Description
Proposed erection of two detached residential dwellings, new accesses, landscaping and associated works.
Conditions / Refusal Reasons
The site is not an infill site in a built up frontage, and is not closely surrounded by buildings. Therefore, the principle of new housing development on the site is not acceptable. Hill Bottom has limited facilities and poor public transport links, so that occupiers would be highly dependent on travel by car for employment and other services, consequently the development is not sustainable in transport terms. The application does not accord with the district's strategy for growth to allow limited growth on infill sites only in the smaller and other villages and development would undermine this spatial strategy. The Council considers that there is no justification of significant weight that would override the provisions of the development plan and the proposal is contrary to the NPPF, NPPG and policies CSS1, CSR1, CSM1 of the South Oxfordshire Core Strategy and Policy G3 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan.
The development by virtue of, its expansion of the built up area of Hill Bottom, location and loss of an important gap that contributes to the loose-knit character of the area, would degrade the rural character of the site to the detriment of the character of this part of Hill Bottom and the detriment of the landscape setting of the Chilterns AONB. The development conflicts with paragraph 172 of NPPF and policies CSEN1 and CSR1 of the South Oxfordshire Core Strategy, saved policies G2 and C4 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan.
Having regard to the open rural character of the plot, and rural surroundings, the layout, size and scale of the dwellings and associated outbuildings would irrevocably change the special landscape character and visual quality of this part of the village, creating a more urbanised development with the AONB. This would result in the erosion of the existing loose knit pattern of the settlement. The proposal would therefore be out of character with the pattern of development in the immediate vicinity of the site, and would fail to conserve the natural beauty and distinctiveness of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As such, the proposal would be contrary to Policies CSEN1 and CSQ3 of the South Oxfordshire Core Strategy and Policies G2, D1 and H4 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2011 and advice contained within the South Oxfordshire Design Guide 2016.
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