News item in the Didcot Herald
DEVELOPERS aim to start building new housing estate in Oxfordshire “as quickly as possible”.
Taylor Wimpey has bought half of the Valley Park site, based between Harwell and Didcot, which has been given outline planning permission for 4,254 new homes.
The site, south of the A4130 and west of Great Western Park, will include 1,489 affordable homes as well as community facilities including two new primary schools, a Special Education Needs school, shops, sports facilities, playing fields, allotments and open spaces.
Outline planning permission was granted by the Vale of White Horse District Council in February 2022.
Taylor Wimpey submitted a reserved matters planning application for the first phase of 246 homes, to be known as Primrose Gardens, in February 2022 following a public consultation in November 2021.
If approved, Taylor Wimpey aims to start work on site as quickly as possible. The other half of the site will be developed by Persimmon Homes.
Both developers, as part of the section 106 agreement, will provide £58m to the district council and Oxfordshire County Council to improve local facilities and infrastructure.
Contributions include 12m towards local highways, £9m to secondary education, over £2.8m to healthcare facilities and £3.5m to public transport.
Leisure facilities will receive a £3m contribution and Didcot Library will receive £900,000. A total of £200,000 will be designated to biodiversity.
Danielle Heard, sales and marketing director for Taylor Wimpey Oxfordshire, said: “We are looking forward to discussing our proposals for Primrose Gardens with councillors in the coming weeks.”
