126 new houses on land at Letchmere Farm, Bicester
David Wilson Homes, a housing developer based in Hungerford, has applied to build 126 new houses on land at Letchmere Farm within Upper Heyford, nestled just under the RAF Upper Heyford Conservation Area, in Bicester, Oxfordshire.
The site is located on the northern side of Camp Road in Upper Heyford.
An open green field site is located to the east of the Upper Heyford Park Central development, with Camp Road running along the southern edge of the site and Chilgrove Drive to the east.
The site is approximately six miles northwest of Bicester and about a 30-minute drive north of Oxford.
The proposal states 30 per cent of the homes will be affordable, including 25 per cent as first homes.
A mix of one, two, three and four bed properties
There will be a mix of one, two, three and four-bed properties, a new primary vehicular access from Camp Road, secondary vehicular access for a number of other plots, a central area of public open space, additional landscaping and a sustainable urban drainage system.
In the design and access section of the application, it states: “The focus is to encourage more sustainable active modes of transport by providing new pedestrian accesses and link to the wider context of Heyford Park.
“New routes within the site will look to promote a healthy lifestyle connecting people to the green open spaces provided.
Creating a place with a strong and unique identity
“These routes will be formed via tactile surface routes or informal mown grass footways.
“The overall objective is to create a place with a strong and unique identity that provides a suitable response to the existing site conditions and its surroundings.
The built form, materials and details have taken their influence from the surrounding area.
“Design cues have been taken from new Heyford Park development and the existing Officers’ Housing, located to the west of the proposal.
“This is to form a seamless extension to this new development.”
The former RAF Upper Heyford airbase as a whole is designated as a conservation area, reflecting the role the airbase played in the Cold War years, and includes the distinctive architecture and layouts which arose from that use.
Dating back to the pre-Roman period
The village of Upper Heyford dates back to at least the pre-Roman period. The village is just east of the river Cherwell.
“Upper” distinguishes it from Lower Heyford which is about 1 mile ‘lower’ downstream along the Cherwell valley.
