Given that it is now about four years since Crab Hill received outline planning permission and two years since the agreement for Grove Airfield was finally signed, it seemed time to give an update on how the developments are progressing.
The developers on Crab Hill (advertised as Kingsgrove) have received full planning permission for three phases of housing development so far and have an application in for a fourth.
St Modwen started building the 70 homes behind the cricket pitch about a year ago and have sales agreed for about 30 homes.
Cala homes are just starting to build 174 units in the centre of the site off the A417 and Bellway homes (currently building Grove Meadows near Bellingers Garage) will soon start on the 82 units opposite the layby on the A417.
St Modwen also have permission to build the new primary school on Crab Hill which will have a nursery, and 2 classes for each year from “Early Years” to Year 6. The school should be ready for the first pupils in September 2020.
Grove Airfield (advertised as Wellington Gate) is being built by Persimmon as either Persimmon or Charles Church. Although Permission and Charles Church are two different brands, delivering different home types, it will be the same people and the same construction company building the homes.
They have permission to build the first 191 homes in the South East corner of the site and have been building since late 2018. They have applied to change the mix of market homes/ affordable homes slightly and want to increase this phase by one additional home. They have sales agreed for about 20 homes.
The application for 55 Charles Church homes has also been approved but they need to agree the landscaping and drainage details before they can start building in earnest.
There are supposed to be three schools on Grove Airfield (one secondary and two primary) but there are proposals to combine one primary with the secondary school. Plans for this are awaiting the outcome of education discussions with Education and Skills Funding Agency and Oxfordshire County Council.
In summary, building is slow and any infrastructure only comes after hundreds of homes have been occupied.
As the Eastern Link Road from Mably Way to the A417 is part-funded by a £8 million grant from the Government we hope that it will be built on schedule by the end of next year.