Conditions / Refusal Reasons
The proposed development would fail to physically or visually enhance the landscape character and appearance of the site and its contribution to the wider landscape setting of the area. The development fails to adhere to Policy DES1, DES2 and ENV1 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan (2035).
The application submission does not provide suitable or adequate information on biodiversity net gain (within the meaning of Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990). The application documents fail to identify where any habitat enhancements would be provided. In the absence of a planning obligation the suggested off-site enhancements would fail to meet minimum statutory requirements. This uncertainty conflicts with the requirements of the Biodiversity Gain Hierarchy. Furthermore, there are material, objective errors in the submitted habitat plan and associated biodiversity metric which mean that the baseline biodiversity value of the application site has not been accurately determined. This is a national minimum information requirement. Taken together, there are significant information errors which mean that the ability of the development to achieve the minimum required biodiversity gain cannot be determined. Therefore the submission conflicts with the requirements of Policy ENV3 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan, paragraphs 180 and 186 of the National Planning Policy Framework, and the provisions of Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
The proposed development would result in the loss of priority habitat which has not been justified as the council does not consider the need for or the benefit of the proposed development to outweigh the adverse effect on the interests of the priority habitat and that alternative accesses already exist which would serve the purpose of the proposed development. As such, the development would conflict with Policy ENV2 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan and paragraphs 180, 185 and 186 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
This application fails to demonstrate that the proposed development would not result in adverse harm to all important landscape features located nearby. The application therefore fails to adhere to Policy ENV1 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework.
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