Agenda item

Improvement works to Frilford Junction incorporating widening of A415 Kingston Road and A338 Oxford Road with provision of 3metre wide cycle way on the west side of the A338 and south side of the A415 Kingston Road and widening of the footway to east side of A338 to 2 metres, widening of A415 Frilford Road with provision of 2metre wide cycle feeder lane and relocated bus stop waiting area (as amplified by additional information received 09 November 2022).

The committee considered planning application P22/V1757/FUL for improvement works to Frilford Junction incorporating widening of A415 Kingston Road and A338 Oxford Road with provision of 3 metre wide cycle way on the west side of the A338 and south side of the A415 Kingston Road and widening of the footway to east side of A338 to 2 metres, widening of A415 Frilford Road with provision of 2 metre wide cycle feeder lane and relocated bus stop waiting area (as amplified by additional information received 09 November 2022), on land at Street Record, Kingston Road, Frilford Abingdon.  

Consultations, representations, policy and guidance, and the site’s planning history were detailed in the officer’s report, which formed part of the agenda pack for the meeting. 

The planning officer introduced the report and highlighted that the application was for highway improvement works at the Frilford junction and formed part of the highway’s mitigation associated with the current hybrid planning application on the land east of Kingston Bagpuize (planning reference P22/V0248/O).

The planning officer highlighted the proposed works which included the widening of the northbound A338 road on the western side, and on southern edge of the A415, and the inclusion of a cycle way together with new landscaping to mitigate the loss of an existing hedgerow. The planning officer also confirmed that the principle of the proposal was acceptable and that there was no harm caused to any heritage assets and that the biodiversity loss would be addressed by condition.

On the concern by residents and parish councils that the application did not address all the issues at the junction, the planning officer informed members that the applicant only needed to mitigate the impact of their own development not all the extant issues.

Finally, in respect of the wider Oxfordshire County Council (highway authority) scheme of improvements, the timeframe for this was unknown. In this application, the improvements were explicitly put forward as an alternative to a contribution to the highway authority improvement scheme to allow the Kingston Bagpuize hybrid application to go forward.

As the planning officer believed that there were no technical planning reasons for refusal, he recommended it be approved subject to conditions, a S106 legal agreement, securing the works or for land to be transferred to the highway authority should it be required for further improvements.

Shaun Forrestal spoke on behalf of Frilford Parish, objecting to the application. Councillor Michael Hoath spoke on behalf of Marcham Parish Council objecting to the application.

Roger Smith, the agent representing the applicant, Vicky Bilton, and Sean Mclntyre spoke in support of the application. 

Councillors Eric Batts, local ward councillor, spoke objecting to the application. A statement was read out on behalf of Councillor Catherine Webber, a local ward councillor, who couldn’t attend the meeting in support of the application.

The committee then clarified with the planning officer that the application was a standalone application not dependant on the any future highway authority improvement scheme and should be judged on its own planning merits.

Members then asked Oxfordshire County Council highway officer, Will Pedley, about the turning movements into the junction but were informed that the highway authority did not have any concerns about this. In addition, on the long-term improvement plan, the highway officer could not say how much of this application would be incorporated into their longer-term plan but that the optioneering study should be complete by summer 2023. Ultimately, the highways officer reviewed the scheme as part of the mitigation for the Kingston Bagpuize application and was content that it did adequately mitigate its impact, actually going beyond that, and that their modelling assessment accounted for all other permitted development in the area and the traffic associated with the development permitted in the local plan.

Members also noted that should the application be passed, the timeframe for its implementation would be linked to a residential occupation condition in the forthcoming Kingston Bagpuize housing development, and that if this housing application did not pass, then this junction improvement would not go ahead even if it was approved.

The committee then asked the planning officer if the funds could be ensured to be used by the highway authority for the improvement to the Frilford junction alone and not diverted elsewhere, and this was confirmed by the planning officer as it would form an explicit part of the legal agreement.

Overall, as members considered the application to be a positive improvement to the junction, they agreed the application should be approved subject to conditions.

A motion, moved and seconded, to delegate the authority to grant planning permission to the head of planning was carried on being put to the vote. 

RESOLVED: to authorise the head of planning to grant planning permission for application P22/V1757/FUL, subject to the following:

1) the completion of a S106 legal agreement to secure the highway

works.

2) the following conditions:

1. Commencement

2. Approved plans

3. Tree protection

4. Landscaping scheme

5. Construction Management Plan

6. Biodiversity enhancement

7. Biodiversity offsetting

8. Archaeological scheme of investigation

9. Archaeological evaluation