3rd October 2026

It has been a busy couple of weeks for NORA and local community groups, who have been representing community concerns around an influx of planned developments within a small parcel of North Oxfordshire. The cumulative impact of these is still not being taken seriously, despite our regular consultation with local councillors.

What’s happening and what do we have to say about it?

1. We attended and spoke at the OxSRFI Stage 2 Statutory Consultation, which opened this week, located at Bicester Golf & Spa – Oxfordshire Railfreight Limited (ORL) is proposing a Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) on land located adjacent to the Chiltern Main Line Railway line, south west of Junction 10 of the M40 motorway, and east of the former Upper Heyford Air Base.

We are concerned by the smoke screen for yet more warehousing (6.5 million square foot of logistics sheds) making up a lucrative business and not just a freight terminal which it is proposed as being. This seems disingenuous to the public. 47 million additional vehicle trips annually have been cited in parliament and although it may reduce long distance mileage elsewhere, North Oxfordshire will see substantially more traffic, not less. We were encouraged to see Value Retail (Bicester Village) represented at the hearing and attention is turning to the overwhelming impact on our roads by others, and not just by NORA and community groups.

You can write your comments to the ‘Have Your Say’ page by 13th October (this should open early next week)

2. We attended week 2 of the Public Inquiry for the Planning Appeal regarding land at Baynards Green/B4100/A43, where 6 million square feet of XXL warehousing has been proposed. You may remember that this planning application was rejected by CDC in January, only for them to back down for fear of financial risk, not because these monstrosities continue to need rejection based on planning law.

Stoke Lyne Action Team have raised over £50,000 to support their campaign and NORA stands with them, with members ready to read statements on Wednesday 7th October. We will raise objections around visual impact, inadequate road network, loss of ecology, need, sustainability, PFAS contamination and more.

You can look back on some key points on the recording, this one captured on Thursday and covering concerns re. irreversible damage to open countryside/landscape

3. We continue to challenge the Puy Du Fou multi-million visitor attraction, the application for which is curently under consultation and we await more information from CDC. Our challenges are on the grounds of inadequate road networks, utility shortages, loss of farmland and habitat destruction, noise pollution, not forgetting to mention themes raised in our recent blog posts where animal cruelty fears continue (based on eye witness accounts from Puy Du Fou France and Spain) and political associations of the founders of the parks (de Villiers family) with Putin and far right ideologies.

4. Dorchester have submitted ammendments to their existing application for ‘up to 9000 homes’ (including 3 x primary schools and 1 secondary school) to Cherwell DC planning portal. Gallos Brook and NORA have called for a pause to all planning and building in light of incredibly high levels of PFAS found in streams which come from the ex-military base at Uppoer Heyford. Read our blog post which highlights the health concerns which are likely to be linked to PFAS, PFOS or PFOA readings of up to 43,000 times the safe UK/EU limit.

We urge you to send comments to the planning portal or email planning@cherwell-dc.gov.uk and quote 25/02190/HYBRID with your comments, which are due by 7/11/2026