Agenda item - The Oxfordshire Plan Regulation 18 Part 2 Consultation Document

Report of Assistant Director – Planning and Development

This report is public.

***Please note, due to the number and size of the appendices to this report, it has been published as a series of separate supplements***

Purpose of report

To present a draft Executive report recommending the approval of the Oxfordshire Plan consultation document which sets out a range of planning policy options and a series of spatial strategy options for Oxfordshire.

When complete the Oxfordshire Plan will provide a high-level spatial planning framework for Oxfordshire up to 2050 and will be a statutory Local Plan. The Plan aims to be transformational and occupies new policy areas, such as on climate change, environmental betterment, health impacts and zero carbon transport. It has now reached the Regulation 18 part 2 stage.

Recommendations

1. To consider the draft Executive report and the Regulation 18 (Part 2) consultation document for public consultation as attached.

2. That any observations agreed by the Committee be reported to the Executive.

Resolved

(1) That the draft Executive report and the Regulation 18 (Part 2) consultation document for public consultation be noted

(2) That the following observations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be reported to the Executive:

a. A feeling of discontent amongst the Committee regarding the volume of information relating to the consultation, and the length of time Members had to go through it (acknowledging that it was within statutory legal timescales for agenda publication but not ideal). The Committee felt unable to sufficiently scrutinise the documentation in the available time.

b. A request for a clear communications strategy, and for progress updates and further involvement of both the Overview and Scrutiny Committee specifically, and more general briefings for all Members during the course of work on the plan following the Regulation 18 consultation

c. A request for an understanding as to how the plan will address the estimated annual cost to the economy in relation to Mental Health, as detailed in the table in paragraph 248 of the consultation document (Committee supplement part 1, page 87).

d. A request for the later stages of the Plan process to focus on the Affordable Homes aspect, specifically social housing and social rented housing, acknowledging the explanation from the Assistant Director – Planning and Development that in planning terms ‘affordable’ does include social rented housing.

e. A request for clarity regarding how the preferred and alternative options will be presented in the final consultation document, to avoid possible confusion for those reading it.

f. In relation to Policy Option 01: Sustainable Design and Construction, the removal of caveats such as ‘this policy would be subject to viability and deliverability testing’ (Committee supplement part 1, page 52) as they could be used as ‘get outs’ by land owners/developers later in the plan process

g. Concerns around the Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment documents and the accuracy of the figures

h. Natural growth is not referred to through the document, trajectory graphs provided are all straight lines and do not seem to take account for natural growth to decrease as well as increase.

i. Within Policy Option 10 – Green Belt (Paragraph 258, Committee supplement 1 page 89), National Planning Policy Framework guidelines are frequently referred to but the messages are mixed. In some cases there seems to be a suggestion of making it easier to build on Green Belt, and in others discussion is around enhancing Green Belt.

The Committee considered a report from the Assistant Director – Planning and Development regarding the Oxfordshire Plan Regulation 18 Part 2 consultation document, which set out a range of planning policy options and a series of spatial strategy options for Oxfordshire. When complete the Oxfordshire Plan would provide a high-level spatial planning framework for Oxfordshire up to 2050 and would be a statutory Local Plan.

The Oxfordshire Plan 2050 was being jointly produced by the five local planning authorities in Oxfordshire, working in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council and OxLEP. A central officer team were preparing the plan, and each of the five councils (four districts and city) needed to formally approve each stage of preparation.

The Committee was requested to provide observations on the consultation document before it was considered by Executive at a special meeting on 19 July. If approved by all five councils, consultation would start on 30 July 2021.

In presenting the draft Executive report, the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that an additional recommendation had been added requesting adoption of the updated Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), which would also form part of the public consultation.

In addition to the SCI, changes would also need to be made to page 120 of the consultation document, specifically the housing figures quoted in the two tables.

The Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that the consultation considered various options for growth, but specific locations and details would need to be developed after the consultation. Specific locations and numbers of houses were not known at this stage.

The Committee thanked the officers from the central unit for their work in putting together the documents, however it was agreed that due to the volume of published information it had not been possible to read through everything in sufficient detail prior to the meeting.

The Director Law and Governance clarified that the papers had been published in line with statutory legal timescales but acknowledged the concerns of the Committee.

With regard to the timetable for the adoption of the plan, the Committee felt it was important for all Members to be kept informed of the outcome of the Regulation 18 consultation and subsequent work on the draft plan and Regulation 19 consultation, and requested a clear communications strategy to ensure ongoing involvement of members prior to anticipated adoption of the plan in 2023.

The Committee requested an understanding as to how the plan would address the estimated annual cost to the economy in relation to Mental Health, as detailed in the table in paragraph 248 of the consultation document.

In response to questions from the Committee, the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that the term ‘Affordable housing’ did also refer to social rented housing. Adrian Colwell from the Oxfordshire Plan Team added that as the plan would cover a 30 year timeframe, it was important to strike the right balance in wording and not be too specific at this stage. Definitions could change over time, and lead to the plan becoming out of date very quickly.

Mr Colwell advised the Committee that as further work would need to be completed once the Regulation 18 consultation had taken place, they could request that later stages of the plan focus on affordable homes.

With regard to how the consultation document had been laid out, the Committee commented that the preferred and alternative options could be confusing, and requested clarity over how the final document would be presented.

In relation to Policy Option 01: Sustainable Design and Construction, the Committee felt that caveats such as ‘this policy would be subject to viability and deliverability testing’ should be removed, as they could be used as ‘get outs’ by land owners/developers later in the plan process.

The Committee also expressed concern in relation to the Oxfordshire Growth Need Assessment and the accuracy of the figures, and commented that trajectory graphs throughout the documents all portrayed straight lines, with no apparent reference to natural growth and the possibility of growth decreasing.

Finally in relation to Green Belt references in Policy Option 10, the Committee felt that the messages were mixed. In some cases there seemed to be a suggestion of making it easier to build on Green Belt, and in others discussion was around enhancing Green Belt.