Save Chapel Meadow!
Spitfire Homes applied to build an estate of 78 houses on Chapel Meadow in Freeland.
100s of villagers said NO!
NEWS! On 17 March 2025, West Oxfordshire District Council unanimously REFUSED Spitfire's application.
Will Spitfire appeal this decision? We wait and see...
Wrong development in the wrong place
Many of us in Freeland support sustainable growth to help our school, pub and other businesses thrive, and generate a vibrant neighbourhood with a well-balanced community.
Spitfire Homes' previous application to build here, in 2023, contained numerous contraventions of District Council and national plans. 184 objections were lodged and only one supporting comment.
The Council planners firmly rejected it on multiple grounds - but primarily that it was the wrong development in the wrong place. The new application does nothing to address any of the grounds for objection and nothing to make it the right development in the right place.
Reasons to object
There are so many good reasons to object to Spitfire Homes' proposed estate of 78 houses on Chapel Meadow!
Where is Chapel Meadow?
Chapel Meadow is a field on the corner of Wroslyn Road and Pigeon House Lane, Freeland. It gets its name from the old Methodist Chapel at its North East corner. The meadow has been sensitively and organically farmed for nearly 20 years by a Freeland farmer who rents it from its owner.
Who owns Chapel Meadow?
The meadow is owned by The Witney Town Charity (WTC), (charity number: 202996). WTC exist to prevent or relieve poverty by offering grants, facilities and accommodation to children, the elderly, and people with disabilties in Witney. They wish to sell Chapel Meadow and Spitfire Homes have taken up the option to buy it.
We reached out to WTC in an attempt to discuss this latest application, but they declined our offer to meet. It's disappointing that they seem to have no regard for local opinion.
Who are Spitfire Homes?
Spitfire Homes is a Midlands-based property developer, the housebuilding division of IM Properties. IM Group is owned by billionaire businessman Robert Edmiston.
Make no mistake, IM does not care about the wellbeing of Freeland. They made only one public presentation in February 2023 in which they stated that they would appeal and go to court if the application was rejected. It was rejected and a year later they have submitted an almost identical application with no public consultation. They simply don’t care about our concerns or those of WODC. This is all about making money at the expense of our village and its wildlife.
Wasn't Spitfire Homes' application to build on Chapel Meadow refused?
Yes, their previous application to build 80 houses on Chapel Meadow was refused by WODC in April 2023. The overwhelming reason was "inappropriate location". And that's still true!
What do the new changes to planning rules mean for Chapel Meadow?
As far as we can tell, not much and were subject to consultation until September 2024 so don't yet apply anywhere.
They strongly favour brownfield development, emphasise high density developments in towns & cities and 'grey belt' land within the Green Belt and talk about "golden rules" for Green Belt land. But Chapel Meadow is an undeveloped green field, but it's not in a designated Green Belt. So none of this applies.
More may be revealed at the end of the government's consultation process, but we are not there yet.
What you can do
Go to the page for the application on the West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) website - just click the button below.
- on the 'Documents' tab, you can see all the documents relating to the application, and read the 364 objection comments. The previous application got 184 objections.