Witney Infrastructure Neighbourhood Group

4.3 Adequacy of elements within the proposed development.

4.3.1 The “Local Centre”.

4.3.1.1 Developer’s proposal (3).

The Local Centre that the developer proposes would

“include up to 400 m2 of floorspace to contain a range of uses and services falling within Use Classes E and F2. A broad indication of potential uses for the Local Centre is as follows:

It is considered reasonable to assume that 50% will come forward as Class E Retail Use”

4.3.1.2 The “Community Centre” included in the HNP.

The HNP (1) identified the following facility needs:

Community Centre

HNP Policy CF1 States:

“As there will be a new on-site primary school (2FE including nursery) on a 2.2ha site, it is recommended that school assembly / community centre/ sports halls, playing pitches, changing facilities and car parking facilities are shared wherever possible. The King’s School should also be invited to share in this proposed integration of facilities.”
—p39

However – this interpretation of shared amenities has been proven problematic in recent local developments of this scale, such as Windrush Place, and in historic developments that did not secure a community centre and only have a school, such as Cogges. Cogges must use the Blake School as a polling station as there is no other community building in the area.

A hireable indoor space for community activities is a necessity. It should have large and flexible hall space, the functionality to operate as a café and bar, a kitchen, and smaller break-out spaces.

It is essential to provide indoor places to visit for older members of the community, or people who feel isolated from those around them. Studies show that almost a fifth of the population often or always feel lonely.

Youth clubs, Scouting-style groups and other sports and activity clubs enable young people to make friends and learn new skills. They give the younger generation a healthy outlet for their energy, and encourage constructive (rather than anti-social) behaviours, thereby nurturing positive character attributes and skills.

Exercise, sports and dance classes enhance adults’ wellbeing and cement community cohesion. Spaces for interest clubs and societies are also needed in a healthy community.

Family and friends can really connect with one another when taking part in an activity together. It’s also a great way to meet other families within the community.

The community centre should be community-owned by the parish council, to ensure fair access and upkeep funded by the precept.

It should have green energy supply (heat pump plus solar), excellent insulation and natural light, electric car charging, ample cycle racks and excellent connectivity via safely lit paths to the rest of the development.

4.3.1.3 Comparison of proposals for Local or Community Centres.

The Outline Planning Application proposes to “co-locate” the “Local Centre” with the primary school. This aligns with HNP in terms of combining amenities where possible, but other developments (such as Windrush Place, Curbridge/Witney) have demonstrated problems when the school is the only venue available to a community – adult and senior citizen daytime groups cannot run and even activities outside of school time are at the mercy of school availability and the inflexibility of the space. WING stresses that the community centre must be stand-alone. An adequate facility needs to be bigger than 400 m2.

The main problem here is that very few of the infrastructure proposals in the planning application are quantified – this will presumably come with the full application. What quantification there is leaves cause for concern; 400 m2 has been identified as the area for the ‘Local Centre’ but half of this area will be allocated to retail outlets leaving a totally inadequate 200m2 for all other uses.

To put this into context, the plans for a replacement Village Hall in Hailey (including changing facilities and a badminton-sized hall) require a building of 785 m2. Equivalent recently constructed Community Centres in Charlbury and Burford are substantially larger than the Hailey proposal. Both towns have populations significantly smaller than the North Witney estimates.

The nearest Community Centre is in the middle of Madley Park on the east side of Woodstock Road, or in the centre of Witney, usually a car journey away for evening activities or for the less mobile.

4.3.2 School

WING welcomes the proposal for a 2-form entry school on the new development but also draws attention to HNP Section 7 and Policy ED1 (pdf p20), in favour of expansion of Hailey School’s facilities. Evidence from the 2024 school places allocations at the new Windrush Place school shows that children living on that estate did not get places in that school. It is likely that Hailey Primary will need to expand, and that OCC will require developer contributions to meet that need.

4.3.3 Healthcare

The HNP says in Policy CF6 (pdf p41):

“Development of North Witney community facilities should consider the inclusion of an NHS surgery/ Health Centre, preferably integrated into the Community Centre.”

However, with Witney’s wider expansion and the closure of Deer Park Medical Centre adding to NHS GP pressure, integration may no longer be appropriate in 2024. It is more likely that a separate, stand-alone healthcare facility will be needed following the example of the combined GP Surgery and Pharmacy that has been built as part of a recent development in Long Hanborough.

“Healthcare uses” tagged on to a busy community centre will not meet the area’s existing needs together with those the new development brings; neither could the commercial proportion of the developer’s proposed “local centre” accommodate an adequate healthcare facility. Witney’s three GP surgeries already serve 40k residents made up from Witney’s residents and many from surrounding villages. This development, coupled with existing demand, will support its own GP surgery. WING holds the position that a completely new surgery must be built.

4.3.4 Other Community Infrastructure needs.

The HNP makes a case for a series of other community infrastructure elements that Hailey Parish would like to include in the North Witney development.

The application mentions some of these but does not quantify. WING would seek to discuss the provision of these elements as part of our liaison with WODC Planning and the developer.

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4.2 Combining North Witney and Hailey Parish’s needs.
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4.4 Overlap between major infrastructure and community infrastructure needs.