Objection to planning application in Church Lane
Please help your parish council fight this development.
The deadline to comment is 21 September 2026.
Land at The Paddock, Church Lane, Aston Rowant
P26/S3792/PIP
Construction of a minimum of one dwelling and a maximum of one dwelling
This planning application should be refused for the same reasons it was refused previously and by the Inspector in the previous appeal. The fact that SODC does not currently have a five-year housing supply does have a bearing, but the significant harm that would be caused is not outweighed by the benefit of one new house.
Aston Rowant Parish Council believes the reasons to refuse this application are as:
The development is outside of the village boundary and therefore would extend the boundary into open countryside. The north side of Aston Rowant is particularly vulnerable to expansion as it still retains a very strong sense of a rural setting with few new houses. The existing village boundary next to the proposed site has old farm buildings or is bounded by ancient hedgerows.
The application has not demonstrated that it is physically well-related to the settlement for the purposes of Policy S5(1)(j) of the August 2026 NPPF. It would project built development into the countryside rather than fill a gap within the village.
There is another house opposite the site which has already extended the boundary, but planning permission was only achieved through a technical issue at appeal. That property is more in keeping as it extends the already built-up row of existing houses which is not the case with this proposal.
Aston Rowant has recently had six new houses approved, all of which are outside the village boundary. We feel that this shows that Aston Rowant has taken housing and has extended to meet demand already.
It’s worth noting that the August 2026 NPPF now specifically requires consideration of landscape character, countryside qualities, ecological networks, established trees and hedgerows.
The site is bounded by two chalk streams which must be protected. The stream on the east side flows all year and the stream on west side is seasonal. Both of these flow into the Holbrook where brown trout migrate all the way up to the village. Further development will harm the stream and run off from the site will harm the fish. There are major conservation concerns about protecting chalk streams and we must do all we can to protect them.
Aston Rowant is not a sustainable village for new housing. There are no shops, the bus service is poor (it’s often been suggested that the routes may be cut – a proposition not unreasonable given that the two bus routes are subsidised to the tune of around £200,000pa). The buses from the identified stop less than half a mile away cannot be used for commuting, and there are no footpaths or safe ways to walk to the bus stops a mile and a mile and a half away that serve coaches that go to London and Oxford. Cars would be necessary for all aspects of living here. Nothing in this respect has changed since the last planning application.
Further, the application has not demonstrated that safe and suitable access can be delivered without unacceptable conflict with users of Church Lane and the bridleway, or without harmful loss or alteration of the rural hedgerow boundary.
ARPC has spoken to many residents, and the primary concern was the development of a new house here is outside the village boundary and sits on an ancient track that leads to the Fiveways junction with the Ridgeway and important national walking trails. Development on this site will spoil an ancient rural area adjacent to village.
We call on SODC to avoid allowing the district-wide housing shortfall to extinguish all scrutiny of where housing is placed. Otherwise virtually any field adjoining any small village could qualify for building.
In summary, the applicant may have established a district-wide housing-supply gateway but has not demonstrated that this particular greenfield site is physically well-related, sustainably accessible and satisfactorily served by infrastructure. The previous Inspector’s findings about countryside character and severe car dependence remain the strongest evidence of this available.
Please register an objection by either sending responding via SODC’s planning portal here or by sending an email to citing P26/S3792/PIP.
The deadline to comment is 21 September 2026.
