THE WOLF IS BACK!  WE ARE FIGHTING TO SAVE OUR WAY OF LIFE AND NEED YOUR HELP

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION NOW

Great Wolf Resorts is appealing against a unanimous decision by planners to stop them building a super-sized American resort in the historic Oxfordshire village of Chesterton.

The proposed private complex will be massive: equivalent in size to two Tesco Extras with a permanently flood-lit car park for 900 cars, which will look like an airport long-stay car park. It will attract around half a million visitors a year, mostly travelling in private cars, bringing an estimated increase of 40 per cent more vehicles to existing roads.

Our countryside and the lifestyle enjoyed by dozens of villages now hangs in the balance – and will be decided by an inspector at the appeal hearing on 9th February 2021.

If this goes against us, we won’t have another chance to object.

Great Wolf’s owners have deep pockets and have engaged highly-paid consultants and lawyers – but we also have a crack team on our side and we are fighting back in conjunction with Cherwell District Council.

To help our cause, we need to show once again the strength of local opposition to this ugly complex, parts of which will be as tall as Buckingham Palace and which will have a devastating impact on a large swathe of Oxfordshire countryside.

Despite usually building resorts on the edge of major American cities served by large freeways, Great Wolf has not pursued other, more suitable sites for this mega-complex.  Instead it has unfathomably targeted the little village of Chesterton, set on a country road.

At the original planning meeting in March 2020, the plans were strongly opposed by 13 parish councils, Bicester Town Council and the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE). Around 1000 residents wrote letters of objection to Cherwell District Council and more than 1400 signed an earlier petition.

It was unanimously turned down by Cherwell District Council planners who are also fighting this appeal. But they really need support from local residents and anyone else who does not want to see our countryside destroyed in this way.

And this is where you come in.

Please, please take a minute to sign this petition. It really matters to us and we’re so grateful for your support.

HERE’S WHY:

Based on Great Wolf’s own plans, here’s what to expect in the next couple of years if this appeal is granted:

*500,000 visitors a year, mostly travelling by private car - meaning an 1,800 additional car trips a day on our local roads which are already stretched to capacity. This includes local country lanes, the accident hot-spot A34, plus the A41, A4095, and A4030.

*A huge, unsightly complex dominating the landscape. This will be 60 per cent larger than Bicester Village in terms of floor space or the equivalent of two Tesco Extra stores in impact.

·*The hotel alone will be four-storeys high and have 500 family rooms (for four people), so a capacity of around 2,000 visitors daily.

*An 84ft high water tower building (potentially the tallest building in Cherwell - taller than Buckingham Palace!)

*During the two-year construction phase, there will be 2,000 construction workers and projected 31,000 deliveries. This equates to an average of 65 delivery lorries a day travelling through local villages.

*A self-contained private resort with very little ‘trickle down’ trade for local businesses – in the U.S. 98% of guests remain on site to eat and drink during their stay.

*This will NOT be a public amenity. You’ll probably need to book an overnight stay to use the water park and any day passes are likely to be very expensive, dependent upon hotel occupancy (which almost certainly rules out school holidays and weekends).

*Great Wolf has been vague about day passes for the local community – but from what they have said they are likely to form a tiny proportion of overall sales.

*A complex that has been built without any attempt made to find a more suitable site.

*A substantial increase in air/noise pollution and destruction of wildlife habitat.

*A plan that was rejected because it was not in accordance with the Cherwell Local Development Plan.

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