Examination of West Oxfordshire Local Plan suspended until December 2016

The West Oxfordshire Local Plan Inspector Mr Simon Emerson has formally suspended the examination of the West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031 until December 2016, to allow the Council to undertake consultation on ‘main modifications’ in order to make the plan ‘sound’.

In December 2015, the Inspector published his initial findings on the West Oxfordshire Local Plan in which he dimissed WODC’s arguments for a lower housing figure and said that the Council must follow the economic growth figures outlined in the SHMA.

See CPRE Oxfordshire’s response to the Inspector’s intitial findings.

In light of his preliminary findings, the Council wrote to the Inspector asking him to suspend the Local Plan examination for a period of around 12 months, in order for the Council to prepare and consult on necessary changes to the plan, known as ‘main modifications’.

The 12 month suspension is necessary to allow the Council the opportunity to undertake some further work on housing numbers and sites and to address the issue of ‘unmet’ housing need arising from Oxford City. A report detemining how this housing should be distributed across Oxfordshire is likely to be published in late summer 2016.

All information, including a copy of the Council’s suspension request (WOLP39) and the Inspector’s response (IN 017) are available to view on the West Oxon Local Plan website. 

See: CPRE’s hearing statement, November 2015.

 

CPRE Oxfordshire, 26 January 2016