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Thames Farm, Reading Road, Lower Shiplake, RG9 3PH

P24/S2642/FULFull ApplicationRefused
Full

Refused on 16 July 2025

Council decision: Refusal of Planning PermissionPlanning committee1 reason for refusal

Approximate location: the centre of the postcode, not the exact property.

Proposal

Engineering operations associated with ground stabilisation works. (Amended and updated documents received 09/01/25, 17/02/25, 18/02/25, 14/03/25 and 09/05/25).

Received
19 August 2024
Decision level
Planning committee
  1. Received19 Aug
  2. Validated19 Aug
  3. Consult.13 Jun
  4. Target18 Jul
  5. Decided16 Jul

Decided in 331 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is a full planning application at Thames Farm, Reading Road, Lower Shiplake, RG9 3PH. South Oxfordshire has handled 3,382 applications of this type. This one was decided in 331 days, 39 weeks longer than South Oxfordshire's typical decision time. There have been 2 other applications at this address. We hold 1,428 applications in total for the RG9 postcode area.

96% of full applications at South Oxfordshire District Council were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.Planning something similar? See what gets approved on your street

Why it was refused

  1. The application site is underlain by a principal aquifer and is within a groundwater Source Protection Zone and there is water abstraction for public water supply at a water treatment works near the site. The application fails to demonstrate that the proposed engineering operations and the ground stabilisation works would not pose an unacceptable risk to the aquifer and public water abstraction. As such, the proposed development is contrary to Policies ENV12 and DES7 of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035 and Policy ENV5 of the Joint Henley and Harpsden Neighbourhood Plan 2020-2035.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
RG9 3PH
Application type
Full Application
Scale / size
Large

Planning application dates

Date validated
19 August 2024
Consultation expiry
13 June 2025
Consultation start
23 August 2024
Consultation end
13 June 2025
Target decision date
18 July 2025
Decision issued
17 July 2025
Application expires
18 July 2025

Applicant and agent

Agent
Stantec

Planning decision

Statutory period
333 days

Appeal

Appeal status
No appeal lodged.

Appeal history

3373696
Allowed
Type: Planning AppealProcedure: InquiryDecision: 29 May 2026Dev Type: Major dwellings

Additional information

Documents
615

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations at the address point. Ones next to the site may also apply.

  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Not published by this council, so not checked: Article 4 directions. Ask the council if these matter.

Possibly incomplete for this council: tree preservation orders.

Also checked, none recorded (22)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: South Oxfordshire

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