Planning Inspectorate rejects Oxford’s local plan

The Planning Inspectorate has recommended the withdrawal of Oxford City Council’s draft Local Plan 2040, arguing the target number of homes is too high. The council proposed to build 1,322 homes a year, 841 of which would need to be built outside Oxford’s boundaries.  It said Oxford’s “thriving” life sciences and technology sectors mean the county has been one of the few hotspots in a stagnating UK economy. Economic growth can mean more homes are needed than the National Planning Policy Framework’s default “standard method” for calculations allows.  Inspectors had previously agreed Oxfordshire’s exceptional circumstances justified the need for more homes. Oxford’s Local Plan 2036 and those of its neighbouring districts are based on this foundation and the districts have already agreed to build 14,300 homes to meet Oxford’s needs.  The Local Plan 2040 takes a similar approach in using job and population growth forecasts to assess how many homes are needed. A statement from the council said the inspectors have performed a U-turn and said there are no exceptional circumstances justifying the need for more homes, despite continued strong economic growth.   This means the council would need to use the standard method calculation of 762 homes a year.  Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown said: “We are alarmed and extremely disappointed by the recommendation to withdraw our Local Plan 2040 from public examination. The planning inspectors have failed to grasp the seriousness of Oxford’s housing crisis and the number of new homes we need to tackle this crisis – and don’t appear to have heeded the clear message from government which requires all councils to up their housing delivery ambitions.   “The logical outcome of the inspectors’ conclusions will be a delay to proactively planning for the homes we need. The reality is that while the city council are builders, there are others elsewhere who are blockers. Waiting for a situation where all councils in Oxfordshire are agreed on housing numbers and cross-boundary matters is just not realistic. That’s why the government is planning the reintroduction of mandatory housing delivery targets. “Our approach hasn’t changed. Yet the [Planning Inspectorate] now says there are no exceptional circumstances and we should now use the current ‘standard method’ – already rejected by the new government – for working out how many homes we need. This would mean fewer homes being built and far fewer than we actually need.” Brown added: “The current standard method is not fit for purpose and flies in the face of the government’s policy intention to overhaul a broken national planning system and deliver 1.5m homes. The current standard method does not even take account of population increases that have already happened in Oxford and across Oxfordshire recorded in the census. Using this discredited method to calculate how many homes we need would make the city’s housing crisis worse.” Image © Lawrence Hookham/Unsplash View planning applications in Oxfordshire >>