Oxfordshire - Strategic Rail Freight Interchange Planning Application & Examination Hearings

Oxfordshire Railfreight Limited

PLANNING INSPECTORATE REFERENCE NUMBER: TR050008

Rule 13(6) Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010

Notice of Preliminary meeting and Hearings

Notice is hereby given that, at the date, time and location set out below, the following preliminary meeting and hearings will be held by the Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport) in relation to an application made by Oxfordshire Railfreight Limited of 2nd Floor Gaspe House, 66-72 Esplanade, St. Helier, Jersey, JE1 1GH (“the Applicant”) for a Development Consent Order under the Planning Act 2008. The Application (Reference No. TR050008) was submitted by the Applicant to the Secretary of State c/o the Planning Inspectorate under 37 of the Planning Act 2008 on 31 March 2026 and was accepted on 28 April 2026 (“the Application”).

Interested Parties and Affected Persons wishing to speak at the preliminary meeting or the hearings should notify the Planning Inspectorate in writing by Procedural Deadline A - Tuesday 15 September 2026 using the Planning Inspectorate’s event registration form: EVENT PARTICIPATION FORM - TR050008 - Oxfordshire Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (Page 1 of 5)

If you require assistance with registering your attendance, please contact the Case Team at OxfordshireSRFI@planninginspectorate.gov.uk, or by calling 0303 444 5000.

The preliminary meeting and hearings will also be held as virtual events, and it will be possible to join them via any standard internet browser or alternatively by telephone dial-in.

The Procedural Deadline and subsequent Deadlines are set out in the Draft Examination Timetable, available to view in the Rule 6 Letter on the project page of the Planning Inspectorate’s website (https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/TR050008).

Further information regarding the preliminary meeting, hearings, the examination of the Application, the full timetable (and amendments), how and when to register to speak at the hearings, and how and when to make written submissions will also be available on the on the project page of the Planning Inspectorate’s website (link above), or by contacting the Inspectorate.

Please note that hearings will be recorded, and the recordings will be published on the project page of the Inspectorate’s website as soon as practicable after each hearing has taken place.

Any further hearings will be publicised as required by the Inspectorate and by the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 (as amended).

Summary of the Project:

The Application is for a new Strategic Rail Freight Interchange, warehousing, highway improvements and associated infrastructure on land adjacent to the Chiltern Main Line Railway, southwest of Junction 10 of the M40 motorway, east of the former Upper Heyford Air Base and to the west of the B430 in Cherwell District and the county of Oxfordshire (the “Proposed Development”). In summary, the application seeks consent for:

• A Rail Freight Terminal served via new connections to the Chiltern Main Line Railway (part of the Strategic Rail Freight Network), including container storage, HGV parking and associated buildings;

• Works within the Landfill area adjacent to the Chiltern Main Line Railway to allow a rail connection and the Principal Access into the Main Site;

• Works to the Ardley Tunnel to provide W8 gauge through the tunnel;

• Up to 603,850 sq.m. (approx. 6.5 million square feet) of distribution and logistics (use class B8) floorspace, including ancillary office accommodation, plus up to 201,283 sq.m. of additional floorspace in the form of mezzanines;

• Demolition of existing structures and new earthworks to create development plateaus to accommodate distribution buildings and associated yard and parking areas, drainage attenuation features, and extensive perimeter earthworks bunding which will form part of the screening (landscape and visual mitigation) of the Proposed Development;

• Improvements to Junction 10 of the M40 involving works on the A43 east of the M40, new slip roads to and from the M40, and including an Ardley Bypass to the east of Ardley which will also form a new site access road to the Main Site;

• A Heyford Park Link Road which runs from Camp Road south-east of Heyford Park and south of the proposed development to a new junction on the B430;

• A Middleton Stoney Relief Road around the north-eastern side of the village connecting from a new junction on the B430 to the existing B4030 which links over the M40 to Bicester;

• The Principal Access to the Main Site will be from the new Ardley Bypass and from a new roundabout on the B430 in the north-eastern corner of the Main Site, south of the railway line. This primary access will serve all HGV traffic accessing the site. A secondary access into the Main Site for bus, pedestrian and cycles will be via the Heyford Park Link Road at the southern end of the Main Site;

• Highway works to be carried out in connection with the improvement of J9 of the M40 motorway;

• Additional off-site highway works to be carried out at the junction of Camp Road and Chilgrove Drive, Middleton Road, the B430 west of the Main Site, Quarry Cottages, Middleton Stoney Crossroads and Aves Ditch and including improvements to the A4095/B4030 roundabout;

• Measures to enable and encourage sustainable travel, including improvements and new links to existing Public Rights of Way, and provision of new foot and cycle links to and within the site, as well as connections to enable bus provision to serve the Main Site via the secondary access to the site from the Heyford Park Link Road;

• Retention and redevelopment of the Grade II listed Threshing Barn at Ashgrove Farm as part of a ‘central hub’ of shared and communal facilities for employees and other users of the Main Site, as well as the retention of the Ashgrove Cottages for rail and estate management related activities;

• Retained key landscape features and new landscaping and planting, including on the proposed earthwork bunds within the Main Site, as part of a comprehensive landscaping and green infrastructure scheme across all elements of the proposed development, including habitat creation to deliver a net gain in biodiversity; and

• Associated infrastructure and engineering works including surface and foul drainage, and utilities, including a foul drainage outfall.

A map showing the location of the proposed Oxfordshire Strategic Rail Freight Interchange forms part of the Application (2.4 Location Plan Order Limits). This can be viewed at the following link: https://nsip-documents.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/published-documents/TR050008-000578-Documents/2.02.4%20-%20xSRFI-BWB-LSI-XX-DR-CH-0140_Location%20Plan%20(Order%20Limits)(low%20res)-S3-P06.pdf

Copies of Application Documents

The Application form and the accompanying documents, plans, maps and Environmental Statement (ES) and Non-Technical Summary (NTS) can be viewed and downloaded free of charge online on the Oxfordshire Strategic Rail Freight Interchange project page of the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Planning website under the documents tab: https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/TR050008/documents

The documents will be available on the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Planning website throughout the examination period.