Were you aware of planning application 20/03353/OUT for a 12,000 – 14,000 sq ft. supermarket, with an 86 space car park, on the Cotefield site at Bodicote (opposite Bannatynes)?
If you weren’t, it is too late to comment, as the application was submitted last November and went to the Cherwell Planning Committee in April, where it was approved.
While some Adderbury residents may welcome a large supermarket within walking distance, there are several reasons for concern:
- Documents submitted with the application list our village shop, Adderbury Stores, as one of those likely to be adversely affected by the development.
- Traffic on our local roads may increase, particularly through East Adderbury and Twyford. This will probably include an increased volume of delivery vehicles as well as cars.
- A large supermarket one field away from the Adderbury parish boundary makes our village more attractive for new housing, as developers can argue that Adderbury has more facilities than other villages.
Why has this application not received more publicity? Well, Adderbury Parish Council was not asked to comment on the application, and so it did not appear on any parish council meeting agendas, and as far as we know, has not been discussed. We are unsure of the reason for this, as the Parish Council have been asked to comment on no less than six other applications on the Cotefield site, as well as the Longford Park application, which is actually further away from the Parish boundary. We believe that the Parish Council must be aware of the supermarket application, as Mrs Diane Bratt, Chair of Adderbury Parish Council, is one of the directors of the applicant company, Cotefield Holdings Ltd.
It is disappointing that this application has not received more publicity, and that residents of Adderbury have not had more opportunity to comment. Now that outline planning permission for the supermarket has been granted, we encourage all residents of Adderbury to support our village shop whenever possible – shopping locally is good for the environment and helps to reduce traffic on our village roads.
The owners of Adderbury Stores, Deepa and Dave Bansal, worked hard to support the village during the pandemic, commuting daily from Northampton and stopping at the cash and carry on the way home to stock up. They were actually given an Unsung Heroes award by Victoria Prentis for all they have done for the community during lockdown. Now it is our turn to support them!
**UPDATE**
Since this article was published, we understand that the Adderbury Parish Clerk has suggested that WARA is carrying out a “continual and ongoing bullying campaign” against Adderbury Parish Chair, Mrs Diane Bratt – see screenshot below.
Firstly, we would like to point out that the potential impact of the Cotefield supermarket development on Adderbury Stores was in fact raised by Councillor Chris Heath (former councillor for Adderbury ward) at the Cherwell Planning Meeting in April 2021.
Councillor Heath gave a number of reasons for proposing refusal of the supermarket application, including:
“A significant risk of Bodicote Spar closing, and no mention of the village shop in Adderbury which would probably also be affected.”
Her proposal to refuse was seconded by Councillor Pratt and also by Councillor Reynolds, who also mentioned how “even larger villages are now losing their shops“.
Anyone interested in hearing Councillor Heath’s complete list of reasons for proposing refusal of the application can do so by watching the webcast.
Secondly, WARA does not condone bullying in any shape or form. Many current and former WARA committee members have received deeply unpleasant and personal comments via social media and the village websites. These include ex-Adderbury Parish Councillor Mr Rick Atkinson referring to WARA as “a nasty little group of selfish people“.
Finally, we believe that local residents have the right to receive information which has a bearing on their lives and community. In this case, all of this information is already in the public domain – you can read it for yourselves for free by visiting the Cherwell Planning website.
