Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Notice varied and upheld1 August 20253361189

Emmanuel Ranch, Windmill Lane, Towersey, Oxfordshire, OX9 3QQ

Planning appeal 3361189 at Emmanuel Ranch, Windmill Lane, Towersey, Oxfordshire, OX9 3QQ (South Oxfordshire District Council) was allowed in part (a split decision) on 1 August 2025 by Inspector Madge M, following a hearing. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: The suitability of the location to accommodate the development.

Change of use of land to use as a residential caravan site for 3 gypsy families, including the stationing of 6 caravans of which no more than 3 are to be static caravans/mobile homes, together with the laying of hardsta nding

Authority
South Oxfordshire District Council
Appeal type
enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure
Hearing
Development
caravan-gypsy · Minor traveller and caravan pitches
Inspector
Madge M
Postcode
OX9 3QQ

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • The suitability of the location to accommodate the development
  • The effect of the development on the character and appearance of the surrounding countryside
  • The effect of the development on biodiversity, with regards to the loss of habitat and impact on protected species
  • The effect of the development on residents' living conditions with regards to amenity space provision, contamination, drainage and flooding
  • Whether any other considerations would outweigh any identified harm and/or policy conflict

What decided it

The Council's inability to demonstrate a deliverable 5-year supply of traveller pitches and the lack of any alternative sites for the appellant's family clearly outweighed the identified limited/moderate harms.

Significant weight attached to the lack of a 5-year supply of traveller pitches, absence of alternative sites and the children's best interests clearly outweighed the limited harm to character and appearance, moderate harm to biodiversity, and negligible weight against intentional unauthorised development.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy H14Policy STRAT1Policy TOW1Policy DES1Policy DES6Policy DES7Policy DES8Policy DES2Policy ENV1Policy TOW4Policy ENV2Policy ENV3Policy TOW7Policy DES5Policy ENV11Policy ENV12Policy TRANS5Policy EP4Policy FW1Policy FW2Policy INF4
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 110Paragraph 115

How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.

See how each was applied

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

19 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision
An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter
Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.
Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app
Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.
Start your free trial

More decisions in South Oxfordshire

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025

  1. Allowed7 October 20266005521
    Land Rear of The Paddocks, Lower Icknield Way, Chinnor, OX39 4GR
  2. Planning permission granted18 September 20263374155
    Land at Town Farm Cottage, Brook Street, Kingston Blount, OX39 4RZ
  3. Allowed9 September 20266011224
    The Elms, Woodperry Road, Beckley, OX3 9UZ
  4. Allowed4 September 20266007396
    Emmanuel Ranch, Windmill Road, Towersey, Thame, OX9 3QH
  5. Notice upheld11 August 20263358283
    Land at Toll Lodge Farm, London Road, Tetsworth, Oxon, OX9 7AZ

The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every appeal around it, with its letter to read and the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out.