The Head of Planning and Regulatory Services has submitted a report to seek approval for the Oxford Local Plan 2040 Proposed Submission Document for public consultation and approve it for consultation and, subject to the outcome of the consultation, if no matters are raised that materially impact upon the Plan strategy, submit the Submission Draft Oxford Local Plan 2040 to the Secretary of State for formal examination.

Council is recommended to:

1.    Approve the Oxford Local Plan 2040 Proposed Submission Document for consultation;

2.    Approve the following supporting statutory documentation: the Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulation Assessment, Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) and Equalities Impact Assessment;

3.    Authorise the Head of Planning & Regulatory Services, after consultation with the Lead Cabinet Member, to make any necessary minor typographical changes and modifications to the document, IDP, Sustainability Appraisal and Habitat Regulations Assessment, and to agree the final publication style of the draft version before publication;

4.    Following publication, authorise the Head of Planning & Regulatory Services, after consultation with the Lead Cabinet Member, to make any minor changes to the document deemed necessary as a result of the consultation, and then to formally submit the Oxford Local Plan 2040 to the Secretary of State for examination. In the event that significant issues are raised that suggest the Plan is not sound and major amendments are required, the Plan will need to be re-drafted and brought back to Council to approve another public consultation before submission.

Council considered the report from the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services seeking approval for the Oxford Local Plan 2040 Proposed Submission Document for public consultation and approve it for consultation and, subject to the outcome of the consultation, if no matters are raised that materially impact upon the Plan strategy, submit the Submission Draft Oxford Local Plan 2040 to the Secretary of State for formal examination.

Councillor Upton, Cabinet Member for Planning and Healthier Communities introduced the report.  She began by thanking the Planning Policy Team, especially David Butler, Rachel Williams, Sarah Harrison and Sally Fleming, for their dedicated efforts over the years in bringing the plan to its current stage.  She also gave thanks to Councillor Alex Hollingsworth for his valuable expertise in planning policy, which significantly contributed to guiding the process.  She put forward the proposal for Council to endorse the recommendation.

The recommendation was seconded by Councillor Brown, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy.

The Planning Officer informed the Council that a note which contained additional information on viability evidence for the Local Plan 2040 had been circulated prior to the meeting.  The contents of this note were read out to the Council. 

Council received 11 amendments to the draft Local Plan 2040 that were submitted in accordance with Council procedure rules. The following records the decision reached on each proposed amendment.

Councillor Smowton, on being seconded by Councillor Fouweather, proposed an amendment to Policy E1 as follows:

At the end of Policy E1, add paragraph “Intensification of employment sites is likely to draw in additional workers and the pressures and infrastructure needs these generate will be considered. Developer contributions such as CIL and S106 will be used to mitigate the impacts of new developments.”

The Council was temporarily adjourned.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

Councillor Turner joined the meeting.

Councillor Mundy, on being seconded by Councillor Thomas, proposed an amendment to Policy E4 that would incorporate inequality assessments for all major applications to evaluate their impact on local inequality issues.

The Head of Planning and Regulatory Services advised that the insertion of the proposed amendment would not modify the existing policy, and therefore its incorporation within the draft Local Plan without proper due process would be viewed as a risk.

Following debate, and on being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

Councillor Muddiman, on being seconded by Rawle, proposed an amendment to the 2040 Monitoring Framework to insert an additional line that would monitor the ratio between home spaces delivered and employments created.

The Head of Planning and Regulatory Services emphasised the role of the monitoring framework in assessing the efficacy of the policies within the local plan and suggested that Councillors considered whether there were policies addressing the correlation between job and housing delivery ratio. 

The Council was temporarily adjourned.

Councillor Smowton proposed a further amendment to the motion, aiming to monitor the ratio of housing units delivered and employment space  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55