A NEW traveller site that could be built next to the M40 looks set to be rejected over worries residents would be badly affected by noise from traffic.

The unpopular proposal would mean three pitches would be built on land west of the M40 adjacent to the A4095 in Kirtlington Road, Chesterton.

But more than 30 people are opposed to it being built and Cherwell District Council’s environmental protection unit said any way noise from the motorway could be mitigated is not included in planning documents.

If that is not done, it says it would be too loud for people to live next to the motorway because of constant noise, during both day and night.

A two-metre high earth bund and a three-metre high close boarded fence would be built along the boundary of the motorway if the plan is successful.

Cherwell’s planning officers have also said the application would give ‘poor access to services and facilities’ and would leave residents reliant on getting around by car.

They add that if it is accepted, it would damage the character of the site – about a kilometre from Chesterton – and would mean a ‘poor living environment for future residents in relation to noise’.

For those reasons, the council said the project would be ‘unsustainable’.

Chesterton Parish Council is opposed to the project, which it says would result in ‘inadequate’ services and that the site would be inappropriate.

Each of the three pitches would have a timber-clad amenity room. Inside that, there would be a kitchen and bathroom.

While each of them would have a mobile home and an area of hard standing to allow a touring caravan and other parking.

A similar plan was rejected by councillors in 2016. It was for eight pitches rather than three and the plan did not include the bund or the fencing.

At the time, council officers said the building should have been allowed temporarily. But councillors said noise from the M40 would have ‘resulted in an unacceptable living environment for the occupiers of the proposed traveller pitches’.

It also said the proposed development would have had an ‘urbanising effect on the open countryside…and would result in detrimental harm to the rural character and appearance of the area’.

Cherwell District Council’s planning committee will be asked to give a final decision on the most recent project tomorrow.