to the competence of another local authority here and do so for party political reasons.”

Despite agreeing “with a large part of the principle of this”, Councillor Duncan Enright (Lab, Witney North & East) said his group would be voting against. 

“We believe this motion strays over that boundary into predetermination,” he said. 

“It is on those grounds and those grounds alone that we really don’t think it is appropriate to debate it in this chamber.

“For a number of members it is also uncomfortable to be talking about a local plan that is live at the moment when there are planning decisions to be made by this authority through advice given to the districts. We don’t think the county council can take a position.” 

Cllr van Mierlo’s cause still has hope, though. 

County leader Councillor Liz Leffman (Lib Dem, Charlbury & Wychwood) had offered her support and revealed: “I am actually having a meeting about this site with Homes England in a few weeks’ time. I will, of course, bring up all these issues with them.”

She also referred to the business that operates at Chalgrove Airfield, which tests aircraft ejector seats on site, being told it will need to move if the development goes ahead, something she called “completely ridiculous”.

“It is a global business and we should be supporting global business,” added Cllr Leffman. 

“This council has a responsibility for ensuring the economy of this area is secure and this is part of the economy of this council.

“Building on this site makes no sense to me if it means this very important business has to move somewhere else.”

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