Issue - meetings

Purpose: to confirm support for the draft housing distribution numbers for the larger villages which will inform the preparation of neighbourhood plans

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on housing distribution numbers for larger villages.  The council’s local plan core strategy included the need to accommodate 1,154 in the larger villages.  The report set out details of numbers of new homes following meetings with parish councils.  These would be accommodated in the ‘Local Plan: Sites and General Policies’ document that would be brought forward to full Council in 2014. 

Mr David Turner addressed Cabinet, asking:

1. why was housing being distributed to villages without secondary schools?
2. why was the housing distribution policy different from the previous local plan?
3. will Cabinet contact the Local Government Association to lobby government over the rules governing the distribution of new homes bonus?
4. why was this meeting held today at 9am and not at 6pm when more members of the public could attend? 

The officers sought to answer Mr Turner’s questions.  The council’s housing strategy involved allocating housing amongst several villages if they were in proximity to other villages with services.  The new local plan had given the council the opportunity to make a fresh start and the housing distribution policy had been changed to reflect changing circumstances.  Cabinet had approved the policy to allocate new homes bonus; this reflected the need to allocate some to the local enterprise partnership. The timing of the Cabinet meeting had been arranged to align with another meeting to gain efficiencies. 

Cabinet members supported the housing distribution set out in appendix 1 to the report, believing that it was important to make this decision now to help parishes progress their neighbourhood plans. 

RESOLVED: to approve the draft housing distribution numbers for the larger villages, as set out in Appendix A to the head of planning’s report, as a basis for taking forward neighbourhood plans in advance of the Local Plan: Sites and General Policies Development Plan Document. 

Report of the Head of Planning (attached)

Purpose: to consider the draft housing distribution numbers for the larger villages prior to Cabinet’s consideration of these. The numbers will inform the preparation of neighbourhood plans.

The committee considered the report of the Head of Planning setting out the recommendation to Cabinet about the draft housing distribution numbers for the larger villages to inform the preparation of neighbourhood plans.

Mr A Winterbottom, a resident of Chinnor, submitted a written statement and addressed the committee about his concerns about the additional housing proposed for Chinnor. The village had seen a large number of houses built recently and he considered it did not have the facilities or employment to support further development. A detailed look at the capacity of the village to accommodate more houses was needed before agreeing the figures. Additional housing should be for young people already in the village and assisted housing for older residents to allow both groups to stay. Residents had asked the parish council to reconsider developing a neighbourhood plan.

Mr Roger Bell, a ward councillor for Wheatley, sent a statement to the committee. He wrote that at Wheatley, the proposed allocation is a third of its proportional allocation because the village is entirely surrounded by the Oxford Green Belt and this limits the amount of land available. The core strategy Inspector ruled out a localised Green Belt review for Wheatley against any logic in the rest of the Core Strategy’s aims and objects. There is now no more space within Wheatley for any more dwellings to be built except by sub-division. Over the years, unless changes can be made, lack of growth will slowly destroy Wheatley as a thriving, lively community as it will not be able to act as a centre of services and facilities as one of the identified network of key rural centres for the smaller villages. He found it very sad that the ‘holy grail’ of the Green Belt overrules common sense, logic and the real housing needs of this part of the district.

Mr Miles Thompson, Planning Policy Manager, and Rev’d Angie Paterson, Cabinet Member for Planning, introduced the report and answered questions as follows:

·          Accommodating additional housing was a challenge for all villages and remedying existing deficiencies in infrastructure could not be required of new developers.

·          While it was not now possible, following the Inspector’s decision, to review the green belt around Wheatley, it would be possible to pursue exception sites if demand came forward.

·          The consultation with parish councils and the public had produced the responses in Appendix B. While there were few responses, there was no reason to assume they were unrepresentative. Providing the percentage share may not be the best way to present this information.

·          The draft allocations were made in accordance with the core strategy, to generate a strong network of larger villages across the district as service centres for smaller settlements. These would give communities some certainty about the distribution of new houses the district council was expecting at this stage.

·          Communities developing a neighbourhood plan were running their own consultations to allocate sites. Our exhibitions had focussed on villages not developing a plan, to avoid  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8