The Oxfordshire Plan 2050 – who’s it for?
12th February 2019
Consultation on the vision for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 is now open. It will set development plans in train for the next generation, but who will benefit? And how will local people & the countryside cope? This is a vital document – now more than ever we need our local decision-makers to hear your voice! PLEASE RESPOND….
If you want a say on what our County will be like for future generations, please act now!
The Oxfordshire Growth Board is currently consulting, until 25 March, on the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 (the Oxfordshire Joint Statutory Spatial Plan). This will set out the development framework for the county for the next generation.
At this stage, the consultation is on the Vision and Objectives, and does not include specific targets. However, we believe the underlying assumptions must be challenged now, otherwise the Plan will be fundamentally flawed.
OUR QUESTION IS – WHO IS THIS PLAN FOR?
It takes as read the 100,000 houses our Local Councils have already signed up to deliver by the mid-2030s (in exchange for £215 million from the Government) – a 40% growth in housing stock. Although not spelt out in the Plan, after 2031, the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor proposals envisage another 250,000 or so houses – doubling Oxfordshire’s housing stock and population by 2050.
The inevitable conclusion is that this is not a plan for us – Oxfordshire residents of a rural county – but a plan for developers and big business.
The countryside is not just a ‘nice to have’ – it is a social good in its own right, providing food, water, clean air and more, and vital to our physical and mental well-being.
This shouldn’t be about how much development we can cram in over the next 30 years.
It should be about what Oxfordshire actually needs and how that can best be accommodated over time, within its social and environmental limits.
This plan should be led by the needs of existing Oxfordshire residents and their families, working to ensure that anyone living in Oxfordshire in 2050 can still experience and enjoy the rural character of the county that exists today.
CPRE Oxfordshire’s initial detailed commentary on the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Vision document is available to download at the foot of this page. We hope this will be of assistance in considering your own response.
PLEASE DO RESPOND – THIS IS A ONCE IN A GENERATION OPPORTUNITY TO INFLUENCE THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTY. WE CANNOT LEAVE IT TO THE GOVERNMENT AND DEVELOPERS TO DICTATE OUR FUTURE – WE ARE ALL CUSTODIANS OF OXFORDSHIRE’S COUNTRYSIDE.
Find out more:
The consultation document sets out a series of aspirations, issues to consider, a vision and objectives to guide development in Oxfordshire to 2050.
Visit the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 website to read the document Introducing the Oxfordshire Plan and a series of Topic Papers which give more detailed information on specific areas e.g. housing.
You can respond to the consultation by:
filling in an online questionnaire,
commenting directly on the online document
or emailing your comments to the Oxfordshire Plan Team: info@oxfordshireplan.org
Please note there is also a consultation running simultaneously on the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report. CPRE Oxfordshire’s response to this consultation is also available below.
Oxon 2050 SA Scoping – CPRE Oxon response Feb 19
Oxon 2050 Vision – CPRE Oxon Commentary Feb 19
Oxon 2050 Vision – CPRE Oxon Response March 19