Issue - meetings

Cabinet, at its meeting on 8 December 2020, will consider the report of the head of planning on the adoption of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035.

The report of the head of planning, which Cabinet will consider on 8 December, is attached. The six appendices to the report are available with the Cabinet agenda here.   

The Scrutiny Committee will consider the report at its meeting on 7 December 2020. Any recommendations will be reported to Cabinet.

Cabinet’s recommendations will be circulated to all councillors.

(1)      Ann Pritchard, Chairman of Chalgrove Parish Council, addressed Council. against the adoption of the local plan, in particular the inclusion of the strategic housing allocation at Chalgrove Airfield which was neither viable nor sustainable.

(2)       Eugenie Buchan addressed Council and urged councillors not to abstain from the vote. 

(3)      Andrew Waite-Brown, Chairman of Forest Hill with Shotover Parish Council, addressed Council and urged those councillors who had stood on a platform at the May 2019 elections against the local plan to reject it and produce a greener local plan.  He urged councillors not to abstain from the vote.

(4)      Ginette Camps-Walsh, Chairman Beckley and Stowood Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee and representing Stanton St. John Parish Council, addressed Council. She urged Council to reject the plan in accordance with electoral promises and develop a greener local plan. 

(5)      David Adams, a Risinghurst and Sandhills Parish Councillor, addressed Council urging the rejection of the local plan which over stated the number of houses required, would destroy the Oxford Green Belt and result in no biodiversity gain. 

(6)      Angela Dickinson addressed Council on behalf of Beautiful Barton and Friends of Bayswater Brook, opposing the local plan which would destroy the green belt, impact on the biodiversity of the area and result in increased pressure on the already congested road network. 

(7)      John Walsh addressed Council, a local resident, urged Council to vote against adoption of the local plan and to protect the green belt.  Alternative sites were available outside the green belt which offered more suitable locations for strategic housing allocations. 

(8)      Anne-Marie Sweeney addressed Council against the adoption of the local plan which would be disastrous for the environment, biodiversity and local communities, and urged Council to reject the plan, protect Bayswater Brook and the green belt. 

(9)      Richard Harding, Chair of CPRE Southern Oxfordshire District, addressed Council against the adoption of the “flawed” local plan. The plan is based on housing numbers that exceed the needs of the current and future population of the district. The plan will have a detrimental impact on the Green Belt whilst alternative strategic housing sites exist, result in urban sprawl and makes unrealistic assumptions on the provision of infrastructure. The few environmental concessions will not offset the damage caused and impact on the delivery of environmental targets.

(10)   Paul Boone, Chair of Chalgrove Airfield Action Group, addressed Council against the inclusion of Chalgrove Airfield as a strategic housing development which was unsound and unsustainable. The proposed bus service will not be viable, the development will become a car-based settlement with inadequate roads and the current housing will have an inadequate buffer from the runway/testing facility. 

(11)   Caroline Baird, representing Save Culham Green Belt, addressed Council against the local plan and the inclusion of a strategic housing allocation at Culham.  This is in the green belt, which should be protected, and will result in the loss of agricultural land and put pressure on existing congested roads. 

(12)   Ian Ashley addressed Council against the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118

To consider the head of planning’s report. 

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on the South Oxfordshire Local Plan to 2035. 

The Cabinet member for planning introduced the report and reminded Cabinet of some key events leading to this point.  The local plan had been submitted by the previous administration in March 2019 after full Council had approved it in December 2018.  This included the strategic housing site allocations.  In April 2019, the council declared a climate emergency, and in May 2019 a new administration was elected at the district council elections.  The new administration sought to understand the rationale behind the plan, sought expert advice, and reflected on whether a more climate-aware plan could be developed at a pace to protect the district from speculative development. 

The council’s consideration of options on a revised local plan were halted by the intervention of the Secretary of State.  The Secretary of State’s direction prevented full Council considering the options and instructed the council to progress the plan through examination to adoption by the end of December 2020. 

The examination was carried out in the summer 2020, during which some councillors suggested improvements to the local plan to recognise the reality of the climate emergency and better reflect the local housing market.  The inspector had agreed with some of these suggestions and included in these in his suggested modifications, such as a policy on zero-carbon housing.  Cabinet welcomed this.  Overall, the inspector found the local plan to be ‘sound’.  The report recommended that the council adopted the local plan. 

The Cabinet member reported that the local plan was not the plan of the administration’s choosing, but it was in the interests of the council, local residents and businesses that the council moved forward with certainty and clarity.  The choice was not whether this was the perfect plan, nor whether this was the plan councillors might have hoped for.  It was a binary choice between progressing this local plan to full Council for its adoption, or not.  The Cabinet member expressed concerns over the process and proposed an alternative recommendation to that within the officer’s report:

1.         That Cabinet resolves to record that:

(a)      the council has been under a Direction to progress the local plan from the Secretary of State for many months;

(b)      officers have been required to facilitate and support the Plan submitted by the council in March 2019 throughout the examination process with regular monitoring of progress and their approach by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government;  

(c)       the Inspector has found the plan to be sound despite the objections and additional information provided by residents, councillors and a wide range of local partners;

(d)      the Direction remains in place.

2.         Cabinet proposes to Council that it:

(a)     adopts the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035, as set out in Appendix A to the report of the head of planning to Cabinet on 8 December 2020, and modified by the Schedule of Main Modifications in Appendix B and the Schedule of Minor Modifications in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57