Chalgrove Airfield potential Local Plan 2032 allocation

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1 Chalgrove Airfield potential Local Plan 2032 allocation Questions Local Plan consultations: 1. There are about 1,090 houses in Chalgrove and a population of approx souls. The proposal to build another 3,500 houses would therefore more than treble the number of houses and increase the population to approx souls. There is already a proposal to build some 200 houses (originally 82) on the outskirts of the village, which has met with considerable local opposition. I have no doubt that you will have answers to the question of infrastructure provisions for roads, drainage, flooding, schools, doctors etc. You will not have answers to local feelings about the destruction of our village. In the light of the governments promise that local opinion (so called 'localisation') will be given due consideration, would you please confirm that if the vast majority of residents strongly oppose this proposed development to build 3500 house then you will abandon the proposal, OR is this meeting just a 'tick box' exercise to show you have consulted residents, even though you have already decided to proceed anyway?. 2. How was this Development decided on without any consultation with the Public, even though the first board in the last meeting 2 weeks ago said that it has been consulted on since 2014? 3. What advice would you give to those objecting to these plans so that their arguments evidence material substance rather than emotional responses which may be too easily dismissed. 4. Are you also consulting the neighbouring villages who will also be impacted? Watlington, Pyrton, Stadhampton, Little Milton, Rofford, Great Haseley? 5. Why is this being rushed through? All the terminology that has been used is as if this is a done deal? 6. When will everyone in Chalgrove be given a full questionnaire on this to allow a FULL consultation to take place? South Oxfordshire District Council response The district council is consulting on the preferred options of its emerging local plan. It is expected to hold another consultation on the preferred options covering other planning policies in the autumn (e.g. development management policies). The council s Cabinet, Scrutiny and full Council will consider and decide on the final version of the local plan, called the pre-submission version, which is likely to be in early There will be opportunities to comment on that plan too, and it will be independently examined by a government inspector, before it becomes the adopted policy of the district council. The timescale for local plan progress accords with Government advice. We are keen to get an up to date local plan, which will help manage speculative development. Our purpose for the preferred options consultation is to facilitate debate and put forward suggestions and ideas for the community and other stakeholders to respond to. We encourage you to comment on our proposed plans so we can develop and adapt them as appropriate. Concentrating your comments to what are described as material planning considerations will give them the greatest technical weight. Information on this can be gathered from Planning Aid Considerations.pdf

2 7. are the raf aware their flight path is going to be over a densley populated area? 8. The strategic allocation of 3,500 homes is necessary to meet the housing needs of the City of Oxford. Given this, why have the Homes and Community Agency and SODC not given due consideration to Oxford City Council s assertion that the new homes should be much closer to the City? The City Council have made it clear that the Chalgrove Airfield site is not appropriate for Oxford and they have proposed viable alternative sites on the City s boundary. 9. This proposal is undergoing a consultation with the general public until mid August, so why is the leaflet delivered through our door last week presenting this to us as a Fait Accomplit? Has a decision already been made without our knowledge? 10. We are told that the HCA has purchased this land from the MOD, and as they are a government agency, they have access to funding etc. The leaflet that has been sent to the existing village presents the development as a fait accompli - we are invited to participate in how the site will be developed - pre-supposing that we a) support it and b) that it is absolutely going ahead. On what grounds does the HCA believe it can steamroller the village into accepting this as a fait accompli? 11. why has Chalgrove been selected when grenoble road are campaigning to have them there? 12. why have other areas such as didcot not been selected with their new improved roads and railway infrastructure? 13. The development should be treated as a 'new town' with a name which does not include the word Chalgrove - perhaps Hampden would be appropriate Given that the primary purpose of the additional housing in Oxfordshire is to provide overspill housing for Oxford, why is the preferred site several miles outside Oxford? How does this support sustainability? 14. The siting of what is effectively a new town beside an existing village does not support the previously stated plans of SODC, which include (a) Listen to our residents, businesses and communities to shape decisions about where development should go - we are presented with a meeting that appears to be a fait accompli. This is the third consultation on the potential content of the local plan. The first, Issues and Scope, was held in June 2014, the second, Refined Options, in February 2015 and the third (current), began in June The details of each consultation are available on our website: The district council needs to consider the housing requirements of the district as a whole, and, evidenced by census data and government population projections, there is a need for new housing. Whilst we do need to consider how we can help the City meet their needs we are not considering a single location as performing that role. It would be in the City Council s interest to object to the Chalgrove site as they own part of the Grenoble Road site. The district council is consulting very widely on its proposed Preferred Options. We have held briefing sessions, to which every town and parish were invited. We also presented the proposals at the summer Town and Parish Forum. The number of objections on a proposal is only one of many elements that the council must consider in allocating development sites. It is not the volume of objections that can make a difference, but it is the material planning content of the concerns that is relevant. The overall strategy of the emerging local plan 2032 is still to focus growth around Didcot and Science Vale.

3 (b) Science Vale Oxford is a global hot spot for enterprise and innovation in science, high technology and the application of knowledge. To maximise the potential of this opportunity, the Science Vale AAP will help deliver economic aspirations on the ground. It will do this by planning new homes for the expanding workforce, planning the infrastructure needed to support growth, such as new roads, and use the investment in the area to drive the regeneration of Didcot to create an expanded modern, thriving town centre - how does this development relate to the Science Vale? It is nowhere near the Science Vale. (c) This housing will have been distributed in a way that reflects the dispersed nature of our existing population. The current scale and dependencies between our market towns and villages will be generally maintained - this is a net new town that will compete with Thame and Wallingford for resources and investment. How does this support Thame and Wallingford? (d) We used the settlement assessment to set out in Core Strategy policy which levels of housing growth are appropriate to different sized settlements in the district (most growth to our towns, some to the larger villages, a little housing to the smaller and other villages, and none in the open countryside). The aim was to direct most new homes to the towns as the most sustainable places for new homes, but also keep our villages vibrant and help support their services with a small increase in population. With the reduction in household sizes forecast, we know that just to keep the population of a village at 3,000 people, we need to plan 110 extra new homes in that village by Chalgrove had already accepted 200 houses, which would have got us very close to the 3000 people target. Adding another 3500 houses would add around 7000 people to that total. How does this meet the "small increase in population" target? Also, I would argue that as the airfield is on the opposite side of the village bypass, it is absolutely in open countryside. Around 7,300 new homes are planned in this area as part of the Garden Town, which will include at least 15,000 homes including land in the Vale of White Horse. Part of the preferred options consultation exercise is to consider how new strategic locations might compliment or evolve our overall strategy. The district council will consider any proposals that are presented to them, including any that come in as a response to the preferred options consultation. This is the same situation for all of the seven strategic sites. The strategic site proposal: 1. How may social houses will be built? How will affordable housing be implemented? As part of this year s call for sites, the council was notified that Chalgrove airfield was to be released as

4 2. How on earth can a development this size be sustainable and be in keeping with retaining Chalgroves village status? 3. If this development goes ahead, when will building work start? 4. What happens to Martin-Baker? 5. Will all air traffic cease? 6. Given the devastation the proposed new town would wreck on our community, it is obviously not wanted or welcome by the residents of Chalgrove. It will not be part of our community and therefore if the proposal goes ahead, its name should not contain any references to Chalgrove. What assurances are you offering on this and what do you propose to call the new town? 7. Does the HCA own the site or is it still MOD land. 8. Where on the site will the housing be located relative to Martin Baker runways and the by pass. 9. Is this new housing planned as self contained community/town with its own infrastructure including shops etc or will Chalgrove be absorbed into this new community. 10. What is the proposed start and what would be the proposed completion rate of the dwellings. 11. What is the proposed mix e.g. affordable housing/older persons village, starter units. 12. How will the new site be linked with the village pedestrian wise due to the main road dividing the two areas 13. The flightpath for Benson is over the airfield and the edge of the village Will it still be the same 14. Whilst it is apparent that SODC s preferred option is Chalgrove because the greater certainty of funding received from the Homes and Community Agency, can they confirm if a full cost analysis of the Chalgrove site and the Harrington site has been carried out. It appears that a site closer to the main road networks would be preferable to one which only links via more minor roads. 15. The positioning of the existing by-pass will effectively create a new and an old Chalgrove. Is it anticipated that the new Chalgrove will be a single harmonious community or a town and an adjacent village? surplus land by the MOD and would be available for redevelopment. All nominated sites are required to be suitable, available and achievable by national guidance. Chalgrove airfield is one of seven potential options for consideration, and is currently the preferred site for consultation purposes. Chalgrove airfield and Harrington (junction 7) are not in the Green Belt and as a principle, in planning terms, represent appropriate locations for growth. Chalgrove airfield is a preferred option for strategic growth because it is outside the nationally protected Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), an arm of Government, owns the whole site (one owner) and offers greater public accountability, including access to potential funding. This provides confidence in securing a well planned development that can deliver the required infrastructure. An existing employment site lies adjacent to the proposed Chalgrove airfield site. The site has existing buildings and hard surfacing and was used as an airfield. This means that it can refer to brownfield or previously developed land. The HCA, like any other land owner with development potential is carrying out studies, assessments and consultation regarding the site proposals. They propose to use an Enquiry by Design process towards the end of 2016 to engage with the local communities. The HCA and their agents Bilfinger GVA, held a public meeting on 21July and explained that working with the local community, how potential proposals might be put

5 16. Given that the Chalgrove Airfield site is not in any of the areas identified as areas for development in the previously published plans, why is it the preferred site? How does this support areas such as the Science parks when all access routes from Chalgrove to these areas are via country lanes? 17. Although the airfield site is referred to as brownfield, this is disingenuous. The airfield is mainly pasture land, and is frequently grazed by sheep. This is a technical definition rather than one that would refer to land that has been previously built upon. If you need additional green belt land, turn the airfield into a country park in exchange for the poor quality land adjacent to Grenoble Road. 18. Residents of Chalgrove and surrounding areas come from a number of different sources. Some were born in the village, some have moved away and moved back, but many have chosen to live here because it is a village. If we wanted to live in a town, we would have moved to a town, but we have chosen to live in a village. Many of us have invested heavily in the area, not just in terms of property, but in terms of our involvement in village life. Siting a town right beside our village would not just destroy the character and way of life of our village, but it would also ride roughshod over the aspirations of those who have made a lifestyle choice to live here, because it is a village. Smaller areas of development like those in the Neighbourhood plans can be managed and absorbed, but siting a brand new town on our doorstep is a completely different issue. Does SODC actually care that people have invested not just time and money but an emotional involvement in living in a village? 19. Have HCA any experience of delivering a development similar to the one they propose for Chalgrove Airfield ie a small town with poor communications isolated from adequate employment opportunities.? 20. How do HCA suggest that their proposed development is environmentally sustainable? 21. there is no employment here in chalgrove to sustain this amount of people? 22. SODC have spoken about employment in the area, can you be specific. WHere is this employment coming from? Hopefully you do not mean the Business Park as there is little employment available there. Only a couple together. This is separate from, but clearly linked to, the current local plan preferred options consultation. Development at Chalgrove airfield has not been agreed. The detail about design, layout, linkages, housing mix and name of the settlement can be discussed now but will be picked up as part of any planning application for the site, which will need to comply with the councils planning policies, including those for affordable housing. Currently we require 40 percent of new homes to be affordable. Martin Baker will continue to operate from its existing site and is in positive dialogue with the HCA. There are established exclusion zones related to Martin Baker operations. The location of housing, and other land uses, will be informed by these constraints and determined at the Enquiry by Design consultation. The HCA has extensive experience of delivering strategic developments. A prime example of this is the redevelopment of RAF Locking, near Weston super Mare. If it goes ahead, construction is likely to start in Typically on large sites like this, the completion rate is on average 200 dwellings per year. The reference to existing employment at Chalgrove in the preferred options consultation is by way of comparison with the other non-green belt option of Harrington. This is not to compare with sites at the edge of Oxford, as already explained, we do not believe

6 of positions come up every now and again. Not enough to support the cost of a home in this area? 23. my main question is that the details we are receiving gives the impression that this is already a done deal and has probably been in planning mode for some time and if this is the case why are we only now being made aware of it? and why have our elected counsellors not been feeding such proposals to us at an earlier stage? 24. What consultations have taken place with RAF Benson regarding the proposals since the RAF currently use the site. there are exceptional circumstances to build on Green Belt land. The suggestion is that Monument Business Park would provide some employment for potential new residents. However, having an existing and very successful business park provides an anchor to create new jobs in a much more efficient way than trying to start from scratch. Monument Business Park could be extended and there is a relatively modest proposal for this in the preferred options consultation as recommended by our evidence in the Employment Land Review (available online). If the airfield is developed, it will include new employment opportunities to enable sustainable development. This can be provided in many forms including offices, schools, shops and community facilities. There will be opportunities to work from home, with new infrastructure provision, and of course some people will commute. It will be for the detailed evidence collection and testing to understand where new residents might work and how to best facilitate their travel needs. These latter points will be the same for all new development identified through the new local plan. The council understands the investment people have made on their properties, but there is always going to be change.

7 Neighbourhood Planning 1. I would like to ask why we have to have an allocation as a larger village when we are also a preferred option for a strategic site of 3,500 homes, it is going to be very difficult for the residents to separate the two. 2. I would also like to ask about the allocation for larger villages, if we take our current allocation of 82 and add 10% of the current housing stock the allocation is around 193. When we mention the allocation of up to 200 we are met with the comment that it is up to the NDPs to identify how many houses are required. This is a contradiction as we are led to believe the allocation is a minimum unless there are specific reasons why this cannot be met, ie flooding. 3. Why is Watlington classified as a 'large village', like Chalgrove, when it actually is legally a town (town hall, town charter, etc.)? 4. The preferred options document states that we embrace the concept of localism and believe local communities should direct where development is located. If you truly believe this then why are the proposals for Chalgrove Airfield not being presented as part of the Neighbourhood Plan for Chalgrove? Your proposal is hypocritical, either you believe local communities should direct where development is located or you don t? If you believe that the merits of Chalgrove Airfield are so strong then why are you not giving the residents of Chalgrove the opportunity to decide if the proposal should proceed or not? Chalgrove has a range of services and facilities and local employment. It is a sustainable location, as described in national and local planning policy, and therefore is an appropriate place for growth. The preferred option is that Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) groups produce evidence to demonstrate the development capacity of their settlement. We mention ten percent growth in the preferred options consultation as something to consider but this is not an expectation. We do, however, think that it should be possible for most larger villages to grow by this amount over the plan period, recognising that that there are constraints, so some NDPs may achieve more and others less. We encourage the Chalgrove NDP to continue progress and for the NDP group to consider the notional ten percent growth now because it is still possible that the strategic growth on the airfield site might not happen. In addition, it might be that the proposed growth on the airfield is phased in a way that other growth in Chalgrove, or surrounding settlements, could benefit. This includes the delivery of certain infrastructure like roads or schools for example. There might also be other planning applications presented to the district council that we are legally obliged to consider and the information that is in a NDP can be invaluable to the planning team when making decisions. The current designations of towns and larger villages in our planning documents, is for ease of understanding. These are not legal definitions. In order to identify sustainable locations for growth, the council

8 has analysed levels of facilities and services across the district. We have labelled these places as towns and larger (or smaller) villages, rather than district and local service centres for example, because we think that people can more readily relate to what that means. Green Belt and AONB: 1. How is "green belt" defined? It is clear that if you survey people and ask if they would prefer housing to be built on green belt rather than brownfield sites, you will always get the answer you expect. However, the romanticised notion of green belt presupposes that this green area is viable, useful, accessible, and above all, green. Many of the other areas on the plan appear to have been discounted purely because they are on green belt, but as an example, the land adjacent to Grenoble Road is very rough scrub land of no particular use or value. It is adjacent to existing infrastructure and is close to Oxford itself. Why not re-designate land of good quality further outside of the Oxford belt as green belt, rather than increase traffic and pollution on the routes into Oxford? 2. The plan identifies green belt and AONB. Siting a new town in Chalgrove would directly impact the views from the identified AONB. There is also an argument that the area around Chalgrove should be redesignated AONB - because it is. Chalgrove airfield is not in the Green Belt. The closest portion of the Oxford Green Belt is shown below: The Green Belt is defined in national policy. Chapter 9 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) provides detail on this: The quality of land in the Green Belt is not a measure of its value. Nationally Green Belt serves five purposes: to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another; to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;

9 to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land. Currently potential development sites can only be allocated through a local plan in the Green Belt in exceptional circumstances, as agreed by a planning Examiner. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) are designated by Natural England. We adhere to the national policies concerning these landscapes. Paragraphs 115 and 116 of the NPPF give further detail. Chalgrove is not in an AONB, the significance of any potential visual impact will be assessed. We have already commissioned some high level assessment of the landscape sensitivity of the area of search for a new settlement as defined in the Issues and Scope consultation in 2014 (Option D on page 22). More detailed work on landscape sensitivity will be undertaken to build on this existing high level assessment. For further details about AONB see information provided by Natural England:

10 Infrastructure (& flooding): 1. The complete infrastructure to support the development must be in place as part of the first phase of development. This I realise may be easier said than done, particularly if the building of houses is phased over say a 13 year period. 2. The preferred options document states that during the early phases the scheme would support the existing services and facilities at Chalgrove. This is not feasible and it is not acceptable. The existing public services such as the village Primary school and GP surgery are already near capacity and an additional 200 new homes already being proposed for the village as part of the Neighbourhood Plan. The proposed new town should not be considered in any way part of the community of Chalgrove and if it does proceed it should be selfsustainable and have its own facilities from the outset. What guarantees are the HCA / SODC prepared to offer in this regard? 3. Can the Council confirm that any developments within the area will be subject to sufficient infrastructure being put in place first? This question relates particularly to: (a) the capacity and suitability of high levels of use of existing roads leading out of the area in all directions. Table 5.2 of the consultation document does not reflect travel times during peak hours or indicate the lack of public transport. (b) the poor surface water drainage within the area, particularly as there are also proposals for increased business development on Monument Road leading to Warpsgrove Lane. Whilst the Local Plan Consultation document paragraph 5.20 states that it is outside any flood zone, I have observed significant flooding on the fields and roads near the factory units, with drains having insufficient capacity, leading to water flowing down into the main village. It should be noted that the survey submitted when we purchased our property indicated that this property is close to areas affected by Surface Water flooding. On further investigation we ascertained that the surface water flood risk related to main road (B480) and that it was felt that risks at that time were diminished by the fact that some of the surface water drained into We are considering large growth options to help deliver infrastructure. Having a critical mass of development means that investment can be attracted and solutions provided for issues such as water supply and traffic. Small developments that are dispersed are harder to manage and less likely to provide sufficient funds (through CIL and section 106 agreements) to deliver the required upgrades to infrastructure. The cumulative impact of smaller development is likely to be the same however. Any development at the scale of dwellings will require a full range of utilities, roads and schooling upgrades. Any large strategic development is going to require a large investment in infrastructure. SODC has undertaken a large amount of testing of road infrastructure and collected a lot of other technical information. This is all available online: The council is currently commissioning evidence studies to inform what the impact of the development would be, and what infrastructure would be needed to support the development, as well as opportunities for public transport and cycle routes. These are: an Evaluation of Transport Impacts, a Sustainable Transport Study and an Infrastructure Delivery Plan. As we add further detail to the local plan we continue to add to our testing and evidence collection. We will use our evidence to compare all proposals submitted to us

11 the airfield. What will happen when this site is built on? (c) Can existing services such as the GP practice and local schools cope with a high increase in numbers. 4. What facilities (schools, shops, leisure etc) are envisaged for the new extended Chalgrove. 5. What guarantees are there in place that funds have been ringfenced to provide the infrastructure needed to support what is effectively a new town? The existing infrastructure in Chalgrove cannot support such a vast increase in population, and neither can the surrounding towns and villages. The nearest supermarkets of any size are on the Eastern Bypass, an area that is already heavily congested. 6. Disruption to existing residents - in order to build the infrastructure alone, excluding the houses themselves, would require massive disruption to those who already live in the area. New roads alone would cause huge delays, disruption, pollution (both air and noise) which would impact the lives of the residents of Chalgrove and neighbouring villages for years. How do you mitigate that? 7. What other amenities are planned for the village in the event that its population is increased by such a large number? 8. What proposed infrastructure will be implemented to support this type of development? ie schools, roads, shops etc.. 9. one has to weigh up the major impact of such a large development will have on the surrounding villages and of course traffic, I would like to know what the plans are to mitigate against this? 10. how do they come to the conclusion that anyone can drive into oxford rail station in 50 mins that isnt anyway realistic? 11. how is watlington going to cope with the massive amount of traffic that is likely to go through it heading to the m40 and other places of work? 12. how on earth is the b480 and stadhampton going to cope with all this added traffic? 13. how are children on this new development going to cross the busy b480 if they need to get into Chalgrove? 14. how is chalgrove expected to cope with all this extra traffic when new residents use it as a cut through to go to work in areas such as henley to enable further informed discussion and plan making as we move through the consultation process. In addition to this, the HCA is undertaking assessments to understand the trip generation that may arise from the development, where people currently travel to and how this may change, and how people can travel sustainably from Chalgrove to Oxford, and other parts of the district. The council will work closely with Oxfordshire County Council, as the local Highway Authority, to identify what transport infrastructure would be needed to serve the new development. Oxfordshire County Council has recently published their Local Transport Plan 4 and this outlines proposals for new Park and Ride sites in Oxfordshire. The Preferred Options document mentions the likely time to travel by car/cycle between the potential development site and various locations. This is sourced from, for example, google maps. It is used on a without -traffic basis so comparison is on a like for like basis. The council is supporting Watlington s Neighbourhood Plan and will work with them to assess the impact and possible solutions. The HCA is also in discussions with Watlington, Stadhampton and Little Milton councils. All developments are required by legislation to mitigate their impacts, which includes the provision of any infrastructure needed to support the development. If it is demonstrated that existing services cannot support the early stages of growth, the HCA will be required to

12 wallingford reading etc - its already a cut through from the industrial estate down over monument road and out the back towards hollantide road? 15. how is hollantide road expected to cope with all this extra traffic its already used by many as a cut through and is single track mainly and a death trap of a road? 16. how is benson expected to cope with all this traffic coming from chalgrove for people heading to work in reading wallingford etc 17. it appears that the planners are expecting people from the new development to continue to or look for work in oxford - people wont pay the parking or sit in traffic to do this they will look elsewhere and block up all the local roads in other directions - have they researched or even thought about this? 18. typically a home has 2 cars per household this could mean 7000 extra cars trying to get into oxford or using the park and ride - where are the new park and rides going coz the existing ones arent adequate - most companies in central oxford to not have parking 19. they would need to overhall the road infrastructure which was never designed to withstand the pressure it would be under. There is only one main road in place with numerous other crumbling B roads that not only would have to endure months and years of wear and tear with trucks and lorries using them but regular sustained usage by the new residents. Simply expecting the roads to cope with increased usage as with other developments in the county isn't right and shouldn't be allowed from a planning perspective. 20. The preferred options document states that upgrades to the road network would be required with improved links to the M40 and to Oxford. However, much of the vast amount of traffic that the proposed 3,500 new homes will generate will not be headed in this direction but rather towards the commercial and employment centres of Wallingford, Didcot or Abingdon. The document makes no mention of this, so what plans are in place to upgrade the road network for to accommodate this traffic? (a) Currently the obvious route to Wallingford is via Mill Lane or Berrick Road to Hollandtide Lane to join the B4009. These are single track provide sufficient infrastructure to accommodate their proposals. The HCA, as a government agency, will ring fence the funding required as the start of the development process. The council has a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and this looks at areas of high risk of groundwater flooding. This highlights that the airfield and parts of the village are susceptible to groundwater flooding. We recognise that flooding is an issue in Chalgrove and that any new development would need to ensure that existing properties were not put at risk of flooding, and should the site be developed, we would look for opportunities to reduce the causes and impacts of flooding that already occur. In planning for any new development, the council will work with the Environment Agency to ensure that appropriate mitigation is put in place. National planning policy requires that, when determining planning applications, local planning authorities should ensure that flood risk is not increased elsewhere. Government guidance requires that the development of any site over one hectare in size must be accompanied by a Flood Risk Assessment (FRA). This would be a requirement on the developer and the council would consult the Environment Agency for their comments on the FRA. An Infrastructure Delivery Plan will form part of the evidence base for the Local Plan 2032 and this will assess the quality and capacity of infrastructure including that for water supply, waste water and its treatment, and flood risk. This will identify what

13 roads with passing places and would obviously not be able to accommodate the additional traffic. Will a new route be created and if so will it be in place before development of the new town commences to ensure that construction traffic does not cause congestion and a major safety risk on the current route? (b) Similarly Stadhampton is already a significant bottleneck for traffic headed towards Didcot, Culham and Abingdon. Will a by-pass or a new road be constructed and if so, when? 21. Where will the proposed access roads be in connection with the A329/M40. Will there be any connections to the by pass and, if so, where and to the village generally. 22. What environmental assessment will be undertaken regarding the traffic pollution that will be generated by this development. 23. The council's plan states that it's possible to drive from Chalgrove to Oxford rail station in 22 minutes. Was this figure taken at 3am on a Sunday with a Police escort through all red traffic lights? 24. What infrastructure upgrades are planned to support 5000 homes that are only accessed by a busy rural B road? 25. What infrastructure upgrades will be implemented to support the bottlenecks on every exit route from the village? These are: Travelling East (or towards motorway): B480/B4009 specifically Watlington's Couching Street. Travelling South: all roads are unclassified and poorly-maintained country lanes. If heading for Wallingford or A4074, Benson is a bottleneck with its traffic-calming chicanes. Travelling West: B480 hits a bottleneck at Stadhampton, particularly the 'Crazy Bear' junction with A329. Travelling North: a lack of river crossings make Stadhampton/Chiselhampton the only classified route. Traffic calming in Milton causes bottlenecks. M40 J7 has no access to head north and no access from the north. 26. The Grenoble Road site already has access to fast roads (A4074, A34, A4142, all of which are dual carriageway) and the railway line in infrastructure is needed to support the development and how much it will cost to be delivered. The revised flood modelling currently being undertaken by the Environment Agency will be taken into account in the planning for any new development. Under the Floods and Water Management Act 2010, the drainage systems in new development must be approved before construction begins, and furthermore, following advice from Thames Water, we will be investigating the potential for securing Integrated Water Management Plans for all major developments. Any disruption by building activities or infrastructure improvements will be of a temporary nature. We encourage ideas for improvements to infrastructure, like the suggested Oxford Tube Lewknor car parking. Please submit such ideas as part of the consultation response.

14 Cowley, which could be brought back into passenger service. Why is Chalgrove, served only by poor-quality roads, seen as preferable 27. With no train link, poor bus links, poor road links, few local jobs and the recent history of flooding are HCA confident they will sell the 3,500 new homes? 28. Chalgrove will essentially quadruple in size. How will the congestion be alleviated due to the extra traffic passing through Cuxham/Watlington, Stadhampton, and Ewelme/Benson. Have HCA got a multi-million pound budget for this? 29. Given that the park and ride schemes are nowhere near Chalgrove, and that the B480 when it reaches the ring road is already heavily congested, how does this site allow access into Oxford City Centre? 30. The B480 has pinch points at either end. Watlington is not designed to take the amount of traffic it already has - how is it going to be able to support the additional traffic from this development. Stadhampton and Little Milton are similarly challenged in terms of traffic throughput. There are no good routes to the south of Chalgrove to access places like Henley, Marlow or Reading - or even Benson. There are no routes north except via Little Milton or Watlington, or down single-track lanes to Tetsworth or the Haseleys. If Chalgrove is to be the preferred site, will the relevant upgrades to infrastructure take place before any houses are built to ensure that there is no additional disruption, or that the funds do not run out before such infrastructure can be built? Has anyone looked at how much land would be required to build the necessary infrastructure outside of the airfield, and how sustainable it would be to concrete over yet more countryside? 31. The estimated times given for access by road to the "local" railway stations in Didcot, Oxford and Haddenham are at best disingenuous and at worst, outright lies. Given that the proposal includes such untruths, how many other untruths are contained within the document? 32. Neither the Chalgrove nor Harrington sites are close enough to Oxford to provide overspill housing for Oxford. The Harrington site in particular, being adjacent to the M40, will provide commuter housing for people working in High Wycombe or London - it would be quicker to get to High Wycombe in the morning than to access Oxford City Centre.

15 Chalgrove itself already houses commuters who travel to High Wycombe or London. This does not support the needs of Oxford. 33. Given that there is no rail service within a reasonable distance, and given that there is currently negligible public transport, and given that all previous public transport routes into Oxford concentrate on the route directly into the City rather than to the science parks and other employment areas, it is clear that the primary mode of transport will be by car. Quite apart from the congestion issues, what mitigation is planned for air quality and pollution? 34. Why are SODC building in an area where a car is an essential means of transport - I thought the government wanted greener developments? 35. The commute into Oxford is congested and parking prices extortionate. Oxford itself is great for bikes, but there is no cycle path from here and the road is too dangerous to cycle along on a winter evening - Is Oxford planning to make changes to its transport policy for car drivers from Chalgrove? As you need a car to live in Chalgrove, but current policy is to keep cars out of Oxford - who are the new houses aimed at? 36. Have you seen the NDP survey results? The majority of residents commute away from Oxford, so I'm curious why when there is a severe shortage of houses in Oxford are the council not looking at meeting those needs? 37. The Oxford Tube stops at Lewknor. New parking will be needed - ideally this should be built by the bus stop for "coaches to London" side. Is this a possibility? 38. In the event that the development of the site goes ahead is there a sensible plan in place to manage the inevitable extra traffic including potential traffic calming measures on the busy B480 which many residents feel vehicles travel too fast along currently? 39. More importantly is there a plan to improve bus services so that they can realistically be used by commuters of Chalgrove looking to get into the centre of Oxford (without it taking an hour!) and also towards Reading? 40. What is happening with regards to additional public transport?

16 41. chalgrove already suffers from flooding how do they propose to stop any extra threats? 42. The preferred options document claims that the Chalgrove Airfield site is located outside any flood zone. This claim ignores several critical factors: (a) Firstly, Chalgrove has suffered 4 significant flood events in the past 7 years. It is well documented that developing sites that are not urbanised for residential use reduces the ability to absorb precipitation. Given that the proposed new town is at a higher elevation than Chalgrove it would clearly have a detrimental impact on the flood risk of our village. If the proposed new town proceeds, what measures will HCA / SODC put in place to ensure that there is no increased risk of flooding? (b) Large parts of Chalgrove have recently been re-mapped the by the Environment Agency to reflect that they are in zones at significant risk of flooding. Chalgrove parish council has also recently commenced the process of additional flood modelling which is being undertaken as the recently EA revised flood map covered only part of the village. Why has this apparently not been considered by the HCA /SODC and why is it not referred to in the preferred options document? 43. What flood alleviation measures will be provided in order to protect the village particularly as the site is based on gravel and provides natural drainage. 44. Why when the council has stated in previous discussions that they would avoid building in areas seriously affected by flooding, have they chosen Chalgrove Airfield - a site uphill from Chalgrove, a village with a history of serious flooding, having flooded most recently in: - February October June February March January February June 2016 (minor)

17 The village already suffers from substantial run-off from the airfield. This comment can be supported by Paul Jacques report to 3 June 2008 floods in which he stated - "There was evidence of substantial run-off from the airfield thereby surcharging the highway drains, leading to flooding down to the High Street system"; and also by comments from a former occupier of Cromwell Cottage who recalls melting snow water running off Belsons meadow into her garden and under the back door. It was then necessary to open the front door to let the water run out, which it did, into Chapel Lane and down to the flooded High Street! Photo from internet showing flooded high street - speed of water flow can be seen by ripples. 45. Should the development go ahead how much money would be set aside for flood relief? Is HCA willing to spend money (say 20 million?) on building a flood relief channel around the village?

18 46. Flood zones - the proposal has only considered the flood risk within the boundary of the airfield. However, the airfield is on higher ground than the existing village of Chalgrove, and Chalgrove is already at risk of flooding. We have frequently observed the B480 being flooded from airfield runoff at the western end of the village. Stating that the development itself is not in a flood zone blatantly ignores the risk to the existing village. What mitigation will be put in place to prevent Chalgrove from being regularly flooded by runoff from the new development? 47. In the light of the recent report of the Government appointed Committee on Climate Change that highlights the risk of flooding as one of 6 urgent environmental action points for Government to address in order to prevent or mitigate what has been identified as the "domino effect" of flooding, is it responsible to cover such a large area of land with buildings so close to a village that already suffers from flooding? 48. Flooding is an issue in Chalgrove, how is this planned to be mitigated?