The site extends to approximately 7.8 hectares (ha) and occupies a highly sustainable location on the southern edge of Bloxham. It is situated on the eastern side of South Newington Road, opposite the Recreation Ground. The village centre with its various services and facilities is located within 600m of the north of the site, with excellent access on foot, bicycle or by existing bus routes.
The outline proposals being prepared by William Davis Homes, is for a landscape-led development of approximately 165 new homes, including affordable homes.
The quality family homes would be set amongst extensive areas of green open space, including retained trees and hedgerows both within the site and around the site’s perimeter, alongside additional planting to enhance the landscape setting. The retention of existing landscape features, along with the planting of new trees, including within public open space, tree-lined internal streets and within gardens, will screen the new neighbourhood from the wider landscape enabling the new homes to sit sensitively within their surroundings.
An Outline planning application establishes broad principles of development, such as access arrangements, illustrative concept layout, number of homes and general extent of development.
Once the broad principles of development have been established through the Outline planning process, the details of development such as house types, layouts, planting strategies etc are determined through a subsequent detailed planning application, called a Reserved Matters planning application. This would include further pre-application consultation with the community on the finer details of the proposed new neighbourhood.
An Outline planning application establishes broad principles of development, such as access arrangements, illustrative concept layout, number of homes and general extent of development.
The site is being promoted through the emerging Cherwell District Local Plan. However, due to a gap in housing delivery in the District and the existing plan falling out of date, outline proposals are being brought forward now alongside the ongoing Local Plan promotion to provide an opportunity to meet the District’s housing needs early in the plan period of the new Local Plan.
A Local Plan is a document that sets out the vision for future development in a local authority area. Government requires that all local authorities have an up-to-date local plan in place and review it at least every five years.
The existing Cherwell District Local Plan was adopted by the Council in 2015 following extensive consultation. Cherwell District Council is in the early stages of preparing a new Local Plan and has targeted December 2025 for the adoption of the new Local Plan, more than 10 years since the extant Local Plan was adopted.
You can find out more about the Cherwell District Local Plan here: https://www.cherwell.gov.uk/info/83/local-plans/729/local-plan-review-2040---planning-for-cherwell-to-2040
We are currently preparing Outline proposals for the new neighbourhood which sets out broad principles of development, such as site extent, access proposals, illustrative concept layout etc. Once this Outline planning process has been completed and an Outline planning consent determined, this would then be followed by a Reserved Matters planning application to establish details such as appearance of homes, materials used, detailed layout of homes etc. This would be subject to a further phase of pre-application consultation with the community.
However, William Davis Homes is consistently a five-star housebuilder in the National Home Builder’s Federation annual survey of homeowners. We use designs and materials sympathetic to the local area to help create developments that blend perfectly with the local community. This includes interesting street scenes and specially commissioned artwork, as well as features such as rendering, tile hanging, stone corbelling, slate roofing, dormers, bay frontages, and a mix of buff and red bricks as appropriate to the local context.
Yes, we will be delivering affordable housing in line with local planning policy. This will provide an opportunity for those on lower incomes who have local connections to secure a home of their own in Bloxham.
This would be determined at a later stage in the planning process once Outline principles are established. At this Outline stage, we would welcome your feedback on what type of homes would best help to meet local housing need.
Vehicular access to the site will be provided via a priority controlled junction from South Newington Road, which will incorporate pedestrian crossings. A separate 4m wide access a short distance north of the primary access to provide dedicate cycle and pedestrian access, while also serving as an emergency access. A new footpath will be provided from the primary access along the north-western boundary of the site to link with the existing bus stop and the recreation ground, providing safe and convenient access to these facilities and to the village by foot.
In the southeast corner of the site, an existing 4m wide right of way access will be improved to provide pedestrian and cycle access from Barford Road, providing a direct link from the development with National Cycle Network Route 5 which runs along Barford Road. Within the new neighbourhood there will be a network of pedestrian and cycle routes, set with the extensive areas of public open space.
As a result of these proposals and the sustainable location of the site, there will be excellent active travel connectivity with the village centre.
The outline planning application will be accompanied by a Transport Assessment which has been informed by a scoping exercise with the local highways authority (Oxfordshire County Council Highways). This confirms that there will be no significant impact on the local highways network.
Yes, given the highly sustainable location of the site within a short walking or cycling distance of the village centre, we want to place active travel at the heart of the proposals.
A new footpath will be provided from the primary access along the north-western boundary of the site to link with the existing bus stop and the recreation ground, providing safe and convenient access to these facilities and to the village by foot.
In the southeast corner of the site, an existing 4m wide right of way access will be improved to provide pedestrian and cycle access from Barford Road, providing a direct link from the development with National Cycle Network Route 5 which runs along Barford Road. Within the new neighbourhood there will be a network of pedestrian and cycle routes, set with the extensive areas of public open space.
William Davis Homes is a high-quality, family-owned housebuilder. Their homes are designed with energy efficiency in mind and come fitted with energy efficient boilers, a state-of-the-art HIVE smart system, and improved levels of fabric thermal efficiency including walls, glazing, floors and roofs. It anticipated that the new homes will also include measures such as PV cells (solar panels) and EV charging infrastructure.
In addition to the landscape-led approach for this development, William Davis developments also incorporate bat and bird boxes where appropriate, along with specifically designed barn owl houses to protect and encourage wildlife and to create semi-rural settings and attractive environments to homeowners.
To reduce their carbon footprint, William Davis Homes sources materials and labour locally as much as possible. As a Midlands-based housebuilder, 87% of their materials come from suppliers based in the Midlands region.
Yes, our landscape-led new neighbourhood will deliver biodiversity net gain in line with local and national guidelines. The new neighbourhood will be set within a framework of green corridors and mature trees, with existing hedgerows, trees, ditches and ponds retained and enhanced, providing a network of green spaces for walking, amenity and habitat creation. In addition, the existing hedgerows and trees around the site’s perimeter will also be retained and enhanced, providing significant landscape buffering and helping the neighbourhood to integrate into the surrounding landscape.
This retention of existing landscape features and creation and management of new landscape planting and Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) features within the site will provide new habitats and enhance the quality of the existing habitats, improving the biodiversity in the site.
The development of a high-quality, landscape-led neighbourhood of family homes off South Newington Road will generate significant financial contributions to be invested into local infrastructure. Although these will be determined through statutory consultation carried out by the local planning authority (Cherwell District Council) with bodies such as the local education authority, local NHS Integrated Care Board (formerly Clinical Commissioning Group), utilities and others, we want to understand the aspirations of the community in Bloxham as to where they would like to see investment. For example, given the site’s proximity to the Recreation Ground, there may be opportunities for investment into facilities at the Ground. Are there facilities within the village that require investment or enhancement? Are there any infrastructure requirements in the village that we should consider? We will use this pre-application consultation with the community and Parish Council, as well as ongoing engagement through the planning process, to understand community aspirations for the investments they would like to see from development.
A Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) has been undertaken and confirms that the entirety of the site falls within Flood Zone 1, meaning it is at ‘very low risk’ of flooding.
In terms of surface water flood risk, the FRA confirms that the majority of the site has been identified as being at very low risk. Small areas that are at risk of surface water flooding have been identified at the site’s western boundary and this will be mitigated by the layout proposals avoiding development in these areas and by the proposed surface water drainage scheme for the new neighbourhood.
The edge of Bloxham Conservation Area and two Grade II Listed Buildings lie a short distance to the north of the site. However, unlike other potential development locations in Bloxham, the new neighbourhood is separated from the Conservation Area by a green buffer to the northwest, and by existing development to the north, and has little intervisibility with it. Furthermore, the development will be set back from the South Newington Road frontage, with existing hedgerows and trees retained, respecting the approach to the Conservation Area from the south. As a result, there will no impact on the Conservation Area.