Stoke Lyne Action Team

Save Baynards Green
Baynards Green, Junction 10, M40

Calling all our supporters!

Save Baynards Green

We have written an open letter to the councillors who refused these warehouses, asking them to stand by their decision and speak up for Baynards Green at the public inquiry on 22 September. The more names behind it, the harder it is for the Council to ignore. Sign today, it takes less than a minute.

✉  Sign our open letter to councillors See the site ↓
!

The threat now: the Local Plan

Cherwell’s Local Plan, which sets out where development should go, is now being examined by the Planning Inspectorate. There is a risk Baynards Green could be put forward as an additional allocation in the plan for warehouses. This would be fatal to our case at the inquiry and would completely undermine the fight to protect our countryside. This is the fight now.

The Council is already in special measures for, in the Government’s words, “not adequately performing their function of determining applications for planning permission for major developments”. There is a risk the Planning Inspectorate may ask for more employment sites to be found. If so, councillors should not even contemplate allocating these unsustainable sites.

How we got here: in January 2026 the Council’s Planning Committee refused all four Baynards Green schemes, and the applicants appealed. In May 2026 the Council decided it would not appear to defend the refusal its own elected members made, without the matter returning to committee or consulting residents or the Parish Council. That makes the Local Plan decision more important than ever.

Help fund the fight

Chip in to protect Baynards Green

Fighting this at the public inquiry means paying for expert planning witnesses, and that is expensive. We are crowdfunding to make sure the community can be properly represented. Every contribution, however small, helps us stand up to the developers.

♥  Donate to the campaign
Say NO to 13 sheds. Save Baynards Green. Stoke Lyne Action Team campaign graphic showing the proposed warehouses across the countryside
The site

Four schemes, one stretch of countryside

The schemes sit either side of Junction 10 of the M40, wrapping around the same land where a far smaller scheme was refused at appeal in 2019.

Aerial map of the Baynards Green site showing the Albion Land and Tritax Symmetry warehouse plots and the plot refused at appeal in 2019
Albion Land's plots lie to the west, Tritax Symmetry's to the east, around the plot refused at appeal in 2019.

The schemes in brief

Schemes now in play
4Warehouse schemes brought forward by Tritax and Albion, either side of Junction 10.
Refused by committee
January 2026, for character, landscape, traffic and infrastructure harm.
The 2019 precedent
A much smaller scheme on this land was refused at appeal for its impact on the area's open character.
The scale of it

Buildings out of all proportion

These are not modest units. The applicants' own drawings show structures that would tower over the open fields and dominate the landscape for miles.

Visualisation of a single warehouse shed outlined in red against an open green field, showing its vast scale
One shed, to scale. A single building outlined in red against the field it would occupy.
What we stand to lose

Open countryside, in every season

Drag the slider to see the open countryside as it is today, and as it would look filled with the proposed warehouses. Below, verified views show the same harm from every approach.

Photomontage of the proposed warehouses filling the horizon across the open countryside
The open countryside as it looks today, before the proposed development
Today Proposed

The view today, compared with the developers' own visualisation of the proposed sheds. Drag to compare.

Warehouse sheds seen across an open wheat field from behind a hedgerow
The open wheat field today, before the proposed development
TodayProposed
Across the fields from the south.
Warehouse sheds on raised ground seen over a winter hedgerow
The open countryside today, seen over a winter hedgerow
TodayProposed
Over the hedgerows in winter.
A single warehouse shed outlined in red against the open field
The open field today, before the proposed development
TodayProposed
The scale of a single shed.
About the campaign

Who we are

The Stoke Lyne Action Team is a group of local residents: neighbours, families, walkers and commuters, who came together to oppose the industrialisation of the countryside around Junction 10 of the M40.

We are not against all development. We are against the wrong development in the wrong place: warehouse schemes of a size and scale that would cause lasting harm to the landscape, the roads and the villages that depend on them.

Most of all, we believe residents deserve a council that stands behind the decisions its own committee makes. When those decisions are quietly reversed behind closed doors, the whole community is entitled to ask how and why.

The planning case

Why these schemes were refused

The Planning Committee and the 2019 Inspector identified serious, defensible reasons. These are the grounds the Council has now declined to defend.

01

Character & appearance

Vast industrial sheds wholly out of keeping with the open, rural landscape, the same harm the Inspector recognised in 2019.

02

Inappropriate location

Development on open countryside, conflicting with the Council's own local plan policies on where building should go.

03

Cumulative impact

Judged alongside the Oxfordshire rail freight interchange and other schemes pressing in around Junction 10, the combined harm is immense.

04

Roads & traffic

Thousands of extra HGV and vehicle movements onto already-stretched local roads, with consequences for safety and village life.

05

Water & infrastructure

Local water and sewerage capacity at Ardley does not have the headroom for development of this size.

06

Ecology & environment

Inadequate, out-of-date survey work and a failure to properly assess impacts on priority species and the wider environment.

The Local Plan decision is being made now. Your voice matters.

The strongest thing you can do today is tell the Council, in your own words, that Baynards Green must not be allocated in the Local Plan. Write to the Leader, the planning portfolio holder, your ward councillors and the planning officer. It takes a couple of minutes.

✉  Sign our open letter
Save Baynards Green
The story so far

How we got here

From a refusal at appeal in 2019 to the fight to keep Baynards Green out of the Local Plan today.

19
2019

Smaller scheme refused at appeal

A much smaller proposal on this land was refused at appeal for its harm to the area's character and its inappropriate location in open countryside.

Precedent set
21
2021 to 2022

The warehouse applications arrive

Applications come forward for warehouse development either side of Junction 10, far larger than the scheme refused in 2019.

Tritax SymmetryAlbion Land
26
Jan 2026

Committee refuses all four

Cherwell District Council's Planning Committee refuses all four schemes on grounds of landscape, location, traffic, infrastructure and ecology.

Refused by committee
5
May 2026

Developers appeal, Council withdraws

The developers appeal, and the Council says it will not defend the refusals. The decision was taken by officers under delegated powers, without returning to committee or consulting residents.

"The decision not to actively defend the refusals at appeal has not been taken lightly."

"Following detailed legal and professional advice, the council has had to consider not only the strength of local opposition but also the likelihood of successfully defending the reasons for refusal."

"Regrettably, the evidence available to the council is not considered strong enough to provide a realistic prospect of success at appeal."

Cllr Chris Brant, posting on Facebook

With the Council no longer defending the refusal, the Local Plan now before the Planning Inspectorate becomes the decisive battleground.

Council withdraws
6
Now

The Local Plan will decide it

Cherwell’s Local Plan is now being examined by the Planning Inspectorate. If Baynards Green is allocated for warehouses, it would be fatal to residents’ case at the inquiry and would completely undermine the fight to protect this countryside. With the Council already in special measures, councillors should not even contemplate allocating these sites.

The fight now
!
Over to you

That brings us to you!

We are continuing the fight, and we need your support to win. The clearest way to make a difference is to write to the Council in your own words and tell them Baynards Green must not be allocated in the Local Plan.

✉  Sign our open letter
Action needed now
Save Baynards Green
Get in touch

Contact the campaign

Whether you want to volunteer, share information, offer skills or simply find out more, we would love to hear from you. Use the form below, email us directly, or follow the campaign on social media.

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Prefer to write yourself? Email us at info@stokelyneactionteam.co.uk.

Reach us directly

Email

info@stokelyneactionteam.co.uk

Other ways to help

  1. Sign our open letter to councillors

    The single most useful thing you can do. sign our open letter to write in your own words.

  2. Spread the word

    Share this site with neighbours, and follow and share the campaign on Facebook and Instagram.

  3. Tell us what you know

    Local knowledge, photographs and contacts all help. Get in touch using the form.

Save Baynards Green
7 September 2026

Our open letter to the members of Cherwell District Council's Planning Committee, and to our ward councillors

0
supporters have signed

Dear Councillors of the planning committee and our ward,

We are asking you to speak against the warehouses and stand by the reasons for refusal laid out by the planning committee in January 2026.

The public inquiry into the 13 "XXL" warehouses near our village opens on 22 September 2026. You can help us save Baynards Green and protect our home.

You gave clear planning reasons. Your refusal protected our countryside, our roads, our communities and our homes. And it told us the system still worked. We were listened to.

Then, in May, the Council leadership walked away from defending your refusal. No transparency for us, total surrender to the developers. The residents of Stoke Lyne and the surrounding villages will have to defend our countryside at the inquiry alone. Stand with us.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr McLean, said that residents "deserve transparency, clear information and meaningful engagement". So, do we not? When the public asked how and why the Council withdrew from the appeals, the Council refused to tell us. This is about more than planning. This is about whether the decisions of elected representatives still count.

Now, your refusal is on trial. Turn your back as well, and the developers will tell the Inspector that even the decisionmakers have given up. Our protest will be belittled and cast aside. Or, stand with us and show that the January decision was made on substantive planning merits and should be upheld.

So, we ask you directly: speak at the inquiry. Back the people you represent. Stand behind the decision you made in January.

Tell us you will be there. Write to us at: info@stokelyneactionteam.co.uk.

We are counting on you.

Yours faithfully,

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