Grove Airfield and Wellington Gate
The largest housing scheme in the Wantage and Grove area is on the former RAF Grove airfield, west of the village between Denchworth Road and Downsview Road. The site was first allocated in the Vale’s 2011 Local Plan, and that allocation still stands. Persimmon markets the new neighbourhood as Wellington Gate, and street names such as Liberator Lane and Horsa Close echo the site’s wartime flying history.
The plan
Outline permission for up to 2,500 homes was issued in July 2017, after Persimmon Homes and Taylor Wimpey signed a legal agreement with the district and county councils. The site covers more than 140 hectares, but only 64 hectares will be built on. The rest is for a community park, an ecology park and playing fields. The permission also provides for primary and secondary schools, a local centre with shops, a community hub, an 80-bed care home, the realignment of Denchworth Road and around 800 affordable homes.
What’s been built so far
Building has moved phase by phase. The council recorded 424 homes occupied by June 2022, 702 completed by March 2024 and 874 by April 2026. Eleven phases totalling 1,366 homes have detailed permission, and a twelfth application for 25 homes was under consideration in 2026. That leaves roughly 1,100 homes still without detailed plans.
- Homes completed: 874 of 2,500 (April 2026)
- Affordable housing: about 32 per cent
- Money for infrastructure: more than £40m secured in 2017 for schools and the eastern link road
Delays and debate
In its 2026 land supply statement the council noted that Persimmon had not yet exercised options on later parts of the land and that talks with the landowner were continuing. The council also said that one developer controlling more than 3,000 homes around Grove could slow supply, and has asked the Oxford Growth Commission whether another builder could help. The council’s current forecast runs completions through to about 2038.
What it means locally
While the community hub is still to come, the council and Persimmon set up a fund in 2023 so that residents’ groups can hire existing halls in Grove free of charge. The planned Grove Northern Link Road is meant to connect the airfield site to the A338, and bus improvements are expected to link it with the neighbouring Monks Farm and North West of Grove sites.
How to follow it
Applications can be looked up by reference on the Vale of White Horse planning register (for example P12/V0299/O, P25/V2681/RM).