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Plans were submitted on Monday 17 March 2025 for outline planning permission for up to 59 dwellings on the Fullers Field area, to the west of Primrose Avenue.
The consultation will end on Friday 25 April 2025.
Previous applications
There have been several attempts to get planning permission granted for this field, the most recent two being of the most interest. By looking at these and why they failed, it may help people to craft any consultation responses for the current application to ensure maximum impact.
2016
In 2016, plans were submitted for 81 dwellings with access to the site coming from Charlton Village Road. Whilst technically withdrawn on the day before the decision was due, the feedback was that the application would have been denied. From what I gather, it was felt that the extra traffic generated on Charlton Village Road would be invasive. As well as this, 81 dwellings seemed to be too many for the site to cater for. You can find the planning application here.
2023
In 2023, new plans were submitted. This time it was for 60 dwellings, with access coming from Rutherford Road, near to where Crabhill Lane crosses it.
This application was rejected (under Downloads / The Decision / Delegated Report.pdf) but the reasons for the rejection were more to do with the technicalities rather than any the general concerns of building houses on that site. In fact, the applicant was invited to withdraw the application to enable a redesign based on feedback from the urban design officer and landscape architect but declined.
Why the plan was rejected
- The site wouldn’t be able to fit 60 dwellings adequately.
- The scheme failed to “fit in” with the Kingsgrove development, ignoring key design principles of Kingsgrove.
- There were too few areas of public open spaces and areas of play.
- The public open space was pushed to the edges of the site, rather than being integrated throughout the proposed development.
- The proposed drainage strategy wasn’t deemed to be satisfactory.
- The proposed entry from Rutherford Road would involve too much of the hedgerow having to be removed.
Consultation responses
The application attracted lots of comments on topics such as
- site was deemed to be a green space in the Wantage Neighbourhood Plan.
- the strategic development allocation for Crab Hill was meant to be just 1500 homes, but with this application that was approaching 1600 homes.
- lack of local infrastructure to support the new homes.
- traffic going past the school
- impact on Kingsgrove residents
- residents of any new development wouldn’t be liable for any service charges from the Kingsgrove Estate Management Company despite being able to utilise them easily.
None of these were considered to be cause for the refusal of the application.
2025 application
It is very apparent that the people behind this application have gone to great lengths to fully understand the reasons for the rejection in 2023 and to address each of them. The Pre-Application Document.pdf, found in the folder structure under Pre-application Advice Given gives a detailed breakdown of each reason and what the new application does “differently”.
The plans show access to the site coming from Primrose Avenue, which seems a slightly odd place, given how narrow Primrose Avenue has been designed to be.
One thing that I have noticed from the comments already submitted is the comment that the land isn’t within the Local Plan area for development.
According to page 14 of the Delegated Report from the 2023 application,
The application site area is allocated for development in LPP1
where LPP1 is the adopted Local Plan 2031 Part 1.
Estate Management Company obligations
It is extremely natural to feel frustrated about an application such as this, in which it is obvious that residents of this new development would benefit greatly from the facilities and open space on Kingsgrove but wouldn’t be under any obligation to contribute anything by way of a service charge.
It is likely that they would have to pay a small service charge each year to manage the open space that is specifically part of this new development but it wouldn’t be in the order of the Kingsgrove Estate Management Company service charge.
To that end, I have approached the directors of the Kingsgrove Estate Management Company, to see if there could be some sort of stipulation that all open spaces on the new development be transferred to the Kingsgrove Estate Management Company, in exchange for the rights to pass over the verge from Primrose Avenue into the new site.
I will update this article when I hear from them.
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