Emmaline Lambert successfully represents South Oxfordshire District Council to resist proposal to build 160 dwellings on green field site
South Oxfordshire District Council has successfully resisted a proposal to build 160 dwellings on a green field site outside the settlement boundary of Chalgrove village.
While the Planning Inspector concluded that the Council did not have a 5-year housing land supply, he found that “harm arising from conflict with the development plan, in particular the overarching strategy on the location of development is fundamentally entwined with public confidence in the planning system”.
The Inspector recorded that the local plan is recently adopted and that the Neighbourhood Plan is “highly valued as the vehicle for residents of Chalgrove to shape their surroundings…”. He set out that “the relative youth of the development plan and maintaining public confidence in the planning process” meant that Very Significant weight was attached to the conflict with the development plan and the harm that flows. He found that the adverse impacts significantly and demonstrably outweigh the economic, social and environmental benefits of the proposal when assessed against the Framework as a whole.
Emmaline Lambert represented South Oxfordshire District Council assisted by an excellent team: Tracy Smith, Tom Rice, Peter Radmall, and instructed by the council’s Interim Litigation and Planning Team Leader, Vivien Williams.
