PLANS for a new industrial park just off the M40 have been submitted to Cherwell District Council.

The proposals would see a mix of industrial space, warehouses and offices built at junction 11 in north Oxfordshire while a pedestrian tunnel would be constructed under the motorway linking the new park with Banbury.

Developers Monte Blackburn say the site, if approved, could bring hundreds of jobs to the area.

Previous plans for the site, known as ‘Banbury 15’, included stand-alone offices and a motorway services area, but were refused in 2018 by the Cherwell’s Planning Committee.

A spokesperson for Monte Blackburn, said: “We have been consulting on proposals for this site since the beginning of 2017 and heard a range of views of what might be suitable in this location.

This is what the motorway services plan was going to look like 

Initial proposals for Banbury 15 were refused at Planning Committee so we listened carefully to the statements made by councillors, for example that there was little demand for office space and no appetite for motorway services.

“These new plans respond far more directly to the specification set out in the Local Plan and suit this location – adjacent to the M40 – extremely well.”

The new industrial park would also bring improved investment in public transport to the area, according to the developer.

Monte Blackburn said discussion ‘with several potential occupiers’ had already taken place.

If approved, the site could be in operation within two years.