Agenda item

At its meeting on 4 October Cabinet will consider a report on the options for the adoption of the Local Plan 2031 Part 2. The report, which Cabinet will consider at its meeting, is attached.

The Scrutiny Committee considered a similar report at its meeting on 19 September and raised a number of concerns which are addressed in the Cabinet report.

The recommendations will be circulated to all councillors on 4 October.

A correction to the report was circulated to all councillors at the meeting. Paragraph 75 of the report provided an indicative timetable for preparing a new local plan following adoption. The timetable as published did not include dates for the latter stages of the plan making process. The table below sets out the complete indicative timetable:

Mr Michael Tyce addressed Council on behalf of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. He stated that the Plan was unsound because the housing numbers contained within it were too high and based on the outdated housing needs assessment from 2014. The Plan also included an allocation of Oxford’s unmet housing need, figures for which had not yet been tested at the Oxford Local Plan examination hearing.  The Plan would have a detrimental impact on the Green Belt, put a strain on services and impact social cohesion.  He urged Council to withdraw the Plan or defer consideration of it until Oxford’s unmet housing need figures had been tested. 

Mr Simon Jenkins, Chair of Uffington Parish Council, addressed Council. He urged Council to adopt the Plan to provide certainty, protect against speculative development and the risk of a judicial review.

Mr Richard Bartle, Chair of Shrivenham Parish Council, addressed Council. He urged Council to adopt the Plan. To not adopt the Plan would have serious implications for villages with further speculative development which would impact on the existing infrastructure, schools and medical facilities.

Council considered Cabinet’s recommendations made at its meeting on 4 October 2019 on the options for the adoption of the Local Plan 2031 Part 2 (LPP2). 

Council was advised that, at its meeting on 19 September 2019, the Scrutiny Committee considered a report on options for the adoption of the LPP2.The committee expressed concern that the process to form and describe the options, and the analysis of those options, provided insufficient detail to allow councillors to make an informed choice.  In particular, councillors believed that the report had not sufficiently analysed the risks of each option. The Cabinet report provided the additional information requested. In addition, the confidential QC legal advice was circulated to all councillors at the request of the committee.

The majority of councillors supported Cabinet’s recommendation to adopt the LPP2. However, a number of councillors, in supporting the adoption, expressed reservations. They expressed the view that the plan provided for too high a number of houses, included provision to meet Oxford City’s unmet housing need without an assessment of that need, removed land from the Green Belt and did not include measures to address the climate emergency. Councillors acknowledged that the risk of not adopting the plan presented a number of risks to the council and Vale communities including an uncertain planning environment, communities being vulnerable to speculative developments, the costs of appeals to the council and the potential loss of infrastructure funding. 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 67, which provides for a recorded vote if three members request one, the Chairman called for a recorded vote on the motion which was declared carried with the voting as follows:

RESOLVED: to

1.    note the conclusions, including the Main Modifications, of the independent Inspector who was appointed to examine the Local Plan 2031 Part 2;

2.    note the process followed to develop the options in relation to the Local Plan 2031 Part 2;

3.    accept the Inspector’s report and recommendation and adopt the Local Plan 2031 Part 2; and

4.      authorise the head of planning in consultation with the Cabinet member for planning to make any minor amendments, typographical and grammar corrections to the documents prior to publication.