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Issue - meetings

Approval of West Eynsham SDA Masterplan

Meeting: 16/03/2022 - Cabinet (for meetings after 18 January 2023 see "Executive") (Item 96)

96 West Eynsham Strategic Development Area (SDA) Masterplan pdf icon PDF 100 KB

Purpose

To consider the masterplan document which has been prepared on behalf of the main landowners/developers to guide the future development of the West Eynsham Strategic Development Area (SDA).

 

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

a)    Notes the content of the report; and

b)    Agrees to approve the West Eynsham SDA Masterplan, attached at Annex A, as a material planning consideration for any current or future planning applications that come forward in relation to the West Eynsham SDA.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Haine introduced the report and thanked the Joint Climate & Environment and Economic & Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the very detailed discussions on this topic on Monday.  He felt that the concerns raised in the Eynsham Parish Council statement echoed the points brought up at that meeting.  Councillor Haine stated that the main point to communicate was that this was a Masterplan and individual planning applications would take account of most of those concerns.

 

Councillor Haine went on to advise that one exception was regarding Sustainable Movement and Connections on pages 202 and 203 of the report.  The Sustainable Charter and Sustainable Homes could not be agreed upon as the Parish Council wanted Net-Zero to be achieved now rather than in 2025.  This was not possible as developers were required to build to current Government regulations.  If this was imposed by the Council, developers could win at appeal.  Due to the build schedule, approximately 25% of the development would be built to current standards with the remaining 75% being built to 2025 standards.

 

Councillor Haine therefore proposed that the recommendations be supported as per the report. 

 

Councillor Rylett commented that the document looked like an extended brochure and put forward standards which were mandatory anyway.  Unfortunately, it was not specified when the Masterplan was approved that it would be Council led.  It was now developer led which has resulted in this situation.  The Parish Council did not want to stop the development but wanted to improve it, however, their views were not reflected in this document.  He wanted to know if the comments from Scrutiny Committee had been noted by Cabinet.

 

Councillor Haines confirmed that Cabinet had received and considered the comments from the Joint Scrutiny Committee.

 

Councillor Rylett did not think Cabinet had been given sufficient time to absorb those comments and no changes were being asked for regarding this document.

 

Councillor Haines stated that many of the points made would be borne in mind when looking at the revision of the Local Plan.  The local plan was where a lot of those points would come in.  However, the current laws would mean that Council could not enforce many of things at present, such as triple glazed windows for example, until the law required it.

 

Councillor Rylett said he understood but was concerned that this only required the mandatory and could have gone further.  He was also concerned with the level of thought given to the school layout and that the Local Centre was on the outskirts of Eynsham rather than in the centre.   If only one change was made it should be to ensure construction traffic was not allowed through the Thornbury Estate as recommended by the County Council.  There was little in the document about phasing and the interaction between West Eynsham and the Garden Village and there were many questions around that requiring clarity.  Regarding S106 contributions, there was nothing in the draft which the Parish Council saw and had only had sight of it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96