1. Inappropriate location 

West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) refused Spitfire Homes' previous application to build 80 houses on Chapel Meadow in April 2023. 

WODC said it:

• "did not respect the village character and local distinctiveness" 
• "is not of a proportionate and appropriate scale or layout to its context" 
• "would not protect the local landscape or setting of Freeland"
• "would involve the loss of an important area of open space that makes a positive contribution to the character of the area"

In this application to build 78 houses, the fundamental point - inappropriate location - is unchanged. 

2.  Way too big, too many, & too expensive

78 houses would generate 188 more residents to Freeland, increase the size of the village by 13% in one fell swoop. That's too much!

While we all agree that there's a housing crisis, and young people especially need starter homes, the houses Spitfire Homes want to build on Chapel Meadow will be way out of their budget.

The cheapest house in one of Spitfire's recent developments in Moreton-in-Marsh is £387,500. We don't know many young people who could afford that. 

3. Cars and traffic

The proposed housing estate would introduce at least another 169 cars to Freeland. 

One of the entrances to the estate is planned for just 20 metres from the entrance to Pigeon House Lane (PHL). That would mean that in the space of 200 metres on Wroslyn Road, there would be FIVE vehicular entrances:  the new estate, garden centre, PHL, village hall, and care home & vets. 

And all this next to the pub, church, Little Free Library, and bus stop. An area with a lot of foot traffic, horses, children and people with mobility issues.

It's going to be carmageddon!

4. No commitment to affordable homes

Refusal reason number 5 on Spitfire Homes' previous application to build was “The applicant has not entered into a legal agreement to secure the provision of affordable housing….”  They still haven’t.

They say the development will include 50% affordable housing - 39 dwellings. But their Affordable Housing Statement reveals an important ‘catch’.  On page 11 they warn that if the application is passed, they may want to renegotiate this with the Council if they can’t find a ‘Registered Provider’ to partner with. They say they don’t have one and even say it might be difficult to find one. 

This is a disturbingly blatant ‘get-out clause’.

5. Impact on local services

While Freeland Primary School has places, the nearest secondary school, Bartholomew in Eynsham, is already massively over subscribed. Where will the children from another 78 houses go?

Local health services, provided by Eynsham Medical Groups sites in Eynsham and Long Hanborough, are at capacity and struggling to cope with existing patients, let alone dealing with another 188 people that this proposed development would generate.

Freeland's public transport options are limited making car ownership is a necessity. (See point 3 above.)

6. Water and sewage

The current infrastructure is well known to be totally inadequate!

Church Hanborough Water Treatment Works regularly discharges raw sewage into the brook and occasionally results in appalling spillage into the fields, risking the health of the people and horses working in the surrounding fields. 
 

Can the Water Treatment Works cope with sewage from another 78 homes? We very much doubt it. 

Pigeon House Lane regularly floods, and with run-off from a housing estate adding to the volume of water it's not going to improve.

7. Biodiversity and wildlife

Chapel Meadow is no ordinary field! 

Unploughed for years, cut for hay only once a year and not sprayed with chemicals for 20 years, Chapel Meadow is absolutely full of life.

It's a crucial part of an ancient and historic wildlife corridor stretching from woodlands in Eynsham Hall Park to the West, over to Pinsley and Blenheim to the East.

The meadow supports hundreds of species - mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, as well as wildflowers and grasses.

Building a housing estate here would annihilate this precious habitat, and is incompatible with WODC's Nature Nature Recovery Plan.

8. Pigeon House Lane

PHL is narrow and steep, with few passing places, and poor visibility along much of its length. 
 

PHL would form the northern boundary of Spitfire Homes' housing estate, and many of the 169+ cars it would generate would inevitably use the lane. This is catastrophic, as the lane can barely take what it already has. 

It's used daily by pedestrians, residents, joggers, dog-walkers, horses and riders, cyclists, farmers, and wildlife. It's tranquil and beautiful, but potentially dangerous. 

The horse riding and livery stables at the foot of the lane is especially sensitive to extra traffic. Riders use the lane daily to reach fields to the west. With more cars on the lane there's a heartbreaking accident waiting to happen.