215 homes, care home and retirement village plans approved

Cherwell District Council has backed the plans to transform the 14-hectare brownfield site at Islip Fuel Depot, a former RAF fuel depot near Islip village.

The plans include 150 homes, of which half will be affordable, up to a 70-bed care home and up to 65 retirement units, subject to 20 conditions.

These will replace the decommissioned Islip Fuel Depot off Bletchingdon Road, which was taken over by the Esso Petroleum Company in the 1960s before being shut down in 1991.

The current state of the decommissioned Islip Fuel Depot (Image: Barwood Development Securities Ltd and NCM Real Re)

Under approval conditions, the developer must contribute almost £5m to local services, councils and police, under S106 contributions.

More than £300,000 will go towards local services. This includes improvements to Household Waste Recycling, Kidlington Library and Islip Medical Practice, or an identified primary care project in the local area.

The district council requested more than £1m in contributions towards enhancing community hall facilities, outdoor and indoor sport provision, a community development worker and fund, and public art.

Oxfordshire County Council requested more than £3.6m in financial contributions, including almost £3m towards primary and secondary education.

Thames Valley Police requested more than £30,000 towards additional staff, vehicles, premises, equipment and ANPR cameras.

In the case officer’s report, Katherine Daniels noted that while the proposal would result in the development of a substantial site on the edge of the village with some landscape and visual harm, weight is given to the benefits.

One of those is the council not being currently able to demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing land.

She said: “The delivery of market housing attracts significant positive weight and the affordable housing provision attracts very substantial positive weight given the acute need for affordable homes across the District.

“National policy and guidance recognise the pressing need to provide accommodation for older persons and specialist housing to meet changing demographics. The proposal would make an important contribution towards addressing that need.”

Weight is also given to the redevelopment of the “largely redundant” brownfield site.

Illustrative views of the proposed development at the decommissioned Islip Fuel Depot (Image: Barwood Development Securities Ltd / NCM Real Re)

She said: “The proposal would secure remediation of contaminated land, environmental improvements and the beneficial reuse of previously developed land in accordance with national and local planning objectives.”

The site was first thought to be within Oxford Green Belt but officers concluded the site constitutes Grey Belt land.

She said: “The proposal would not result in unacceptable impacts in respect of highway safety, heritage assets, ecology, flooding, drainage, contamination, residential amenity or infrastructure provision.

“These matters can be appropriately addressed through planning conditions and planning obligations.”