Vale of White Horse District Council has submitted the Local Plan 2031 Part 2: Detailed Policies and Additional Sites, and associated documents, to the Secretary of State for independent examination.
The Vale of White Horse Local Plan, and its supporting studies, set out the council’s vision for the district until 2031. Together they identify where housing, retail, and employment land should be located, as well as the infrastructure required to support this growth, such as new roads, schools, health services and sewerage. The policies in the plan are used to help make decisions on planning applications.
Local Plan 2031 Part 1, which deals with sites and policies to address the Vale’s own housing need, was adopted in December 2016 and is used to help guide development in the district.
Local Plan 2031 Part 2 will complement Part 1 by detailing policies and locations for housing to meet the Vale’s proportion of Oxford’s unmet housing need. Part 2 also includes policies for Didcot Garden Town, policies to assist development management, and additional site allocations for housing that were not included in Part 1.
The council is mindful that the government is working on guidelines entitled ‘Planning for the right homes in the right places’, which considers how housing need is calculated. However, the council is required to work on the existing housing needs figures until any new government guidelines are finalised and published, and must also consider economic growth, affordable housing and the need for new infrastructure.
Following the submission, the Secretary of State will appoint a Planning Inspector to carry out an independent examination of the Vale of White Horse Local Plan 2031 Part 2 to determine whether it is ‘sound’ and ‘legally compliant’.
The Inspector will set a timetable for a series of public examination hearings, expected to be held later this year. The public can attend the examination to witness the proceedings, however only those invited by the Inspector will be able to participate in the hearings. Dates and a venue for the examination will be confirmed after an Inspector has been appointed.
After the examination has finished the Inspector will issue a report containing recommendations to either accept the plan as it is, accept the plan with modifications, or reject it.
For more information about the Vale of White Horse Local Plan see whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ localplanpart2.
Cllr Roger Cox, Cabinet Member for Planning at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We are very pleased to have reached this important milestone for Part 2 of the Local Plan. This document will play an important role in how the district develops and meets the housing challenge over the next 13 years, particularly in how our district can help to address Oxford’s unmet housing need.”
“A significant amount of work has gone in to producing Part 2 and we have consulted widely during its production. I am confident that the Planning Inspector will give it the go ahead to be adopted in the Vale of White Horse and that our communities will soon start to benefit from the new policies.”
