Appointing a Facilitator For Community Planning
Alongside Woodstock Town Council, we're appointing a facilitator to help us produce an infrastructure and community delivery plan for Woodstock.
The facilitator, and plan, will aim to help identify the existing and future needs of Woodstock, in particular, in the context of the sites allocated for development on our land in the West Oxfordshire Local Plan.
Its main aims will be to ensure the special character of the existing communities are preserved, facilities within the town are enhanced where necessary and any new developments successfully integrate with the existing communities in Woodstock.
The plan will look to identify and prioritise the hard and soft infrastructure required for the town to continue to prosper and thrive in the future.
Roger File, Property Director for Blenheim Estate, said:
“Jointly with Woodstock Town Council we are looking to appoint a facilitator who will be able to ensure the fullest possible community and stakeholder enggement, to identify the most important local issues and to use this to develop a detailed plan to bring about specific improvements required to support the proposed developments."
A key aspect of the plan will be to establish early open consultation sessions and focus groups to identify key issues for the town, its business, and its residents.
It is thought that priorities may include the doctors' surgery, schools and pre-schools, green spaces and parking.
We're currently developing land that the Estate owns at Woodstock East. The development, which will include a total of 300 new homes alongside plans for some small businesses' accomodation, is anticipated to take between five and seven years to complete.
“Blenheim Estate's property development plans present a unique opportunity for a single landowner, with an on-going, multi-generational interest in the town, to help facilitate holistic infrastructure improvements in the town,” Roger added.
Property is an integral part of Blenheim's 10-year development programme that includes tripling the Estate's contribution to the local economy and creating a £45m endowment fund to ensure the long-term future of the World Heritage Site.