Villagers near Wantage have won in a battle against the threat of heavy lorries trundling through their communities, as controversial plans for a distribution centre were rejected.
Plans for a distribution centre at the former Esso research centre on Abingdon Road at Milton Hill Business Park – beside Milton House Hotel, have been rejected by Vale of White Horse District Council following objections from residents and parish councils.
People objected to the plans over fears the development would create noise, pollution and an increasing number of HGVs – especially at the nearby Rowstock roundabout.
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Grove councillor Ben Mabbett proposed a motion to refuse the planning permission in a planning meeting. The councillor said the distribution centre would be an "overdevelopment" and would have been out of keeping with the local landscape and not fit in with the Vale's Local Plan. He claimed it would also be harmful to bus services.
Councillor Sally Povolotsky also objected to the plans and said the "division of Hendred and Harwell is under attack from all sides."
The Rowstock Residents’ Association was set up after Harwell Parish Council suggested it would help residents' voices to be heard when objecting to planning applications. It has hit out at plans to build a new road as part of a 1,500-home development at Crab Hill interchange in Wantage over congestion fears, and criticised the plans for Milton.
Householders in Rowstock say their homes are being damaged by passing lorries and fear further developments will cause more noise, more damage and more pollution.
The campaign group has argued that the Rowstock roundabout is already over capacity and the new distribution centre would cause a high volume of lorry traffic at night. The group said the increasing number of HGVs would have a "serious impact on sleep and wellbeing."
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Carole Hooper has lived in Rowstock for 22 years and is part of the Rowstock Residents’ Association.
She said: "Obviously we are really pleased. It was completely the wrong thing to go there."
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Ms Hooper said if there is an appeal the campaign group will continue to fight to make sure the "right thing" goes on the former Esso research centre site that doesn't involve "hundreds of HGVs".
Ms Hooper said: "It is a good win for us, it was a joint effort. We had over 1,000 people sign the petition against it, and we had the support of all our parish councils including Harwell, East Hendred, Milton, Steventon and Chilton. We are really grateful to the council planning committee for seeing our point of view and understanding the issues that we felt it would bring to our area."
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