The Executive Director (Development) has submitted a report to seek approval of an Oxford Local Plan 2040 Preferred Options Document for Regulation 18 consultation.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.        Approve the Oxford Local Plan 2040 Preferred Options document at Appendix 1 for Regulation 18 public consultation; and

2.        Authorise the Planning Policy and Place Manager, in consultation with the Cabinet Memberfor Planning and Housing Delivery, to make any necessary editorial corrections and minor amendments to the documents and the supporting evidence base prior to going out to consultation.

Please note that Appendix 1 – the Oxford Local Plan Preferred Options Consultation Document, is published as a separate supplement.

The Executive Director (Development) had submitted a report to seek approval of an Oxford Local Plan 2040 Preferred Options document for Regulation 18 consultation.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery, explained that all local authorities were required to have an up to date Local Plan.  The Council’s current Local Plan was up to date; however a revised version was being prepared which would add a further four years, bringing the Plan to 2040.  One of the benefits of bringing forward a revised Plan at an early stage would be to enable Oxford’s unmet housing need to be considered earlier within the development cycle of neighbouring authorities’ Local Plans.  

The failure of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 also meant that further work was required on the precise housing need number, and it was intended that a separate consultation process to produce this would be undertaken in the next few months, in readiness for the Regulation 19 consultation.  It was expected that Oxford’s housing need would significantly exceed capacity however it were calculated, so that the policies being consulted upon under Regulation 18 were considered sound on that basis.

Councillor Hollingsworth drew attention to three main threads which underpinned the Plan: fifteen minute neighbourhoods; an accelerated move towards zero carbon; and addressing inequalities, and explained some of the policies which would support these.

Cabinet Members highlighted the need for the consultation process to seek to canvass as broad a range of diverse views as possible.  Officers confirmed that a number of tools and approaches would be used with the aim of encouraging responses, including a social media campaign, a paper questionnaire to every residence and business and an online questionnaire.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.      Approve the Oxford Local Plan 2040 Preferred Options document at Appendix 1 for Regulation 18 public consultation; and

2.      Authorise the Planning Policy and Place Manager, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery, to make any necessary editorial corrections and minor amendments to the documents and the supporting evidence base prior to going out to consultation.