HORSEFAIR WINDOWS

Horsefair windows. (1)

The Planners obviously have lots of spare time on their hands.

On Monday afternoon the full Planning Committee of West Oxfordshire District Council (about a dozen high-powered people including our very own newly-elected Annie) will be sitting down to solemnly consider whether a couple of replacement uPVC double-glazed windows at 21 Horsefair should be removed and replaced by "approved" ones. Approved would mean wooden, single-glazed sash windows - the kind that are never windproof in old stone buildings, where the single-glazing lets the cold in, where the sash mechanism invariably breaks and the wooden frames rot. Just the kind of thing you want in a street which is being rattled to bits by HGVs and which has the worst air quality in West Oxfordshire. The committee will be considering a detailed report drawn up by a Planning Officer who must have spent some time visiting the site and weighing her conclusions - including whether an enforcement order would infringe the householders Human Rights (I'm not kidding about this - read the report for yourself here http://www.westoxon.gov.uk/files/reports/.pdf ) If the committee in their wisdom decide on an enforcement order the householder will be required to make the change within six months at a cost of god know how many thousands of pounds. Apparently some local do-gooder has complained to the Council - probably somebody who lives in a modern insulated house behind nice tight-fitting double-glazed PVC windows where there is no street noise and you are not poisoned by nitrogen dioxide.. The Planning officers recommend that an enforcement order should be issued because... "the replacement windows are considered detrimental to the architectural integrity of the building and the character and appearance of the Chipping Norton Conservation Area". What a load of tosh. Leave aside that this is the same Planning Committee that is about to allow the Co-Op to completely demolish the historic Burgage Plots at the heart of the Conservation Area and allow them to build a modern monstrosity which would be detrimental to any area. The same Planning Committee that has allowed all the shop fronts in the market Square to be ruined by garish fascias. The same Planning Committee that has allowed garden grabbing all over the Conservation Area and allows a Kebab van with an illuminated sign to desecrate the Market Square every day of the week. Leave all that aside. The fact is that there are PVC windows all along Horsefair and Spring Street. Scores of them. There are lots of "georgian" uPVC windows in the huge Victorian building just a few doors away - at least a dozen of them. There are uPVC windows in the house next door to No 21. Either the planners haven't noticed all this or they have condoned them by not issuing enforcement notices. To start picking on one householder at this late stage of the piece is just plain daft. Is this some kind of witch hunt Don't the Planning Committee have better things to do with their time Their conclusions say....."The objections to the installation of the windows are serious ones" Who are they kidding I thought local planning decisions were being handed back to town councils The sooner the better if this case is anything to go by!!

PS Thanks to a reader for a snap of the original window. What's the fuss all about How is the new window "seriously detrimental to the integrity of the building" Its the same as the old one. There's dirty work afoot here!!

Horsefair windows. (2)

Nothing is ever what it seems. The do-gooder complaining was Cicely Maunder. Cicely's complaint about the windows is only a small part of a much bigger and worthwhile campaign by her to stop a kebab shop opening on these premises. She is acting in her capacity as Chairman of the Welfare Charities who are the landlord of several of the houses in Horsefair and thinks a kebab shop there would not be any good for her tenants. Apologies for suggesting she was just being a busybodY! Not sure of the tactics though. The Planners clearly can't act on rumours about what might be in the pipeline. The report on the windows is still potty and a negative decision on the windows issue alone could lay them open to an appeal which they would probably lose. Much better for everybody to wait for a change of use application when I think we would all sign up for a co-ordinated STOP THE KEBAB SHOP CAMPAIGN.