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Timeline

Seventeen years of promises, floods, inquiries and appeals — every entry drawn from the published evidence.

• 22 June 2026

  Consortium lodges reviewed application

  A reviewed application for 1,250 homes rests on Active Travel in place of the West End Link. NWAG's objection is submitted to the WODC Planning Portal; NWAG posts its comments in August 2026.

• December 2025

  NWAG responds to the 2043 Local Plan consultation

  Response to questions 11 & 12: the NWSDA is not viable on audited costs of £91.3m — £73,000 per dwelling — and "should be removed from the 2043 Local Plan". Read the submission

• 2024

  Appeal dismissed — and the Consortium is revealed as fragmented

  A2 Dominion's appeal for Parcel 3 (23/00025/APPEAL) heard that there is "no Equalisation Agreement" between the five developers of Parcels 1 & 2. The Inspector dismisses the appeal: the SDA must be masterplanned as one. NWAG objects to application 24/00482/OUT (April 2024).

• May 2024

  £91.3m — the viability number

  WODC's CIL Viability Assessment (NWAG update), using 2024 BCIS data, puts required strategic infrastructure at £91.3m — a £73,000 build-cost levy per house, before any town or parish CIL request.

• 2023

  The 2041 Plan takes shape — NWAG responds three times

  EIA scoping (May), a letter to the WODC Principal Planner (25 July) and the Local Plan 2041 submission (October).

• February 2021

  Petition reaches 1,775

  Past the 1,500-signature threshold at which WODC has to formally reconsider the development. News post

• December 2020

  Fifty-four properties flooded

  Internal flooding at Mill House Care Home, Riverside Gardens and Riverside House; evacuations required. The Section 19 investigation follows. Read the report

• 2020 · 2019

  Chairman in the press; Taylor Wimpey tries again

  Stuart Harrison makes the landscape case in the Witney Gazette, Oxford Times and Oxford Mail (May 2020). Taylor Wimpey's renewed Parcel 2 application — after 2017 and 2019 attempts to move forward singularly — is opposed by NWAG.

• September 2018

  2031 Local Plan adopted — WIT2 and WEL2 enshrined

  The Inspector's report is unambiguous: "development would require the construction of the West End link… the road will be required for the full development." WODC adopts the plan with up to 1,400 homes at North Witney.

• 2017

  Public inquiry — NWAG attends every day

  July 2017, two weeks at WODC's offices. NWAG responds to the Sustainability Appraisal consultation in December. In March, "Questions that need answering" challenge Cllr Toby Morris's account of the inspector's role.

• 2014

  NWAG formed; first submission; 1,000 signatures

  WODC publishes the Draft 2031 Local Plan; NWAG forms and submits (September 2014), raising a petition of over 1,000 signatures presented to WODC, the Prime Minister and the Government Inspector. OCC's TRA1 modelling shows traffic more than doubling. December 2013–January 2014: flooding in West End, Bridge Street and Riverside Gardens.

• 2012

  The Consortium's commitments, in writing

  Meridian's Statement of Commitment to WODC (March) and highways delivery trajectory (September); the Consortium's Developer Framework Document (December). WODC-commissioned Kirkham Landscape Report finds "high landscape sensitivity" and a landscape "worth preserving".

• 2009

  "Fund in full" — the original premise

  The North Witney Consortium's leaflet and submission to WODC promises to "fund in full" the West End Link, affordable housing, frequent bus services, links to Hanborough station, a new primary school, community centre and doctors' surgery. Read the leaflet

• July 2007

  240 properties flooded — "the biggest threat to life"

  The Environment Agency's flood review records the Hailey Road Drain overflowing, "an alarming flow travelling overland down the Hailey Road at very high speed", and manhole covers lifting. Read the report