The Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment (OGNA) forms the basis for the preparation of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 (Oxon2050). It is vital that it is soundly constructed. An independent, impartial review commissioned by Cherwell Development Watch Alliance questions the soundness of the OGNA as a basis for the development of Oxon2050.
CDWA commissioned an independent review of the OGNA by a specialist in Housing Market Assessments: Opinion Research Services.
ORS conclude that: “The unjustified use of adjustments made to official projections and the Standard Method together with the lack of a conventional central economic forecast call into question the soundness of this document as supporting evidence for the development of the Oxfordshire Plan“.
The OGNA is not a standard housing assessment which follows prescribed Government methodology. Instead it predicts much higher population growth than recent Office for National Statistics projections for the County and especially the City of Oxford.
The summary, pages 4 to 6, exposes and explains the shortcomings of the OGNA which were previously hidden behind its complexity.
Review of the Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment ORS March 2022
Visit the CDWA website here.