A new housing project potentially comprising 170 homes could be built in a village in Oxfordshire after a developer filed plans for farmland.
Elivia Homes has submitted an initial assessment to South Oxfordshire District Council for a scheme involving 170 new residences on agricultural land situated south of Watlington Road in Benson.
The documentation, lodged by Walsingham Planning on the developer’s behalf, includes the intention to submit an outline planning application for 170 dwellings, with all matters except access reserved.
The scheme describes a landscape-led approach for the properties across a mix of dwelling types offered for both market and affordable purchase. According to the applicant, the plans incorporate public open spaces and green infrastructure, alongside a fresh vehicle and pedestrian access point onto Watlington Road.
This preliminary submission to the council requests a ruling on whether the developer must produce an environmental impact assessment for any subsequent application.
The same piece of land has received two previous applications for similar developments, one in 2016 and another in 2023.
While no schemes were put forward for the latter, the earlier application from around a decade ago sought outline permission for as many as 120 new homes with access, open space, landscaping and play equipment for the same site.
South Oxfordshire District Council turned down the application in May 2017, declaring the urban development would constitute a significant encroachment into the open countryside and would harm Benson’s rural character and landscape.
Officers remarked at that time that the adverse impact of the development would significantly and demonstrably outweigh its benefits.
The developer contested this decision via an appeal, but this too was dismissed in July 2018.
In the most recent submission, the applicant explained that the concept of the masterplan for the site is based around the principle of a central green open space running east/west through the site. This provides strong permeability and a pedestrian friendly movement network and environment within the site and in its connections to the wider landscape ensuring maximum accessibility to new green spaces from the residential areas, increasing placemaking, health and wellbeing.
Phil Murray, chair of Benson Parish Council’s planning committee, observed that the scheme does not feature in Benson’s neighbourhood plan or the district council’s local plan.
He stated that the council has a duty to consider plans objectively, but they will represent the wishes of their community. He expressed the view that the community is fed up, having already had too many houses, even if they were necessary, and that the existing developments have not been completed nor has the relief road opened yet, leaving them nowhere near done. He made clear that they absolutely, as a general principle, do not wish to see any further development, least of all outside of the settlement boundary which they have carefully constructed.