Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any announcements from the chair. 

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, outlined the procedure to be followed and advised on emergency evacuation arrangements.

To record apologies for absence. 

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent.

There was no urgent business.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak on the agenda item for this meeting.

The deadline for registering to speak is 5pm Tuesday 17 September.

Councillor Sarah James, as leader of the Green Group at Vale of White Horse District Council, addressed Cabinet on item 6 on the agenda, Regulation 19 draft Joint Local Plan. She recognised that the draft Joint Local Plan Cabinet was making recommendations to Council on was important to the delivery of council priorities to shape a district where people and nature could thrive. She confirmed these were priorities shared by the Green Group who were looking for reassurance that the Joint Local Plan could do this when full Council debates putting the JLP forward to the next stage.

Councillor James highlighted some key changes since the Regulation 18 Preferred Options consultation, namely a reduction in the requirement for affordable housing in Vale of White Horse to 40% of dwellings (from 50%), though this remains 50% in South Oxfordshire, removal of the requirement for residential developments of 50 homes or more in Vale to limit embodied carbon, though this remains a requirement in South Oxfordshire. Her understanding was that these changes arose from the viability assessment, but that assessment hadn’t been seen by members yet.

Councillor James asked Cabinet, in their debate, to fully explore these changes to requirements in Vale compared to South.  It would be helpful to members to hear and understand the basis for these changes and the expected impacts and risks to making or not making these changes.

She also asked Cabinet to explore the impacts and risks that may arise in Didcot as that was an important and growing town that straddles the boundary between Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire.

In response, Councillor Foulsham, the Cabinet Member for Policy and Programmes, confirmed that the changes Councillor James highlighted were as a result of the viability assessments. Whilst it was regrettable that the affordable housing requirement had been dropped from 50 per cent it was still a marked improvement on the 35 per cent required under the current Local Plan. He went on to advise that care had to be taken to ensure the soundness of the plan on deliverability grounds, the small adjustments which had been made went towards ensuring the viability and soundness of the plan.

To consider the head of policy and programmes’ report.

Cabinet received the regulation19 draft Joint Local Plan report from the Head of Policy and Programmes. The report summarised the progress made to date with preparation of the Joint Local Plan, including explaining how comments raised during previous public consultations and internal consultation have influenced its structure and content. In addition the report briefed Cabinet on the recommendations for Council, which included agreement that the Joint Local Plan 2041 Publication Version could be published for the purposes of formal Publication (Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012), and thereafter submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination (under Regulation 22), together with the Proposed Joint Local Plan Policies Map (Publication Version 2024), all supporting technical evidence, topic papers and summaries of publication responses received, subject to further nonmaterial changes and corrections authorised by the Head of Policy and Programmes in consultation with the lead portfolio members, and any other proposed changes and corrections authorised by the Head of Policy and Programmes in consultation with the lead portfolio members, and to authorise the Head of Policy and Programmes, after submission, to invite the examining Inspector(s) to recommend any modifications to the Joint Local Plan 2041 that may be required.

The Cabinet Member for Policy and Programmes, Councillor Andy Foulsham, presented the report and highlighted that he was delighted to present a plan to Cabinet which reflected the policies which members had campaigned and committed to delivering. He commented on the strong evidence base which supported the innovative policies contained within the Plan such as affordable housing, net zero building and biodiversity net gain. The Cabinet member went on to remind Cabinet that the Plan was the culmination of years of work since the agreement in March 2021 to form a joint plan with South Oxfordshire District Council. He explained that the revisions to the submission timeline were in response to the invitation from the Deputy Prime Minister to submit a plan within one month of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) coming into force. Due to the limited window in which this could be done, agreement of the draft Plan as a whole package was required.

Cabinet discussed the report and thanked both officers for their work and members who had engaged in the development of the Plan. Cabinet noted the high level of engagement which had been carried out with members which included 35 member steering group sessions and 14 all councillor roundtables. Members reflected that whilst they did not agree with every line of the Plan, they appreciated the importance of a viable plan which was backed up by evidence. Cabinet reflected that as soon as the Plan was submitted for examination it gained weight and the important policies within it could begin to be implemented.

RESOLVED: to Recommend to Council:

(a) that the Joint Local Plan 2041 Publication Version (Appendix 1), Proposed Joint Local Plan Policies Map Publication Version (Appendix 2) and supporting documents be made available for a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.