Agenda and minutes

None

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10 July 2018. 

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10 July 2018 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman signs them as such. 

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

None

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman. 

None

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

Two members of the public had asked to address Cabinet. 

1.         Paul Boone spoke on behalf of the Chalgrove Airfield Action Group, updating Cabinet on a recent local consultation undertaken by Homes England.  He reported that Homes England intended to submit a planning application for housing on the airfield site before the council had agreed its Local Plan housing sites.  He urged the council to remove the Chalgrove airfield site from its Local Plan housing allocations. 

2.         Iain Pearson spoke on behalf of Kidmore End Parish Council, expressing concerns at the possible inclusion of two Local Plan strategic housing sites in Kidmore End.  He sought urgent confirmation of whether the sites were included in the Local Plan before jeopardising a forthcoming planning appeal and the emerging neighbourhood plan. 

The chairman thanked both speakers for their contribution and confirmed that, at this stage, no sites had been allocated for housing in the Local Plan.  If Cabinet adopted the draft Local Development Scheme later in the meeting (minute 20 refers), the list of strategic housing allocation sites being proposed for inclusion in the Local Plan would be published before the Cabinet meeting in December. 

To consider the head of planning’s report. 

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on the emerging Local Plan.  The report set out the Local Development Scheme for Cabinet’s approval and sought endorsement of the work programme.  The council had to publish a local development scheme, setting out the documents that would comprise the Local Plan and the Local Plan timetable.  This was appended to the report. 

The Cabinet member for planning reported that, since the Council meeting held in May, officers had been reviewing sites capable of forming a strategic housing allocation and undertaking detailed appraisals.  All 15 sites referenced and published on the Council’s website continued to be potential housing sites until a decision was made by Council, scheduled for December 2018. 

Cabinet noted that the implication of the revised timetable was that the Local Plan would be submitted beyond the proposed transitional arrangement of the new National Planning Policy Framework but before the Housing and Growth Deal Local Plan submission deadline. 

Throughout the process officers had been in dialogue with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.  The Ministry was pleased that the council remained committed to the terms of the Housing and Growth Deal and would submit its Local Plan before the deadline specified in the Growth Deal Delivery Plan.  The Planning Advisory Service and the Planning Inspector’s advice had helped the plan progress further.  The Ministry had also advised that it was committed to deliver Oxfordshire’s planning freedoms and flexibilities and remained dedicated to delivering the other components of the Growth Deal, including the funding. 

Cabinet welcomed the support from the Ministry and approved the revised timetable and Local Development Scheme and endorsed the work programme provided. 

RESOLVED: to

(a)      approve the Local Development Scheme, as set out in appendix 1 to the head of planning’s report to Cabinet on 2 August 2018; and

(b)      endorse the work programme set out to progress the Local Plan and bring a publication version of the Local Plan to Council, as set out in the timetable.