POSITION PAPER – Public opinion on the delivery the proposed

Carterton West Development

We believe the Carterton West Option is undeliverable because of a number

of technical, planning and political issues. This document highlights public
opinion for the proposal for the site identified as “Carterton West”. We
oppose the Carterton West Option, as it will have a catastrophic impact on
Carterton, the local environment and surrounding villages.

Public Opinion – West Oxfordshire in General

Whilst a high percentage of respondents stated that they disagreed with the WODC Draft Core
Strategy document, the majority are against one aspect of it, namely, the principle of expanding
Carterton by providing one large strategic site.

There is clearly a great deal of opposition to the West Option, including from within Carterton.
The answers to the closed question regarding a preference for either ‘East or West’ to locate a
possible strategic site at Carterton, prompted a number of groups of answers. These can be
classified as follows:
• Against the West Option- This group comprises of residents from all the villages around
Carterton, except Brize Norton, in addition to the residents of Carterton itself.
• Against the East Option- This group consists of mainly residents of Brize Norton, who have
made their views known via a letter or text message.
• Against the East and For the West- This group is primarily made up of those respondents
that attended the consultation meeting in Brize Norton Community Hall and who live in
Brize Norton.
• For the West Option- Those who are openly for the West Option are either residents of
Brize Norton (who live adjacent to the East site- see comment on c. above) or the land
owners of the West site, who have a material interest.
• For the East Option- A group of people across the area specifically were in favour of the East
option.

Although not presented as options, windfall development and a northern option attracted comment,
adding further confusion to the statistics.
The consultation process has inextricably linked the core strategy document with the proposal to
site 1000 homes in one strategic location to the East or West of Carterton. Therefore, in the main, it
has attracted comment and views on this issue alone. Hence, many of the more fundamental
questions have not been fully addressed. Examples are:
• What is the need for housing and how has the 4,300 figure been derived?
• What proportion of those homes should be allocated to Carterton? Is there currently a market
for these homes or is the proposal unsustainable?
• How many of Carterton’s allocation should be on a single strategic site?
• Is the provision of a strategic site the best way to stimulate Carterton’s regeneration?
• Should the strategy for Carterton be ‘Focus on development that would improve the town
within its boundary’?
Public Opinion – Carterton
There is clearly a great deal of opposition to the West Option from within Carterton.

A number of people commented that they had not been consulted and that they had not received
leaflets regarding the Draft Core Strategy consultation, especially within Carterton. People also
commented that at the consultation meeting at Shilton Park, WODC representatives were
supporting the West Option.

A number of people commented on Carterton Town Council’s (CTC) support for the West Option, in
advance of the closing of the consultation process, especially in view of the relatively small number
of responses it received to make a judgement. The concern was that this unfairly influenced the
process. Even so, opposition against the West Option from Carterton has come out strong, indicating
that CTC’s conclusions about the views of Carterton residents are incorrect and therefore their
decision to support for this option was misplaced and premature.
Petition
A petition has attracted 1748 Carterton residents to sign up to a statement saying

“We, the undersigned residents of Carterton, appeal to Carterton Town Council and West
Oxfordshire District Council to withdraw any support for the inclusion of land to the West of
Carterton as a strategic site within the Draft Core Strategy Document.

1982 No. Homes were approached – this represents approx. 36% of all homes in Carterton

We received responses from 1360 No. Homes – 69% of those we called on.

Of the 1360 No. Homes we visited, 90.3% signed the petition and 9.7% did not sign.

93% of the residents of Carterton (who had the opportunity to do so) signed the petition

Therefore:-

9 out of 10 homes approached, signed the petition

This response represents 1 in 4 homes in Carterton

Facebook Page
A ‘Facebook’ page has attracted around 240 ‘Likes’ – people making a positive decision to support
the objectives of the Web page – to the objection to the proposed development of the Carterton
West site.