Weston Front Newsletter

12^th January 2009

Judicial review update

The Eco-town Judicial Review proceedings will be held on 22^nd and 23^rd January at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2. You are welcome to attend – starting each day at 10am.

Weston Front and the BARD Group from Stratford-on-Avon are claiming that the decision by the government to shortlist eco-town sites last April was made without adequate consultation about the eco towns concept. The Government disagree. They think the process was reasonable.

Our barrister, Anthony Crean QC, believes we have a reasonable chance of success. If we do, the eco town consultation procedure won’t be allowed to continue and some or all of it would have to be re-done, causing considerable delay and embarrassment for the Government.

If the case fails then the selection process of sites for possible eco towns will continue and, if Weston Otmoor is selected, the site will go through the planning procedure. In other words Weston Front has nothing to lose by pursuing the JR and hopefully everything to gain. We believe that the shortlist of sites won’t be published until around May in any event.

If the current JR proceedings fail, there are further JR challenges in the pipeline by other pressure groups and by the Local Government Association. We’ll keep you informed. In any case, the site has no merit and we will strongly oppose any planning application.

If you have any queries please contact me or Norman Machin. We are also planning a full update meeting in the village hall on 28^th January, when we should be able to let you know what has been happening.

Best wishes for a successful 2009.

Tony Henman

Weston-Otmoor propaganda offensive

Despite premature claims that the so-called ‘eco’ town development has been ruled out after having received the lowest sustainability grading of all the sites, developers Parkridge launched a propaganda offensive in the lead up to Christmas to try and persuade the government that its scheme is sustainable. A glossy leaflet has been distributed to thousands of local residents making claims that can best be described as misleading and inaccurate in a range of areas. Taking just three of these:

• The leaflet claims that the site will ‘provide a well-balanced mix of affordable and private housing’ to meet local need, but only 1.5% of the new housing would be socially rented. As all new housing will be carbon neutral by 2016, there’s nothing particularly ‘eco’ about these plans.
• The developers claim the number of on site jobs would be an optimistic 15,000, but this is far lower than a population of 35,000 needs. It would generate 5,000 in-commuters each day and up to 12,000 out-commuters. The public transport arrangements could never cope with that, leading to traffic chaos even with a huge 6,000 space on-site car park in the green belt.
• The claim that Weston-Otmoor would support Bicester’s regeneration has been rejected by independent consultants¹. Their interim report says it would harm Bicester and Kidlington economically.

According to Weston Front member, Alan Cotton, the key message for the 86% of local residents from across Oxfordshire who oppose the plans is that ‘Parkridge have not given up on their plans to build a huge new town on the A34/M40 junction. They are trying to persuade the government to reject the independent conclusions that the site is unsustainable.’ Local councillor for Kidlington, Andrew Hornsby-Smith, added ‘This is not going to go away without a fight. Despite the independent evidence coming in that this would be a disastrous site for Oxfordshire, it’s obvious that local residents need to keep up the high-profile campaign to find a better alternative to meet local housing and economic needs.’

(Copy of press release issued on 16^th December 2008)

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