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Agenda item

West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2041 Update

Purpose:

To provide an update on the emerging draft West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2041, with particular regard to proposed national planning policy changes, and to agree a revised timetable for taking the plan through to adoption.

 

Recommendations:

That the Committee resolves to:

1.    Agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Executive on 20 November 2024.

 

 

Invited:

Councillor Hugo Ashton, Executive Member for Planning

Chris Hargraves, Planning Policy Manager

Minutes:

The Executive Member for Planning introduced the Head of Planning. The report provided an update on the emerging draft West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2041, with particular regard to proposed national planning policy changes ,and to agree a revised timetable for taking the plan through to adoption.

 

It was explained that the District Council was in the process of producing a new Local Plan covering the period up to 2041. Good progress was being made with preferred policy options currently being drafted and supporting technical evidence being prepared. However, significant national planning policy changes were announced in July and these would have a direct bearing on the new local plan and therefore a revised timetable for taking the new local plan forward needed to be agreed.

 

Work on the new West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2041 was now well underway. To date, there had been two main periods of public consultation which have been interspersed with focused engagement with key stakeholders. The anticipated structure of the plan was now agreed and was expected to comprise a series of cross-cutting District-wide strategic policies, a number of geographically specific ‘place based’ policies and a suite of development management policies. Preferred policy options were currently being drafted, the intention being to set out the Council’s preferred approach and in doing so, to explain why other approaches have been ruled out. The purpose of the preferred options consultation is to firm up on the overall content of the plan ahead of it being formally published.

 

The Executive Member for Planning suggested that the final National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF) later this year with a new standard for housing requirement  which was 65% higher than planned for and meant there would be 7,500 extra homes required above the current plan. The delayed production of the NPPF meant that it would be brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Executive in March 2025 with a possible Member workshop beforehand and then a consultation after the Oxford County Council election in May/June. The Regulation 19 draft would give more protection and March 2026 was a realistic timeframe for the completed Local Plan.

 

There would also be a housing and employment land availability assessment with a long list of potentially suitable sites. Salt Cross was currently being assessed by the Inspector and his assessment would be completed by the end of this month.

 

The following points and suggestions were noted by the Committee:

·         The Head of Planning confirmed that neighbourhood discussions were ongoing with various forums taking place and West Oxford District Council were awaiting information from Oxford City Council on how they would proceed.

·         It was explained that the Infrastructure Delivery Plan was not listed as not all the plans were listed in the update; only those that formed part of the evidence base.

·         The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was out of date; an updated SCI would be considered in the Regulations 18 consultation with further policy and Development Management (DM) input provided.

·         There was also a requirement to build on youth engagement and other hard to reach groups.

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report and it was agreed that there were no recommendations to the Executive on 20 November 2024.

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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