BASE HEADER

Yes

ID sylw: 107289

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Cotswolds National Landscape Board

RefID 688: Land north of Mollington Lane, Warmington, Banbury, OX17 1BS (additional information)
The vast majority of built development at Warmington (and most of the settlement boundary and conservation area) is located within the CNL. As such, we consider Warmington to be a CNL settlement. However, site RefID 688, itself, is located outside of - but adjacent to - the CNL boundary.
The site is located on relatively flat land on the northern edge of Warmington, which, in effect, is an extension of Landscape Character Type (LCT) 19 (Unwooded Vale),176 whereas most of the village of Warmington slopes down the Cotswold escarpment (LCT 2)177. This site itself is undeveloped but there is existing development on its west, south and east side. The northern boundary of the site appears to be well vegetated, although the vegetation is quite gappy (being primarily trees rather than hedgerow).
The site does not appear to be overlooked from public rights of way (PROW) on the escarpment. However, a PROW footpath crosses the site itself. This PROW carries both the Macmillan Way and the Battlefields Trail. Development on the site is likely to adversely affect views from this section of footpath, including views looking southwards towards the escarpment. To help reduce potential impacts on the views towards the escarpment we recommend that built development should not extend south of the PROW.
Conclusions
The indicative capacity of RefID 688 far exceeds the Board’s 5% ‘rule of thumb’ threshold for proportionality. However: •
the site would not be overlooked from PROW on the escarpment;
• it is not within the CNL (so this increase would not constitute major development in the context of paragraph 190 of the NPPF);
• the area is only slightly above the 5% threshold;
• as outlined above, the site would potentially be suitable in other regards.
If housing was provided at a lower density than the Local Plan indicative capacity, this site would potentially merit further consideration subject to the following mitigation measures:
• development should not extend south of the PROW that crosses the site;
• planting of a hedgerow on the northern boundary.