Plan for 99 homes gets go-ahead after appeal

A plan for 99 homes on land near Bicester can go ahead after a planning inspector overturned a council's rejection of it.

Richborough Estates took the project for the site west of Fringford Road in Caversfield to an appeal after Cherwell District Council dismissed it in August 2024. An inquiry started in April.

The council had rejected the plan over several concerns, including the worry that the homes would weaken the gap between Caversfield and Bicester and the "severe impact" on Bucknell Road and the A4095.

Earlier this month the Planning Inspectorate's Zoe Hill said the benefit of new homes outweighed many harms.

Authorities should be able to show they have a deliverable supply of new homes for at least five years under national planning policy.

Cherwell District Council said it had a supply for 2.3 years and so she had to apply a "titled balance" in favour of the homes being approved.

She acknowledged earlier this month that the "spatial relationship" between Caversfield and Bicester might "never be regained", the benefits new housing would bring had to be given "very significant weight".

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