Progress of the Dovehouse Farm Planning Application

30th April 2010

The District Council are looking at the application very carefully because they have a large number of concerns about it.

They feel that Savills (the planners) have not made their case well, and that the proposal is a poor scheme with a number of shortcomings.

One of the main issues is that Cuddesdon is defined as unsustainable (no shops, school, etc), which means totally new developments are not allowed. This proposal is only possible because it includes conversion of existing buildings. If the development was only conversion of existing buildings without any new construction then it would be much more likely to succeed.

Savills have recently changed their Design and Access Statement because they had not made the case for the development well and because they had used the wrong policies to back up their arguments.

The Parish Council have recommended rejection of the application. If the Planning Officer agrees with rejection then that might happen under delegated powers, without the application being considered by SODC's Planning Committee.

The Planning Officer's decision is not likely soon, and he will certainly not be making one until the County Council's Highways Department have expressed their opinion.