Posts by Nemone Caldwell

We are calling on our Local Authority Leaders to make an immediate commitment to producing a county-wide Renewables Strategy, including public consultation, and to set an early deadline for completion.  Currently renewable projects, such as the potential grouping of sites at Tetsworth, Nuneham Courtenay and Culham and the proposed huge Botley West solar farm, are threatening vast…

Government Consultation on Planning Reforms – closes 2 March 2023 The Government is running a consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework ( NPPF), including the proposed removal of 5 Year Housing Land Supply Rules that have led to speculative and inappropriate development across Oxfordshire. The  Framework is the basis on which Local…

A Guide to responding to the current water consultations –  Water Resources South East Plan and Thames Water Resources Management Plan Consultations on both the Water Resources South East (WRSE) Plan and Thames Water’s Management Plan (WRMP) are now running . Together, these plans will determine Thames Water’s investment plans for water supply in the…

Hedgerow Heroes at work in Watlington. Image credit Nicola Schafer The government has announced an ambitious target to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2037, and 45,000-miles of hedgerows a year by 2050, under the new Environmental Improvement Plan 2023. In a landmark decision for hedgerows, the government target underpins aims…

Oxford City Council has launched a new round of public consultation as the next stage in developing its Local Plan 2040. This will focus on housing need, with a new independent report providing the evidence base underpinning the local plan. We are concerned that its projections don’t follow the Government’s Standard Methodology and are biased towards…

Community football pitches at Stratfield Brake CPRE Cherwell objects just as strongly to the proposals to build a new stadium on an alternative piece of Green Belt land as we did to the original plan to build at Stratfield Brake.  It seems that the labyrinthine process by which one proposal has been superseded by the…

Dark starry skies are a beautiful sight, and a distinctive feature of the countryside. But too often, light pollution means that many of us can’t see the stars. To celebrate our starry skies and to help to protect and improve our view of the stars we are inviting the nation to be ‘citizen scientists’ and…

Image credit: Kidlington Development Watch CPRE Oxfordshire understands the Cherwell District Council Executive will be meeting to consider the Draft Cherwell Local Plan at a special meeting on 19th January and has written to request that the proposed allocation of 300 houses in the Green Belt at Kidlington (Land North of the Moors, LPR8A) is…

Thames Water has launched a consultation on its draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024, setting out its proposals for dealing with future water supply needs.Read more on the Thames Water website. Consultation runs until 21 March 2023. To provide further information a series of Community Information Events have been planned: and Information ‘Pop up’ events will…

The government has set out new measures in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which gives communities more say on local housing targets, as well as encouraging brownfield development and controlling short-term lets. The Government has agreed to a number of planning reforms following pressure from backbench MPs: Making housing targets ‘advisory’, not mandatory. Ending 5 Year housing…