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Leys Field Update

Following the meeting the Parish Council had with the developer of Leys Field, his architect, and Miranda Rogers of Stansgate, I am writing to clarify the situation. 

With the outline planning permission for 15 houses comes a 106 agreement which guarantees that the section of field behind Main Street and the lower part of Whatcote road will be a public area protected from further building, and that there will be five low cost/affordable and/or social houses included in the development, which will be offered first to residents of Oxhill or their relatives. 

The Parish Council has no say on how many houses will be built on The Leys.  An early enquiry from an unknown developer for an option for four houses never materialized.  However, had this option been proposed, it would have rendered the 106 null and void, so the open space would not have been protected and the developers could at a later date come back with another four houses, and possibly another four after that, with no benefit at all to the village, and there would have been no provision for affordable houses, which the Parish Plan states the village needs. 

The developer wishes to proceed with the outline planning permission for 15 houses and therefore the 106 agreement will come into effect. 

It is still at a very early stage and there will be an archaeological survey and an amphibian survey taking place.  The developers state that they are keen to work with the village on this site and will take on board suggestions on architectural design and on the layout of the public area.  They will come back to the PC when they have formulated more ideas.  The Parish Council will then have a village meeting to discuss the proposals.   

I, like most of the rest of the village, never wanted development on the Leys Field.  But we cannot reverse the planning decision.  All we can do is to try to work with the developers to get the best deal for the village.  I will keep you posted.

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Last modified: September 07, 2016