Agenda item

To consider the strategic director’s report. 

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on how the council should plan to address Oxford’s unmet housing need. 

Following the six Oxfordshire councils’ preparation of the Strategic Housing Market Assessment in 2013-2014, the Oxfordshire Growth Board had endorsed principles to quantify and apportion Oxfordshire’s unmet housing need.  Each district council would then address this housing need through its own local plan process.  This reflected the requirements in the legal duty for councils to co-operate on plan-making. 

Since then, Oxford City Council had asked surrounding Oxfordshire districts to make provision for that part of Oxford’s housing need that it was unable to accommodate.  Oxford City had identified capacity for 10,000 new homes for the period up to 2031, whereas the Strategic Housing Market Assessment had identified Oxford’s objectively assessed housing need within a range of 24,000 to 32,000 homes during this period. 

Cherwell, South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Councils had together commissioned a consultant to study Oxford’s housing land capacity.  This study indicated that Oxford had capacity for 16,000 new homes over the same period.  Using this figure, the report set out three scenarios to apportion the unmet housing need equally across the four rural districts in Oxfordshire:

·         Low = 2,000 homes, being the low point of Oxford City’s objectively assessed housing need (24,000) less the capacity identified by this council’s consultant (16,000), divided by four

·         Medium = 3,000 homes, being the mid-point of the Oxford’s objectively assessed housing need (28,000) less the capacity identified by this council’s consultant (16,000), divided by four

·         High = 4,000 homes, being the high point of Oxford’s objectively assessed housing need (32,000) less the capacity identified by this council’s consultant (16,000), divided by four

Cabinet believed that these three scenarios could be used to test options to address Oxford’s unmet housing need. 

Cabinet considered that the most appropriate way to determine the correct level of unmet housing need within the scenario ranges above was for Oxford City Council to review its local plan.  Following the motion passed at the Council meeting on 16 July, the Leader had written to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government asking him to intervene and compel Oxford City to revise its local plan.  In the meantime, Cabinet could consider broad plan-making principles and areas of search in the Vale and to commence work in investigating options to address the proven unmet housing need.  The report proposed three broad areas of search, as defined in Core Policy 3 of the Local Plan Part 1:

·         Abingdon-on-Thames and Oxford fringe sub-area

·         South east Vale sub-area

·         Western Vale sub-area

Cabinet supported this approach to ascertain which sub-area had the greatest potential for accommodating Oxford’s unmet housing need.  Once the scale of the unmet housing need and the Vale’s share of it was proven, the testing results could inform a decision on the most appropriate method to bring forward additional housing. 

Although Cabinet was minded to endorse the proposals set out in the head of planning’s report, it invited the Scrutiny Committee to consider these at its meeting scheduled for 20 August.  Following this, Cabinet was content for the leader to take an individual Cabinet member decision on this matter, in the absence of the Cabinet member with responsibility for the planning policy. 

RESOLVED

(a)       that Cabinet is minded to:

             (i)        endorse the approach that Oxford’s unmet housing need might be in the range of 8,000 to 16,000 homes and that pending confirmation of quantum, this range be used to frame options testing; and 

             (ii)       endorse the broad plan-making principles and approach to addressing the Vale’s appropriate share of the unmet housing need as outlined in paragraphs 16-19 of the head of planning’s report;

but

(b)       Cabinet invites the Scrutiny Committee to consider the proposals in (a) above at its meeting on 20 August 2015.  Following consideration of the views of the Scrutiny Committee, the Leader (in the absence of the Cabinet member for planning policy) will take an individual Cabinet member decision confirming the decision on this matter.