South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils have agreed a revised timetable for the creation of their Joint Local Plan.
Both authorities are working to create a Joint Local Plan, which will seek to deliver the councils’ ambitions for zero-carbon, sustainable development and genuinely affordable homes in the districts up to the year 2041.
The plan’s timescale had previously been scheduled around the creation of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 – a county-wide plan being produced by all of Oxfordshire’s planning authorities, which would have set housing numbers and decided the broad locations for larger-scale developments.
The five Oxfordshire councils were unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs and so they all mutually agreed that it was best to end work on the county-wide plan. While continuing to cooperate, the councils will tackle all these issues locally through their own Local Plans.
The Cabinets at South and Vale have therefore both agreed to adjust the timetable for their Joint Local Plan work, to allow time to carry out local versions of the work that would have been carried out as part of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.
The new timetable for the Joint Local Plan allows South and Vale to assess the need for housing at a local level. It also allows both councils to shape and develop even stronger policies on climate and ecological action that could lead the way nationally.
Both councils agreed the revised timeline for the Joint Local Plan at Cabinet meetings in December as part of an item to update the Local Development Scheme (LDS), which sets out what the development plan consists of and contains the timetable for the production of new Joint Local Plan.
There is more information on the South Oxfordshire District Council website.