Cherwell District Council are re-consulting on the proposed warehousing at Baynard’s Green, Stoke Lyne, after the developers submitted updated plans. Any and all can respond to this consultation, and must do so by the deadline of 3rd January 2026.

Please comment on material considerations only – anything else will not be taken into consideration by CDC planners. For a handy list, please see our Guide to Planning Consultations.

Here are the key points

Conflict with current Local Plan: This site is not ‘allocated’ for development as employment land in the adopted Cherwell Local Plan 2011-2030. The plan states that unallocated employment development should only be permitted in rural areas in “exceptional circumstances” (policy SLE1, p45). 

There are no exceptional circumstances here. 

Conflict with Proposed Local Plan: The Councillors themselves have voted to submit a Local Plan update to the Secretary of State. The Proposed Local Plan 2042 (policy LEC3, Appendix 11) sets out strict requirements for any non-allocated site in rural areas and this site does not meet them.  The evidence about employment needs produced by the Council itself (Employment Topic Paper July 2025-6) also shows there will be sufficient employment land without this site being developed. 

Cherwell District benefits from low unemployment at 3.7% vs 5% nationally.

Landscape Harm: The application will lead to major harm to the rural landscape by building a massive 76-foot-high warehouse complex in the middle of rural fields. This is in conflict with the current Local Plan (Policy ESD13, p. 111, Policy COM10 in the proposed Local Plan 2042). In addition the associated HGV traffic, parking, and noise that logistics warehousing brings with compound the harm done to the rural character of the area. 

The minor additional screening the applicant has proposed recently does not mitigate this harm to any significant degree.

No water treatment capacity: Thames Water have said that local water treatment capacity would be overburdened by this large new development and poses environmental risks. 

The application cannot be approved while such pollution risks remain. 

Harm to biodiversity: The proposed development would lead to unacceptable ecological harm including the destruction of 2.46km of hedgerows, and harms to bats, badgers and other protected species in breach of local and national policies. Light and noise pollution, plus an increase in air pollution compound these harms further.

Nothing in the recent updated proposals addresses these harms.

How to respond

We encourage you to object, and to do it as soon as possible.

1. Use the planning portal to object. You can use the text box, or upload a separate document. We recommend writing your objection first and save it on your computer, then copy-paste it into the box. CDC’s planning portal is known to crash frequently and lose people’s submissions.
2. Send your objection to planning@cherwell-dc.gov.uk as an email, or an email with a separate document with your objection.
3. Send by post to Cherwell District Council, Planning Team, 39 Castle Quay Banbury Oxon OX16 5FD 

Deadline: 3rd January 2026