Local planners have blocked an application from Fastned to build an EV charging hub that would have featured eight ultra-rapid bays, together with a toilet block and amenity building for vending machines.
The hub would have also featured solar panels on the canopy roof, low-emission lighting, benches and flower beds. It was to have been sited on a patch of land by a roundabout joining the A40 and B4449 on the north-east corner of the village of Eynsham, Oxfordshire.
West Oxford District Council (WODC) refused the application because “the proposed development would give rise to harm to the character and appearance of the area”.
The council also said Fastned had not provided sufficient information for its officers to “assess the potential impact of the proposed development on local ecology and biodiversity”, nor did the submission allow it to judge “whether the statutory requirement for 10% biodiversity net gain” would be met.
The decision was not made by the local authority’s planning committee, though, as council officers used their delegated powers to rule – a method of deciding whether to grant permission for about 90% of applications.
Eynsham Parish Council supported the hub subject to changes relating to pedestrian safety, access and visual impact, but WODC officers considered it would “be of an urban nature which when viewed from all directions, will appear incongruous and result in a marked change in the character and appearance of the site”. The council also warned that the site “lies within a protected species buffer for Eurasian Badgers”.
