Historic boatyard appeal fails

The Castle Mill site has been boarded up since 2007

A planning inspector has dismissed an appeal to build 54 flats at an historic boatyard in Oxfordshire.

Campaigners have been fighting to stop the development at the Castle Mill site in Jericho for more than three years.

The appeal was dismissed on the grounds of a lack of waterside provision and the visual impact of the development.

Spring Residential lodged the appeal after the council rejected its plans last year. Campaigners say they may make an offer to buy the land.

Concerns over the lack of affordable houses had also been raised.

The Golden Compass

The planning inspector report stated: "My findings in favour of the scheme on the affordable housing issue are not sufficient to outweigh concerns over waterside provision or the visual impact of the development, with implications for Jericho and the setting of the church."

In 2005, opponents barricaded themselves into the boatyard to stop bailiffs clearing the site after British Waterways sold it to developers.

They were evicted from the site in 2007, but vowed to carry on fighting the plans to turn the area into luxury flats.

Since then the Castle Mill site has been boarded up and empty.

The boatyard inspired novelist Philip Pullman in his trilogy, His Dark Materials, the first part of which has been made into the film The Golden Compass.

"It's good news," he said about the decision.

"It's an interesting little place, it represents such a complicated mix of things, business, work, activity and the interchange of daily life.

"To see that disappear under a monolithic block of flats is horrible. I'd like to see the site developed properly, with the boatyard at the heart of it."