A decision over whether to keep a waste transfer station in South Oxfordshire has been pushed back.

Rumbolds Pit Waste Transfer Station lies north of the village of Ewelme near Wallingford, and was already granted a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) by the county council in 2002.

The Oxfordshire County Council report notes the use of the site as a waste transfer station has intensified since then, and no enforcement action has been taken.

Hazell & Jefferies Ltd, who own the site, applied for an updated CLEUD in December 2023, claiming the land had been used as a waste transfer station for more than a decade.

Unlike planning decisions, CLEUD applications must be determined based on evidence that the development has been in use for more than 10 years.

The decision was set to be made at the Oxfordshire County Council planning and regulation committee, which took place on Monday, November 25.

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While decisions on CLEUDs are usually made by council officers, who are non-political, Liberal Democrat MP Freddie van Mierlo, who represents the Chalgrove and Watlington ward on the county council, asked for application to be decided by the planning committee and heard in public.

Freddie Van Mierlo Freddie Van Mierlo (Image: South Oxfordshire District Council.) He recognised this was unusual, but said the application and the site “has a significant impact on the village” and that there had been many meetings held locally to discuss this issue.

He said: “Some of my concerns are particularly the lack of enforcement that has taken place in the last 10 years, and I really hope that that if this is approved, that it will draw a line in the sand and that enforcement will happen going forward.”

He added that residents could hear vehicles earlier in the morning and late at night.

(Image: Google Street View) Among the objectors were Ewelme Parish Council, the Chilterns National Landscape, as well as nine locals. 

In a letter submitted to the council in January, the parish council said the continued developments at Eyres Lane Site “represent a major threat to the very nature of our small quiet village”, due to the number of vehicles moving in and out of the site as well as the number of staff living on the site.

An additional report submitted by county council officers on Friday, November 22, recommended that the CLEUD should be approved, on the grounds that no more than 50 vehicles exit or enter the site.

It also recommended that working hours should be limited to 7am and 7pm Monday to Saturday, and between 9am and 1pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays, which was in line with the CLEUD from 2002.

Ewelme Parish Council accepted the proposal with the report, but the applicants objected it on the grounds they were not asked to submit their hours of use for evidence, and they do not record how many vehicles go in and out of the station.

Councillor Felix Bloomfield proposed the decision should be deferred for discussion at the next planning meeting to allow for more time for officers to collect evidence, which was passed by councillors.

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About the author  

Esme is a Local Democracy Reporter covering politics, planning and council meetings across the county. 

She joined the Oxford Mail in October 2024 after completing a Master's in Journalism at the University of Sheffield.

Esme achieved a BA in History at Cambridge University before going down the journalism path.

She can be found on X by searching @esme_kenney.