Transition Chipping Norton (TCN)would like to submit the following response to WODC’s Local Development Plan 2010-2026.

We agree wholeheartedly that “addressing climate change must underpin the Core Strategy as a whole” as stated in your Sustainability Appraisal. Everything possible must be done to ensure that all development which is approved by the council is as low-carbon as possible.

The Transition Movement places equal emphasis on the inevitability of oil depletion or Peak Oil which is not addressed in WODC’s plan. TCN feels that this issue is of vital importance and should also underpin many of the proposals included in the Core Strategy.

We are generally in favour of the overall plan, supporting moderate, sustainable growth in the region, with an emphasis on maintaining biodiversity and protecting the area’s natural resources.

Chipping Norton—Preferred Approach

Proposed New Housing

While recognising that additional housing, including a proportion of affordable housing, is desirable to meet long-term housing requirements, TCN is concerned that this will lead to Chipping Norton becoming primarily a commuter town if not enough is done to address the shortage of local employment. Already, over 50% of Chippy’s residents work outside the town, the majority using private cars to access their workplace.

The large, concentrated housing developments (existing and planned) along the London Road will also lead to additional traffic coming into the town centre to access shops and services. In order to mitigate this effect, we would stress the importance of good footpath, cycle and bus links through the existing built-up sites to the town centre.

We feel that it is vital that supporting facilities such as doctors’ surgery, primary school and food shopping which supports local neighbourhood needs only are incorporated into the development to decrease the necessity to drive into the town.

The employment allocation on the Parker Knoll site should be specifically retained as this will assist in distributing employment opportunities across the town and, ideally, be designated for small-scale community enterprises only, with an emphasis on ‘green’ industries.

Allocated space for a community allotment, fruit trees, and recreational space, including a children’s play area, should also be factored in.

Ideally, the remainder of the housing provision should come from the adaptation/regeneration of existing structures rather than the allocation of ‘green’ sites for development.

Proposed Town Centre Expansion

TCN supports the sustainable expansion and consolidation of the established town centre and opposes any development that would undermine its vitality and viability. In relation to the Parker Knoll site, we would not support anything other than small scale retail to serve only the needs of the immediate neighbourhood. We would, however, support the expansion of the existing Co-op facility.

In supporting this expansion, we would, however, like to see the site developed as sympathetically as possible in keeping with the historical importance of the burgage plots by enabling their delineation to still be visible and the built form to reflect the traditional style of burgage plot development as much as possible. We also feel that there should be an undertaking to incorporate as much low-carbon technology as possible and to minimise the impact, including visual impact, of the additional parking facility.

The development of the burgage plots should, ideally, be multi-functional and also include small shops, cafes, professional services, a library and residential over so that the area provides many more opportunities for people to work locally and travel less. Perhaps these facilities and appropriate landscaping could be built above an underground car park which would serve the needs of the new retail development.

It would also be desirable for the Local Plan to ensure that new pedestrian routes between Top Side and Albion Street be opened up for easier access.

Design and Construction

We would like to see WODC not only meet government targets but strive to exceed them. This means accepting ONLY proposals for new developments which incorporate the highest standards of sustainable design and construction and givingequal consideration toinnovative, even radical, proposals which are more long-term in their outlook.

In addition to energy-efficient design and incorporation of renewable and low-carbon energy sources, prospective developers should be encouraged to include provisions for the conservation of natural resources, specifically grey water collection, storage and reuse.

Energy

As with Design and Construction, we feel that it is not enough to just meet government targets in delivering decentralised, renewable and low-carbon energy to the town of Chipping Norton and its environs. We would like WODC to exceed targets in all areas of energy provision and actively promote renewable and low-carbon energy as expected practice in all new developments.

We support the limited use of biomass as a fuel, provided it is from sustainable, local sources and suggest that WODC needs to be proactive in helping to create a market to sustain a local wood fuel industry, perhaps by allocating land for this express purpose.

We strongly support the introduction of small-scale community wind projects and the relaxation of planning restrictions which limit or prevent their construction in areas which are not subject to heritage designations.

As stated in paragraph 8.20 of your Local Plan, the CAG Study found that “all of the main technologies appear, in principle, to be appropriate for the area...” Hopefully, we will see, in addition to wind and biomass, the wide-spread use of ground source heat pumps, solar panels and even small-scale hydro power in the near future.

Transport

The issue of transport is fundamental to the development of a sustainable future for Chipping Norton. The Town Appraisal of 2003 emphasised, above all other public concerns, the issue of traffic and pollution in the town. Better public transport, no heavy lorriespassing through the town and lower pollution levels were rated more highly than anything else in the appraisal.

A growing town will, inevitably, mean more, not less, traffic. We strongly support WODC’s ‘good intentions’ of encouraging more walking and cycling but unless a great deal is done to create the conditions to facilitate that behaviour, people will go on using their cars, even for very short journeys. While acknowledging that Chippy is not ideal cycling territory due to the hills, we do, however, feel that the cycling environment could be improved by introducing new links that avoid main roads.

Safer, pleasanter pedestrian and cycle tracks should become a feature of the town. It is especially important to link the new housing developments on the London Road in to existing tracks to provide people with an alternative means of access to the town centre. It is also worth noting that, by 2026, it is predicted that people in the ‘third age’ bracket will outnumber young, working people by 3-1. Access to facilities which does not involve driving will be even more imperative in an aging population.

The 2003 Town Appraisal Survey presented an interesting statistic—50% of the working population worked outside the town and yet 60% of the town’s residents used their car to get to work. So, 10% of the population worked within walking distance of their homes and still used their cars to get to work.

Another interesting statistic is that 75% of people who worked in Chippy at that time got to work by car—most likely with only one occupant per vehicle.

These statistics, if accurate, clearly indicate a need for better local public transport, both within the town itself and from outlying villages. More ‘direct route’ bus services need to be implemented and conveniently timetabled to encourage people to use local buses, which must be affordable.

The Appraisal Survey also showed that Chippy residents own an average of 1.3 private vehicles per household. We would like to see this reduced to one vehicle per household on average. While TCN is aware that transport is essentially a function of OCC, we would, never-the-less, like to enlist WODC’s support in encouraging responsible car ownership. The TCN Transport Group would welcome and support the following:

  • Offering financial incentives through taxation for zero/one-car households similar to reduced Council Tax for single occupancy.
  • Extension of the S5 and S3 bus services into new residential and employment sites.
  • A shuttle-style bus service around the town to include the new hospital and care home. This might be something that the Co-op would consider for their expanded store, perhaps extending into the villages as well.
  • A half-hourly service into Oxford, as the current regular service is well supported and commercially viable.
  • Implementing a ‘pool car’ scheme, similar to that which is already in operation in Hook Norton, which allows people to book and hire an electric pool car for occasional local journeys, thereby alleviating the need, in many cases, for a second family car.

Peak Oil will eventually force people to change their driving habits—spiralling prices, and, most probably, rationing of petrol will have a positive effect on reducing the volume of traffic in town. We would like to see WODC preparing for the time when there will be more cyclists and pedestrians on Chippy’s roads than motorists.

Jobs and Employment

TCN is committed to promoting new small-scale community enterprise opportunities, especially those which will provide employment for people who are unskilled or semi-skilled. Re-skilling is an important aspect of the Transition Movement and we would like to see many more training opportunities for school leavers and career changers.

We would especially like to see more opportunities for people to work in agriculture, forestry and food production. WODC should promote a more localised approach to food production and distribution by freeing up available land and encouraging small farming enterprises.

Paragraph 11.8 of the Plan refers to the establishment of “an enterprise centre which would offer a hub of varying types of workspace which could also facilitate local home working.” TCN believes that an enterprise centre would offer immense benefits to the community and would very much like to see this project become a reality.

Barbara Saunders

For and on behalf of Transition Chipping Norton