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Agenda item

West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2043 - Spatial Options Consultation Summary Report and Local Development Scheme (LDS) Update

Purpose:

To consider the Local Plan Preferred Spatial Options Consultation Paper which is proposed to be published for consultation in accordance with Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

 

Recommendations:

That the Executive resolves to:

1.    Note the content of the report.

2.    Agree that the Preferred Spatial Options Consultation Summary Report attached at Annex A be published online

3.    Agree that the updated Local Development Scheme attached at Annex B be published online and made available in hard copy format in agreed ‘deposit’ locations across the District.

Minutes:

Councillor Duncan Enright, Deputy Leader of the Council, left the meeting at 2:11pm, and returned at 2:21pm, the duration of item 8, in light of his previously declared interest.

 

Councillor Hugo Ashton, Executive Member for Planning, introduced the item, the purpose of which was to consider the Local Plan Preferred Spatial Options Consultation Paper which was proposed to be published for consultation in accordance with Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

 

In his presentation Councillor Ashton made the following points:

 

  • The Council had recently completed the fourth round of public consultation which had been on spatial options.
  • The report presented at the meeting was a summary of the feedback from that consultation. The report also contained an update on the Local Development Scheme.
  • There had been 2,200 responses from 900 individuals to the draft spatial options consultation and Councillor Ashton considered this to be a successful engagement. The summary of the responses could be viewed in annex A to the report.
  • Stakeholders had expressed support for the extension of the plan period to 2043.
  • Stakeholders had questioned the categorisation of their settlements in the proposed settlement hierarchy. Many respondents had suggested changes to the categorisation. A number had suggested that there should be an additional tier of settlement introduced.
  • The overall Spatial Strategy, that had focussed on principal settlements and well-connected locations, was generally well supported, with an important caveat that developments should be underpinned by the availability and delivery of infrastructure.
  • Some stakeholders had considered the scales of development proposed to be too restrictive, where others had felt more clarity was required to prevent cumulative expansion.
  • Residents had expressed concern on the proposed allocations in terms of scale, impact on community, infrastructure and impact on heritage assets. However, some support for the sites was seen from developers.
  • All of the consultation feedback received would be considered in the Regulation 19 Draft.
  • There had been changes in the Local Development Scheme which had set out the timeframe for Local Plan documents to be produced. As a result of a two-stage Regulation 18 consultation there was a delay to the consultation on the Regulation 19 Draft Local Plan which would now take place in June 2026.

 

Councillor Ashton proposed the recommendations in the report.

 

Alternative options that were noted in the report were that the Council could have chosen not to progress with an update of the Local Plan. However, local authorities were required to keep plans up to date, typically reviewing them every 5-years or so.

 

Councillor Andy Graham, Leader of the Council, seconded the proposal and stated that the Local Development Scheme was published online and was made available in agreed deposit locations across the district. Councillor Graham noted the full consultation had taken place and Regulation 19 was the last chance to ensure robust policies were put in place to ensure developers could not exploit the new plan.

 

This was voted on and agreed unanimously.

 

The Executive resolved to:

1.    Note the content of the report.

2.    Agree that the Preferred Spatial Options Consultation Summary Report attached at Annex A be published online.

3.    Agree that the updated Local Development Scheme attached at Annex B be published online and made available in hard copy format in agreed ‘deposit’ locations across the District.

Supporting documents:

 

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