Agenda item

For action: To consider a report recommending that the Growth Board note and endorse the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Regulation 18 Part 2 Consultation Document and asking that partner councils approve the draft plan for consultation.

Please note, due to the number and size of the appendices to this report, they have been published as a series of separate supplements

Giles Hughes, Chief Executive of West Oxfordshire District Council, after giving thanks to the hard work of the team and partner councils, introduced the report. He explained that the development of a county wide spatial plan was an important step forward that was notable in a national context. The unique timeframe of the Plan also could help the county in meeting the long-term challenges that Oxfordshire faces. 

Mr Hughes stated that Oxfordshire had received funding from HM Government to develop the Plan and were pleased to show good progress. It had been determined that it was now an opportune moment to gather widespread feedback on the options document presented for consultation. He stressed that this exercise would be very important in informing the next steps in the progression of the project and, therefore, encouraged everybody to both respond to and promote the consultation. Mr Hughes emphasised that through this Plan, Oxfordshire could show what it wanted for the county’s future and that this would feed into the wider context of the Oxford to Cambridge Arc.  

Adrian Colwell, Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Strategic Advisor, highlighted three main sections within the papers. The context and introduction set out the Plan’s relationship with the Arc. This was followed by a policy section organised into five themes with 32 proposed policy options. Finally, there was five potential spatial options as to where future growth up to 2050 could be located in Oxfordshire. The Plan not only provided the opportunity to set out a long-term strategy for the county but could also be more ambitious than Local Plans in regards to issues such as climate change, healthy place shaping and zero carbon transport.

The Oxfordshire Plan 2050 is closely aligned to both the ongoing work to refresh the Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy (OxIS) and the development of a new Local Transport and Connectivity plan for Oxfordshire. It also builds upon the work the Local Industrial Strategy. The consultation will run from 30 July 2021 to 8 October 2021 and will primarily be web-based. In addition, there will be physical deposit locations across the county where people can access consultation materials and a series of both district-based and specialist workshops will also be held. 

Paul Staines, Interim Head of Programme, in addition to thanking the team for producing the consultation materials, encouraged all partners to use their networks to promote the consultation as widely as possible.

Councillor Smith, Chair of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Advisory Group, also gave thanks to officers and members for their work to date. She said that it was an innovative document which had the issues of the environment and climate change at its heart. Furthermore, this was a genuine consultation presenting a series of options and it was, therefore, important that a wide range of people provided a response.

Catherine Turner, Homes England, explained that she was pleased to see this work come forward and would continue to support Oxfordshire in their work. Homes England were due to speak with Oxfordshire colleagues to discuss any pre-submission support that could be offered and looked forward to seeing the Regulation 19 document come forward in due course.

The Chair thanked everyone for their contributions. She highlighted that the recommendation under consideration was for the Growth Board to note and endorse the consultation document. It would be a decision for partner district councils to approve the draft plan for consultation later in July.

RESOLVED: That the Growth Board note and endorse the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Regulation 18 Part 2 Consultation Document and ask partner district councils to approve the draft plan for consultation.