Proposed plans to build a retirement village mix of apartments and bungalows including communal facilities, landscaping, car parking and public open space has been rejected by Rugby Borough Council planning committee last night.
Planning officers had recommended the application for refusal. Grounds for refusal included;
* The proposed development would result in the loss of a substantial area of designated open space.
* The proposed development would not result in an acceptable relationship with established mature trees that are located on the application site and protected by Tree Preservation Orders.
* The proposed development would be constructed on land which forms part of the setting to Oakfield House (32 Bilton Road) which is a grade II listed building. This land also serves to preserve and enhance the setting of Bilton Road Conservation Area.
Rugby Borough Council submitted an offer to buy Oakfield Rec in July last year. The site is owned by the Heart of England Cooperative Society who leased the land to the Council which maintained it as a park. The Co-Op secured the site with a six foot mental fence in June 2016 and declined further productive discussions on any new long-term lease.
Conservative Council leader Cllr. Michael Stokes informed local press last year, “I know from my discussions with the Save Oakfield group and from the local ward councillors that the Oakfield Recreation Ground fulfils an important role in a community that has limited access to open space. We have offered to buy the site on previous occasions and been turned down, but one year on since the site was fenced off and with no prospect of the land being put to any other use at this time we want to remove any doubt the Co-op may have that our offer still stands. It has long been an ambition of ours to improve Oakfield Rec as a community facility, and with a positive response we can still make that happen.”
More information on the recent planning application including reports can be found on the Borough Councils website; www.rugby.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/929/planning_committee
Photo: Plans for a retirement village have been refused by the Councils Planning Committee.
Photo 2: Cllr. Michael Stokes, "It has long been an ambition of ours to improve Oakfield Rec as a community facility...."
