Cotswold Automotive Park gets final approval

After a prolonged delay, the £130 million Cotswold Automotive Park (CAP) with its Mullin Museum has got the final approval and detailed design work could start within weeks.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee voted to approve outline planning permission for the Foster + Partners-designed scheme to build the park on 63 hectares of the former Enstone Airfield, in June 2019.

But two unsuccessful requests to have the scheme called in by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) were made, causing it to be delayed by several months.

Now, after lengthy legal discussions, the plan, already the second attempt after a previous proposal was withdrawn, has had the final agreement from the council and design work is set to start in July.

Peter Mullin, who has a remarkable collection of classic cars in a museum in California, is behind the development and a Mullin Museum will be the centrepiece of CAP. There will also be a members’ club, showrooms, landscaped exercise track of more than 3kms and 28 holiday lodges.

The museum’s curators will have access to up to 30 of Mr Mullin’s collection of 190 cars at any one time. That collection includes an array of Art Deco cars which will sit alongside exhibits from leading collectors from around the world.

Project director Kieran Hedigan said: “It has taken five years to get to this milestone from the seeds of an idea which was first conceived by Peter Mullin at his California home in 2015.

“All of the planning authority’s concerns have been resolved and the jobs and tourism the park will generate for many years to come are now welcomed by the business and political community in Oxfordshire. Detailed design work on the project will begin in early July.”

He said breaking ground on the site is likely to be in April 2021, and the museum could be open in the Spring of 2024.

The park, which is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors a year, will create more than 330 jobs.