Future housing developments in town

Thu 10 Feb 2022, 11:22 (last edited on Thu 10 Feb 2022, 11:23)

Two thoughts that might be relevant (I hope !). When I first became a district councillor (2001) we had a lecture on housing by an expert from London (and he really was an expert---kept us all rivetted). One thing he said which I remember was that in the WODC district, if anyone wanted to buy a four or five bedroom house they could---there were always some available (not necessarily exactly where you wanted to live but there was a supply). Whereas with two to three bedroom houses not so---true then, true now. We must be tougher with developers who make more money on larger houses and not allow them to get away with it.

Secondly, I became more and more annoyed by all the councillors talking about houses---instead of homes---which could include flats. I kept on about how Sweden had delightful flats which looked exactly like semi-detached houses but obviously housed more---they did not have to look like Centre Point. Eventually the point was taken and we had some flats on the last part of the Ticknell development---and very good they are too.

Tue 8 Feb 2022, 05:40

The problem is house builder build 4 / 5 bedroom house.

There are not a lot of cheaper 2/3 bedroom homes

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 15:53 (last edited on Mon 7 Feb 2022, 15:54)

As Blind Alfred Reed wrote in 1929, "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?". His magnificent song is as relevant today as it was back then. 

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 13:52

With no likelihood of the current Government operating rent controls, and the open housing market very well described here, we come back to exception site provision.  Rod Evans' very helpful post summarised the situation; there is demand for affordable housing.  That's likely to be the only option for most people brought up around here to be able to afford to stay.

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 13:37

How about rent control? Seems to work in large parts of the rest of the world.

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 12:54 (last edited on Mon 7 Feb 2022, 12:54)

The renting market seems as bad. Loyal lodgers are being evicted so that greedy landlords can increase their rents for a new type of tenant that can afford a 3-bed house at £1500-£2000 per month. What can be done?  

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 09:47

That’s very true, Andrew.

There’s a 3-bed on Pounds Hill that has just gone under offer after about a week on the market. While it is lovely, it’s not particularly big and at £900k it’s far beyond the realms of realistic for most people. That’s now the benchmark and it’s unlikely we’re going to see things come down, so where does a family of 4 go?

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 09:45

I agree Andrew and I'm in exactly the same position. Sadly, it looks like my only option will be to leave Charlbury if I want to buy somewhere as I'm priced out of here.

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 08:16 (last edited on Mon 7 Feb 2022, 08:25)

What Alex M says may well apply to many older current residents. But... Having spent much of last year trying to move within Charlbury with a family of four (two school-age kids), it's very noticeable that many of the 'family homes' for people outgrowing a small property (as we were) are instead being snapped up by cash-ready retiree Boomers who apparently still regard a four-bedroom house as 'downsizing'. Nice bit of space for grandchildren to stay twice a year. We know of other families at a similar growth stage who've had to leave the town due to the impossibility of finding anything here.

We all have our 'first world problems', I suppose. But certainly the hardest challenge is for younger local people wanting a starter home, as Rachel suggests.

Mon 7 Feb 2022, 08:00

What’s also needed is affordable two-bedroom cottages/starter homes that aren’t in a state of near-dereliction. 

Sun 6 Feb 2022, 23:22

What's actually needed in Charlbury is plenty of detached 3 or 4 bed bungalows with decent sized, not overlooked gardens. This would offer a viable option for the older residents to move into, freeing up their - now too large - family sized homes. 

Want proof: look around at the number of under occupied 4/5 bed family homes currently. Where do we imagine these older residents aspire to live - not a retirement complex in Witney I suspect.

Sun 6 Feb 2022, 21:39

This report shows that we have an aging population in Charlbury, the fastest growing age group is the over 60s and we have a significantly larger proportion of people aged 65 plus than the average for Oxfordshire or England.  

This is probably because house prices are high and older people are more likely to have the capital to buy here. 

Lots of other interesting info on house prices, commuting and more: https://insight.oxfordshire.gov.uk › ...PDF

Charlbury Health and Wellbeing Profile 2020 - Oxfordshire Insight |

Sun 6 Feb 2022, 20:55

Thank you for all the details and I apologise if my claims about AirBnB are misleading.I don’t have any gripe about people doing this but it is the proportion that is of concern. However…the fact remains that Charlbury in common with many villages and hamlets in Oxfordshire, is becoming a sterile prospect for anyone without a large wallet. On our bike rides around this beautiful part of God’s vineyard, it becomes very obvious that new money is replacing old. Where will the carpenters, plumbers, labourers of tomorrow live? How can we retain the young local families who rightly want to stay near Mums and Dads? If Charlbury becomes a playground for retired professionals then it will atrophy and eventually die.

Sun 6 Feb 2022, 20:25 (last edited on Sun 6 Feb 2022, 22:41)

I expect our esteemed town councillors are more up to speed with any current proposals than I am – but as the ‘lead’ person on housing in the Neighbourhood Plan process perhaps I can clear up some misunderstandings here.  Or at least try to!

The WODC Local Plan (LP) and…

Long post - click to read full text

Thu 3 Feb 2022, 22:22 (last edited on Fri 4 Feb 2022, 07:54)

Father Clive, I think you’re quite wrong. There are a grand total of 7 Airbnb listed properties in Charlbury for the whole year. There’s actually a dearth of places to stay in town for visitors. Should somebody get married here guests would have to stay elsewhere.

Young couples with little ones are flooding here. Or trying to, at least. Nine Acres playground is busy everyday. A mic of locals, locals returning and newcomers. It’s an hour into London, 20 minutes into Oxford, people are working from home post-pandemic. Houses are selling to this type of person in days, look in the estate agents window, they’re all sold and the fella is twiddling his thumbs waiting for a family to outgrow their tiny cottage or a hearse to drive past.

The problem isn’t ‘Londonisation’ (whatever that is) but a NIMBY attitude which means councils and people object to all proposals to building new properties. Look at the list of objection documents to the planning applications for Jefferson’s Piece. We’ve even voted in a plan for the next decade which makes it harder for development. I get it, it’s annoying having views spoiled and building going on for months and months, but where else are a family of four supposed to live that don’t have a million pounds down the back of the sofa?

There are so many places to build, we’re surrounded by fields. Nobody wants to see a huge, 200 home estate - not even the people that live in them - but a middle ground is needed.

Thu 3 Feb 2022, 21:58

What we need is another exception site to come forward.  Ticknell was OCC land (and some of us on the Town Council, 20 years ago now, pushed for and got the final phase of affordable housing).  Blenheim, the promoters of the Jeffersons Piece land and others are too preoccupied with visions of pound signs to provide any community benefit like that, though.  As to how the other oversized dormitory housing got built, don’t start me!

Thu 3 Feb 2022, 20:52 (last edited on Thu 3 Feb 2022, 20:59)

Hooeee, there’s a question, Clive.

Ultimately this comes down to the West Oxfordshire Local Plan which (as Gareth and Liz say) has no new sites in Charlbury earmarked for housing, and more than that, says that new developments are effectively verboten in the AONB. When the Local Plan was being drawn up, objectors successfully argued to the inspector that the legal ramifications of AONB status should limit development allowed in Charlbury and thereabouts; so that got written into the plan. WODC’s housing plan is entirely reliant on five “strategic sites” – massive estates in Eynsham, Witney and Chipping Norton, plus existing development in Carterton.

So any Charlbury developments are either small-scale (=expensive houses) or, at a pinch, could be done as ‘rural exception sites’ – you can maybe get permission if you promise to build lots of affordable homes. But landowners and property developers prefer the return from a small number of mansions.

My entirely personal contention is that we need another Ticknell: a large-ish, mixed estate with houses affordable on a typical local income, with larger and smaller plots to balance it out. It would give a chance for young couples and those who’ve grown up here; keep Charlbury shops and societies thriving; and give at least some people a chance of living a sustainable lifestyle, rather than being stuck at the far end of the A40 queues in Carterton.

Thu 3 Feb 2022, 20:18

As a relative “ newbie” ( 7 years ) I still cannot work out who is fighting for affordable housing? Charlbury is becoming a young couple free zone, no chance of working people living here…I see Air B’nBs and empty houses springing up like a cancer. The town will die slowly but inexorably. Being a byker I have seen what is happening around rural Oxfordshire and village after village I ride through bear the tell-tale signs of “ Londonisation” with renovated, sterile dwellings. Where is the pressure-group to force the authorities to start putting aside homes for local folk? 

Thu 3 Feb 2022, 19:25

1. Charlbury needs more housing.

2. Charlbury doesn't need more Executive Homes

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 23:12

Doesn't the Charlbury neighbourhood plan identify places that could be used for developments.

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 19:31

Is Rushy Bank going ahead?

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 19:22

There is the Rushy Bank development, near the station.  Jefferson's Piece would only come back into play if a new local plan identified a need in the area, and a new plan is some way off.

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 19:04

If the Cotswolds turns from a National Landscape (AONB) into a National Park, development in the Charlbury, Burford area will become tighter rather than more expansive.

Although I had thought this was off the cards (given how recently the National Park proposal had been turned down), I am told that this is not yet off the books -- despite Cotswold District Council and Gloucestershire County Council having rejected the National Park idea.

There's information, and a link to an online consultation, about this here: https://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/about-us/latest-news/

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 16:16 (last edited on Wed 2 Feb 2022, 18:24)

The current Local Plan restricts development in the Cotswolds AONB, including Charlbury; no sites are allocated for development.  ‘Exception sites’ comprised solely of affordable housing could go ahead, but no potential sites are identified.

Keep an eye out, though, for developers submitting appeals as none of the big sites WODC allocated in their Local Plan are being built, meaning they risk falling foul of binding central Government housing targets.

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 13:24

There’s obviously the current Vanderbilt Homes development at the bottom of Hixet Wood.

I think it’s likely that the proposed development at the back of Jefferson’s Piece may come back in some form.

Wed 2 Feb 2022, 12:59

Does anybody know of current or future plans for new housing in town?

Appreciate these are always looked upon slightly sceptically, but there is also the need for more affordable homes. Especially with prices the way they are currently for anything with a traditional Cotswold stone cottage look. Would be good to know what is happening, where and when.