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The South Oxfordshire village of Chalgrove has been slowly growing over more than 700 years to its present size of approximately 1200 homes. This organic growth will come to an abrupt end if plans being driven by the leader of South Oxfordshire District council are allowed to proceed. Chalgrove village has become, with minimal discussion or consultation, the 'preferred' site for the creation of a 'new town' adding at least 3,500 homes to this quiet part of the Oxfordshire countryside. When complete the new town would be similar in size to the current towns of Henley, Thame and Wallingford.
The main part of the development would be on the currently rural site of Chalgrove Airfield which was open, mainly common, land until it was converted for use as an airfield as part of the WW2 war effort. Due to the poor public transport facilities in the area, the vast majority of residents of the new town would need to undertake significant commutes by car to find employment. This will result in thousands of daily additional vehicle movements in the area, blighting local villages.
Clearly the current residents of Chalgrove and the surrounding villages are opposed to this ill-considered development and intend to fight it. Please make your own voice heard on the SODC consultation document by August 19th and follow progress on the Facebook page .
You can find a PDF copy of the consultation document here.