Controversial housing developments in Wantage and Grove: a beginners' guide by Julie Mabberley of Wantage and Grove Campaign Group

YOU may have noticed in last week’s Herald that we are involved in the campaign to save the last green space in Charlton Village from the development of yet another 81 homes. If you care about such things please send your views to the District Council quoting the application reference P16/V1983/O by September 7.

As part of this campaign people have been asking for an update on the big planning applications in our area so here goes.

The council has approved an outline application for 2,500 homes at Grove Airfield (to the west of Grove) including a secondary school, two primary schools and a community hub, but one of the landowners won’t sign the agreement so everything is stalled.

The outline application for 1,500 homes on Crab Hill (on the edge of Charlton Village and Charlton Heights) has also been approved. This includes the Wantage Eastern Relief Road, another Primary School and a Community Centre. The landowners are now negotiating the sale of the land to developers – this has taken a year so far.

The land at Monks Farm (north of Grove) has been subject to lots of smaller planning applications. The first 133 homes are being built. A detailed planning application for the next 75 homes behind Bellingers Garage and outline applications for another 616 homes and a new primary school between the Williams roundabout and the Cemetery are under consideration.

At the same time, 380 homes are being built on Stockham Park Farm and 85 more on Chain Hill. 150 homes have also been given outline permission on King Alfred’s East Site.

East Hanney and East Challow have both had over 200 homes approved.

Smaller developments have been approved for more than a further 100 homes, most of which have been started.

Only the larger developments are providing things like road improvements, schools and other community facilities although all developments must pay towards the cost of this type of infrastructure.

Unfortunately the larger developments are also the ones that aren’t being built so we are suffering from shortages of school places; congested, badly maintained roads; overcrowded leisure facilities; lack of buses and other services.

We were promised an extension to the health centre and a new leisure centre, but while work progresses in Abingdon and Didcot, nothing seems to happen here.

We could blame the councils (with some justification) but we could also blame the landowners and developers who are holding up developments and desperately needed infrastructure to ensure they make the maximum possible profits from the process.