Agenda item

To consider the head of planning’s report. 

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on a joint local plan.  This proposed the development of a joint local plan with South Oxfordshire District Council, rather than the two councils working on separate plans. 

The Cabinet member for planning saw many advantages of the proposal.  It would allow the councils to work more closely together, share policies where appropriate, and share resources.  There were many practical reasons or doing so.  Both councils’ geography was similar: rural areas with market towns.  It would allow for better planning of Didcot Garden Town and the Science Vale area.  Both councils’ corporate ambitions were similar, and both had declared climate emergencies.  A joint local plan would also save cost, for example the councils had a shared planning policy team. 

Cabinet agreed, believing that there were sound planning and practical reasons to develop a joint local plan.  Cabinet was reassured that, if necessary, local policies could be included in a joint plan to reflect local needs. 

Legislation allowed the councils to prepare a joint plan.  Cabinet discussed the two methods of doing this:

·         Section 28 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 allowed two or more local planning authorities (district councils) to prepare a joint local plan.  The county council in two-tier areas, such as Oxfordshire, could be part of the plan-preparation process but could not be part of the formal decision-making, as this remained the responsibility of the district councils.  Under Section 28, the final, formal decisions at key local plan stages (consultations, publication, submission, adoption) were made either separately by each council or via a voluntary joint committee. 

·         Section 29 of the 2004 Act enabled the county council to continue to
have a strategic planning role working with the district councils.  This allowed for the decision-making on a joint local plan to be conferred on a joint committee.  Under section 29, the county council would be a formal partner in the joint committee and therefore would have equal membership on that committee. 

Given the context of development plan making across Oxfordshire, with a strategic plan (the Oxfordshire 2050 Plan) already underway, and a shared management and policy team already in place for South Oxfordshire and the Vale, Cabinet considered that a joint local plan should be prepared in accordance with section 28 of the Act.  This would involve either formal decisions at key local plan stages being made separately by each council or via a voluntary joint committee.  Cabinet considered that this should be recommended to Council as the best method to develop a joint local plan.  Scrutiny Committee had preferred the section 28 option also.  Cabinet considered that officers should be authorised to prepare the detailed arrangements.  Cabinet members asked officers to manage the risks by identifying them in the risk register and by preparing contingencies and mitigations should the risks materialise. 

RECOMMENDED to Council on 24 March 2021 to:

(a)     agree, subject to the agreement of South Oxfordshire District Council, the preparation and production of a Joint Local Plan with South Oxfordshire District Council;

(b)     approve the Joint Local Development Scheme (March 2021), attached at appendix 1 to the head of planning’s report to Cabinet on 17 March 2021, and authorise the head of planning in consultation with the Cabinet member for corporate services and transformation, to make any updates; and

(c)     agree the principle of governance to prepare and produce a Joint Local Plan under Section 28 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and to authorise the head of legal and democratic, in consultation with the head of planning and the Cabinet members for corporate services and transformation and democratic services, to agree the detailed arrangements.