Agenda item


Oxfordshire Plan 2050: Summary of responses from Regulation 18 Part 2 Consultation and next steps

Report of Assistant Director – Planning and Development

 

***Please note this report will be to follow as it is being finalised***

Decision:

Resolved

 

(1)       That the summary results from the recent regulation 18 (part 2) consultation be noted.

 

(2)       That the revised scope of the Oxfordshire Plan, with clarification over its relationship to city and district Local Plans and supporting evidence base be noted.

 

(3)       That the next steps of the Oxfordshire Plan process be noted.

 

(4)       That Executive be recommended to adopt the revised Statement of Community Involvement for the Oxfordshire Plan (Annex to the minutes as set out in the Minute Book) when it considers a report on this matter at its March 2022 meeting. 

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report from the Assistant Director – Planning and Development that gave an update from the Future Oxfordshire Partnership on the preparation of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050, and included a summary of comments received during the recent consultation.

 

The Assistant Director – Planning and Development gave a short presentation that highlighted the key aspects of the report.

 

All Oxfordshire district and city Scrutiny Committees were due to consider the same report during February, before a further report was submitted to all Executive and Cabinet meetings in March. The Statement of Community Involvement for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 had been updated following the consultation stage, and was recommended to all Oxfordshire district and City Executive/Cabinets for approval.

 

The next stage of the plan process would be the Regulation 19 submission plan, that was currently scheduled for Summer 2022. Once this stage had been completed the plan would move to Regulation 22, submission of the plan to the Secretary of State to start the examination. This was currently scheduled for Autumn 2022, but the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that detailed analysis of the consultation responses was still being undertaken, and timeframes for the subsequent stages of the plan could be amended.

 

422 parties had submitted responses to the consultation. Feedback had been generally positive, with widespread support for the approach to climate change adaptation, and general agreement regarding the need for more affordable homes across the county.

 

As well as the positive feedback, some responses had called for more say on the next iteration of the plan, as there was concern that proceeding straight to Regulation 19 stage wouldn’t give time for further consultation. The Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that it would be possible for the Future Oxfordshire team to proceed to Regulation 19, but they were considering all responses in detail before confirming the next stage.

 

Comments had also been submitted regarding a need for the plan to have long term flexibility due to the time scale it was proposed to cover.

 

The central plan team were now considering the scope of the proposed plan, and undertaking further work in relation to the latest legislation and national policy, as well as considering the relationship between the Oxfordshire Plan and the local plans of each authority across the county.

 

The detailed work programme would be reviewed, and discussions would take place with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities due to the plans link with the Growth Deal.

 

With regard to the Statement of Community Involvement update, the document detailed how consultation would be undertaken, when, and who would be consulted. It had been necessary to update the document following the lifting of Coronavirus regulations.

 

In response to questions from the Committee, the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that there was time for changes to be made to the plan if the central team felt they were necessary. Once a local plan reached Regulation 19 stage it was unlikely that any significant changes would be made, so it was important that appropriate time was taken between Regulation 18 and Regulation 19 stages to address consultation feedback and ensure the plan was ready to proceed to examination.

 

The Committee thanked the officers involved in producing the comprehensive feedback document, but some Members commented that there had been insufficient time to fully read and review all documents submitted for the meeting due to the level of detail.

 

The Committee repeated the concerns that had been raised in July 2021 when considering the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Regulation 18 Part 2 Consultation document regarding the accuracy of the Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment, due to the implications of the figures on the plan.

 

At the discretion of the Chairman, Councillor Broad addressed the meeting in relation to the method to be to determine the housing numbers as this was not included in the report.

 

With regard to references to affordable housing, the Committee again emphasised the need for more social rented housing rather than Government defined affordable housing. The Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that the detail regarding implementation of the plan would be the responsibility of local Housing teams, and affordability would be an important aspect of the discussions at that stage.

 

In response to a query regarding if it would be possible for affordable rented housing to be linked to local wages rather than the national market formula, the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that there wasn’t a detailed policy in place yet but discussions could be held regarding the possibility of such a link. The Committee requested an update on discussions at the relevant time.  

 

Referring to the recommendation in the report for the Committee to note the consultation feedback, some Committee members felt that agreeing to note the report could not be interpreted as agreeing with the details.

 

Resolved

 

(1)      That the summary results from the recent regulation 18 (part 2) consultation be noted.

 

(2)      That the revised scope of the Oxfordshire Plan, with clarification over its relationship to city and district Local Plans and supporting evidence base be noted.

 

(3)      That the next steps of the Oxfordshire Plan process be noted.

 

(4)      That Executive be recommended to adopt the revised Statement of Community Involvement for the Oxfordshire Plan (Annex to the minutes as set out in the Minute Book) when it considers a report on this matter at its March 2022 meeting. 

 

(Councillors Perran Moon and Shaida Hussain requested that it be recorded they had voted against the recommendations.

 

Councillors Ian Middleton and Simon Holland requested that it be recorded they had abstained from voting on the recommendations).

 

Supporting documents: