Developer appeals over controversial site for new homes

A developer which is planning to build houses over an aquifer which supplies drinking water to Henley and Shiplake is appealing against the planning authority’s decision not to grant it a lawful development certificate.

Taylor Wimpey was granted planning permission by South Oxfordshire District Council to build 95 homes at the former Thames Farm off Reading Road in 2017 on appeal.

When the company found that the land at the site was unstable and vulnerable to sinkholes, and proposed to inject grout into the ground to stabilise it, they were told by SODC that they must also submit an application for groundworks. Taylor Wimpey argued that it had the right to carry out the stabilisation work under the original planning permission but the council disagreed. The company applied for a certificate of lawfulness which would have recognised that it would be legal to go ahead with the work, but the council rejected this in January 2022.

On Tuesday, September 19 Taylor Wimpey made an appeal to the Secretary of State against SODC’s decision to refuse the certificate of lawful development.

Peter Boros, who chairs the Thames Farm Action Group, which represents residents in Henley, Harpsden and Shiplake who are opposed to the development, described the appeal as coming “out of the blue”.

The group were informed of the appeal last Wednesday. Mr Boros said: “We were told that the appeal had opened the previous day, and we had until October 3 to do something. Our solictor has gone back to the Planning Inspectorate saying this isn’t right. We only got the documents on the 20th and we would need to have more than to the 3rd to react. We think it is pretty mean of them to insist on the 3rd and have asked for an extension, but we are doing our level best to be ready by the 3rd in case it doesn’t change.”

The action group have campaigned against the development for several years on the basis that the proposed groundworks could affect the aquifer which feeds potable water to Henley, Harpsden and Shiplake. The site is in an area designated as a source protection zone by the Environment Agency. 

Mr Boros says that the appeal contained “piles” of new information, including a hydrological risk assessment.

He said: “We were somewhat bemused that they have supplied the hydrological risk assessment today, when that should have been submitted a few years ago when the application was put forward.” He questioned the appropriateness of the submission of this material as part of the appeal, since the information had not been made available to SODC as part of the application. 

He also questioned the fact that the developer had waited 18 months to make an appeal, describing it as “very late in the day”. Appeals against a certificate for lawful development are expected within six months of a refusal. 

Mr Boros said that the situation was “moving apace” and said that the group are expecting more developments in the coming weeks. 

The group is also currently pursuing a complaint against the Environment Agency regarding their role in a planning application for the adjacent former Wyvale nursery site, which lies in the same source protection zone. Plans to use piling to secure the foundations of the new homes at the site have been submitted by Beechcroft Developments to SODC, which the action group say could physically disturb the aquifer. 

Last week, the group submitted a complaint to the Office for Enviromental Protection about what they saw as the EA’s “inadequate response”. This week, the group’s solictor wrote to the Environment Agency requesting “for the EA to take action here to ensure that the drinking water and the aquifer are protected”. Mr Boros said: “Our solicitor has written to the EA and told them of our disatisfaction, asking them to rectify the situation and consider the matter properly.”

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: “As a consultee we provided South Oxfordshire District Council with technical advice regarding development within a groundwater source protection zone to help them determine this planning application. The final decision on whether to approve the application however, with or without conditions, or refuse it, is a matter for the local authority.”