Neighbourhood Planning News

Garden Village Update 6 Jan 2017 Central government support for a local Garden Village should be very positive for Eynsham.

Government funding for a West Oxfordshire Garden Village is as welcome as it is surprising given that the proposed site is only really separated from Eynsham by the heavily congested A40. WODC has two years to use its £425k to plan both the new community and how the A40 can be improved to cope.

Eynsham's emerging Neighbourhood Plan calls for all 3200 new homes to be focused in the new settlement so that it can become quickly established with all its own facilities; GV funding makes this much easier to deliver and should be reflected in WODC's Local Plan.

Hopefully WODC will engage closely with Eynsham to ensure the new village relates well with its close neighbour getting the correct balance of separation, as required by GV status, and mutually beneficial sharing of facilities such as places of worship, restaurants, pubs, specialist shops and complementary sports facilities.

Traffic problems plague our main routes and village streets. Integrating new developments with plans for the Park & Ride and Bus Lanes is essential and should have been given a boost by this commitment to the Garden Village and a £2.3bn infrastructure fund.

We should look forward to working closely with WODC and OCC to deliver well thought-out development of both homes, employment, infrastructure and transport links to benefit existing and future local residents.

Click here to email comments to me.    Richard Andrews

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