The Planning Inspector has rejected an appeal by Gladman Developments against the earlier refusal by AVDC to grant consent for the building of 200 homes on land between Little Horwood Road and Shipton hamlet. In her summing up at the end of a ten page report the Inspector, Mrs Jennifer Vyse,  that the proposals amounted to an ”unjustified development that would constitute an unnecessary intrusion into open countryside”.  The developers now have a six week window in which they can , if they wish, challenge the decision in the High Court on legal grounds relating to any alleged impropriety or error in the conduct of the appeal hearing.

Commenting after the decision was announced, Llew Monger, who had represented the Town Council throughout the four day hearing and site visit, said he was delighted by the outcome and particularly pleased for those residents at Shipton and in the Elmfields area who would have suffered from the development.