TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT
● To work with OCC, Thames Valley Police and other bodies to develop strategies to protect against rising traffic volumes and the impact of increased development on the capacity of the rural road network serving the neighbourhood. This includes concerns about speeding, safety, and the impact of heavy goods vehicles.
● To secure the future of bus services linking the neighbourhood’ s villages with each other and
with local towns; to inf l uence train operators to improve currently inadequate services.
DEVELOPMENT
● To strongly encourage the use of brownfield sites.
● To resist the loss over time of the all-important countryside between villages, and to avoid the
Mid-Cherwell area eventually becoming a suburb of Bicester.
● To reinforce the sense of rurality that defines the neighbourhood, to protect against creeping
urbanisation, and to maintain the character of the villages and the protection offered by their
Conservation Areas.
● To identify how much, if any, new development might be successfully located in or around the
villages; to specify where any such development should occur, what form it should take, and to
ensure that any new development enhances our communities.
AMENITIES
● To identify and secure supporting facilities that can be improved or provided in the area,
accessible to the wider Mid-Cherwell community. These should include additional leisure,
recreation and sports facilities, as well as improved access to GP services and new cemetery
provision.
HOUSING
● In the case of the two villages identified by CDC in the LP 2040 as “larger villages” (Steeple Aston, and Kirtlington), to identify potential sites and ensure that requirements identify the mix of the proposed homes, the density of development sites, the form of development and the quality of design.
● To ensure that affordable housing is provided within any local developments that meets the
needs in particular of the local community, especially young people and older residents.
TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
● To raise concerns about technical infrastructure with the various service providers.
ENVIRONMENT
● To protect, enhance and care for the natural environment, and increase biodiversity while implementing carbon reduction measures.
● We support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UK Government’s commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the 25-Year Environment Plan and the Environment Act of 2021, aimed at halting biodiversity decline and delivering biodiversity net gains.
● Our natural habitat and biodiversity have been eroded through human activity, agriculture,
commercial development, pollution and climate change. We recognise the need to act on the
causes and impact of climate change and biodiversity loss. Addressing the climate, ecological
emergencies and protecting our natural environment, are considered strategic priorities for
planning all development. As well as preventing biodiversity decline, our intention to protect
wildlife and their habitats, will also enable residents to continue to appreciate the rural nature
of our countryside.