Moreton’s fight against ‘unsustainable’ development in their village

A group of residents in the village of Moreton, near Thame are very unhappy about the increasing amount and standard of development in their village, and have been meeting and writing to district councillors and their MP to voice their concerns.

Many villagers are unhappy about an application that has been submitted for seven homes at the Paddock by the entrance to village: See full application HERE
and a second proposal by Rectory Homes near the village pond.

One villager at least making their feeling clear about more housing in Moreton

Moreton resident, Tina Fegent, told Thame.Net: “In the last three years we have had eight new builds – four of which are Rectory Homes. This has increased the size of our hamlet by 15%. We don’t have the infrastructure to support increased volumes of people and traffic etc. We are conducting our own traffic survey this week to ascertain the volume of traffic that is already coming in and out of the village.

“We have a lot of walkers, runners, dog walkers, families with kids, Horse riders, etc walk the path from Thame to Moreton, to The Oxfordshire or Tetsworth,” she added. “Moreton is like a bit of a Park next to Thame and should be kept that way.”

Extra houses are ‘not sustainable’

Another Moreton Resident, Robin Storey, has written to SODC, who are currently at the consultation stage of a planning application by Lucy Developments for the seven homes. He challenges the application on the grounds of it not being ‘Sustainable Development’ and refutes a statement in the application that the development would be ‘infill’.

Mr Storey states that Moreton is expressly not earmarked for development under local planning rules: “The Proposals do not constitute sustainable development due to its location in a rural community without the necessary infrastructure to accommodate such development in a sustainable manner,” he said.  “This lack of support for such development is demonstrated by the fact that there are no housing allocations in this vicinity, either in the emerging SODLP or the Thame Neighbourhood Plan (adopted or emerging).”

The developer’s submission claims that the station is close, and that this makes it sustainable, but Mr Storey notes that: “The station is four miles away and requires a car to access safely. There is no cycle path (despite 10 years of attempts to establish one) and the fast B road to Haddenham is dangerous.”

Mr Storey adds: “Moreton is unable to support new housing and the needs of the new population will be met only by unsustainable travel by car…….There is no school in the village or more school spaces in Thame, no pub/shop, etc, and there are other infrastructure limitations…There are poor public bus routes (one per week).

“The County Council has just withdrawn free school bus provision, which is currently being appealed by a number of families. The quality of the footpath to Thame is poor or totally unmade in places and the walking route to school is unsafe as it is isolated. It is likely that more car journeys will result from the village from September 2018….The road junction onto the main A329 is already dangerous.”

Proposals by Rectory Homes for new homes near the village pond

Of this proposal, Mr Storey writes: “What we have seen built so far by Rectory Homes’ two developments in recent years does not seem to be sympathetic in scale, design or materials and more attention is needed to the fact that this is a village not an extension of suburbia.

“This aesthetic is not apparently understood by Rectory Homes and, worse, SODC have failed to enforce proper standards – in scale, materials or design ie machine made slate tiles have been used next to Harvest Barn, not handmade clay tiles to defer to the original farm building, which is now overwhelmed and these views of field and barn have been spoilt, as the new buildings are dominant.

“In this proposal, the scale of the roof in the larger buildings make the choice of a high quality handmade clay tiles particularly important.”

Mr Storey claims that both proposed developments would spoil the view of the village Conservation Area and the collection of listed buildings that make Moreton popular with walkers, runners and cyclists from Thame – and that a valuable Thame amenity is at risk . He also fears for the diversity of wildlife seen in the village, which includes protected and other significant species including several types of bat, otter, grass snakes, adder, owl, herons and great crested newts within the village. Cuttle Brook links the village to the town nature reserve via two fields. An informal survey of the village confirms these species are regularly seen and clearly spread throughout the village – either side of the proposed development.”

Town and District Councillor, David Dodds, has himself written several times to SODC concerning support for extending the Conservation Area.

Meeting with Thame Town Council

Back in June, Rectory Homes requested a preparatory meeting with Thame Town Council and Moreton Residents’ Association. Cllr Helena Fickling for Thame TC’s Planning Committee, Ann Midwinter the Town Mayor, Linda Emery Deputy Mayor, David Dodds SODC councillor, Graham Hunt Town Clerk and Graeme Markland Neighbourhood Plan Officer all attended the meeting. Rectory Homes was represented by Edd Vickers, the son of owner Simon Vickers, and Jolande Bowater, Associate Director for Planning.

At the meeting, Mr Vickers apparently explained that there were no definitive plans, just ideas they wanted to share. He produced a rough plan which he said was for illustration only. They were suggesting seven homes with a green ‘buffer’ along the road and a footpath for pedestrians. He also pointed out the possibility of more open space around the pond and another area behind the line of proposed new houses.The field in question is opposite the Old School/School House/Old Chapel House.

Threat of ‘urbanisation’

There was absolutely no support for further development from the villagers present, the general feeling being that more development in Moreton would be seen as a move to “urbanise” the hamlet. Cllr Ann Midwinter said it was her belief that Rectory Homes should… “give up this proposal and leave Moreton alone.” The MRA (Moreton Residents Association) requested that if Rectory Homes did progress plans, there should be a public meeting in the Town Hall so that Moreton Residents could have the opportunity to comment as a community.

As a consequence of all this pressure for development in Moreton, many in the village are considering the case for a ‘mini Neighbourhood Plan’ for Moreton to feed into the Thame Plan and to protect Moreton as a place to visit for everyone in Thame. Others have requested SODC extend the village Conservation Area before the fields are lost.

One of the councillors present at the meeting suggested: “We need to consider what, if any, housing we think we might need and where will it go. It might also be worth considering the Thame Green Living Plan and what it means for our hamlet.”