Oppose these massive industrial sheds
We are fighting to stop Baynards Green being allocated for development in Cherwell’s Local Plan, which is now being examined by the Planning Inspectorate. Allocation would be fatal to our case at the inquiry and would completely undermine our fight to protect this open countryside.
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.
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
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.
These are not modest units. The applicants' own drawings show structures that would tower over the open fields and dominate the landscape for miles.
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.
The view today, compared with the developers' own visualisation of the proposed sheds. Drag to compare.
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 Committee and the 2019 Inspector identified serious, defensible reasons. These are the grounds the Council has now declined to defend.
Vast industrial sheds wholly out of keeping with the open, rural landscape, the same harm the Inspector recognised in 2019.
Development on open countryside, conflicting with the Council's own local plan policies on where building should go.
Judged alongside the Oxfordshire rail freight interchange and other schemes pressing in around Junction 10, the combined harm is immense.
Thousands of extra HGV and vehicle movements onto already-stretched local roads, with consequences for safety and village life.
Local water and sewerage capacity at Ardley does not have the headroom for development of this size.
Inadequate, out-of-date survey work and a failure to properly assess impacts on priority species and the wider environment.
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.
✉ Tell the Council: do not allocate Baynards GreenFrom a refusal at appeal in 2019 to the fight to keep Baynards Green out of the Local Plan today.
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.
Applications come forward for warehouse development either side of Junction 10, far larger than the scheme refused in 2019.
Cherwell District Council's Planning Committee refuses all four schemes on grounds of landscape, location, traffic, infrastructure and ecology.
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.
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.
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.
✉ Tell the Council: do not allocate Baynards GreenWhether 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.
Fill this in and press send. It opens in your own email app with everything ready to go, so nothing is collected or stored by this page.
✉ Open in my email app & sendPrefer to write yourself? Email us at info@stokelyneactionteam.co.uk.
The single most useful thing you can do. Use our letter tool to write in your own words.
Share this site with neighbours, and follow and share the campaign on Facebook and Instagram.
Local knowledge, photographs and contacts all help. Get in touch using the form.
Cherwell’s Local Plan is now being examined by the Planning Inspectorate. If Baynards Green (Junction 10, M40) is allocated for warehouses, it would be fatal to residents’ case at the inquiry and would completely undermine the fight to protect this countryside. 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”. Use this page to tell councillors and officers, in your own words, not to allocate these sites.
Your name and village. Letters from real, named residents carry the most weight.
Pick the points you agree with, then say it in your own words. This is the part that counts.
Open it in your own email app and press send, straight to the Leader, the planning portfolio holder, your ward councillors and the planning officer.
Your name and where you live. Councils give little weight to anonymous or out-of-area letters, so please use your real details.
Only used to open the letter in your own email app, nothing is sent or stored by this page.
Optional, but powerful. A line about how long you’ve lived here or why this place matters to you makes your letter unmistakably real.
Tick the concerns you genuinely share. Each adds a short paragraph you can then edit. Choose only what you actually agree with.
Or pick something to write about, choose whatever’s true for you:
These form the closing of your letter. Adjust to suit.
This opens a new email to all the recipients. Because the letter is long, it is copied to your clipboard, just paste it into the email body with Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on a Mac) and send. If your email app does not open, use the buttons below to copy the letter and the addresses by hand.