Page 22 - Ickford NP Background Evidence

22 ICKFORD NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN : BACKGROUND EVIDENCE REPORT

Housing in Ickford
and

Little Ickford

The current housing stock Recent development of the Village
A full list of the 279 residential properties is shown in The most recent significant development was the building
Appendix X (Page 27). This list was compiled from the of 13 five bedroom houses in Farm Close in 1996. Since
Government website http://www.voa.gov.uk/ which lists then only a few (one or two) new houses have been built in
the council tax bands for all the properties in Ickford. the village. However, the village expanded greatly during
An asterisk against the council tax band (CTB) indicates the 1970’s with the building of Golders Close, Turnfields
that the property may have been modified or extended and other smaller developments.
and therefore the CTB may be reassessed should the
property be sold, although this appears to happen very
rarely. The number of bedrooms have been added Future development of the Village
wherever possible using the survey questionnaires, the Any further development in the village should be strictly
website www.zoopla.co.uk and local knowledge. limited due to the accessibility and flooding issues.
Since the number of bedrooms is not always known The village is only served by one bus route which is a
and the available price information is not reliable we spasmodic and circuitous route to Thame. The main bus
have used the CTBs to compare Ickford against AVDC route from Oxford to Aylesbury is some two miles away at
as a whole (Table n) and the two neighbouring villages Tiddington. This makes accessibility, particularly for the
of Worminghall and Shabbington (Table n+1). It can be aged and infirm, difficult. The lack of public transport also
seen from Table n that there is much lower proportion leads to greater car ownership and use which in turn causes
of CTBs A to D in Ickford and a correspondingly higher substantial parking problems.
proportion of CTBs E to H. This is perhaps only to be There are major flooding problems since the village is
expected since the majority of smaller properties, surrounded by flood plain and at times can be virtually cut
particularly flats are to be found in the larger towns. off by road. Therefore, any future development must not
The average council tax paid in Ickford is 22.3% above be allowed to aggravate these problems.
that for AVDC as a whole. However, in Table n+1, it The village is particularly attractive for young families
can be seen that the distribution of CTBs in Ickford is due to the excellent primary school and pre-school.
very similar to both Worminghall and Shabbington with Therefore, any future development should be restricted
all three villages having approximately 50% of properties in size (not more than 20 or 30 houses), and not greatly
in CTBs F to H compared with less than 20% for AVDC increase the perimeter of the residential area of the village,
as a whole. nor have any impact on the flood plain. It should include
affordable homes for young families.
VISION FOR ICKFORD – NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN
www.visionforickford.co.uk