The Oxfordshire Growth Board has this week published a list of numbers and locations for the allocation of Oxford’s unmet housing need around the Districts.

There has been no public consultation or adequate notice for the public to respond before the Board meets next week to sign off the plan.

A total of 14,850 further houses are to be spread around the county, beyond those already in the individual Districts Local Plans. The proposed apportionment is as follows: Cherwell – 4,440, Oxford – 550, South – 4,950, Vale – 2,220 and West – 2,750. These figures are derived from a ‘Spatial Options Assessment‘ which identifies allegedly suitable sites for housing in each District.

In a Press Release issued today (see below) the Need not Greed Oxordshire coalition condemns the process as undemocratic, saying it severely undermines the Local Plan process. Read more …→

In a Press Release issued this week (see below), the Need not Greed Oxon coalition calls on all District and County Councillors to have the opportunity to speak out on the overly aggressive growth figures that will damage our county.

The coalition has learnt that the revised Economic Plan for Oxfordshire – the Strategic Economic Plan – which outlines plans for 85,000 new jobs and 100,000 new houses, is in most cases only likely to be considered by local authority Cabinet meetings, not at Full Council meetings.Read more …→

OxLEP has published the revised version of the draft Strategic Economic Plan (SEP).

The latest draft is available via the OxLEP website.

There is also a version (linked from the above page) with tracked changes.

Need not Greed Oxon is currently considering the implications of these revisions and how we should respond, in particular what actions are needed to generate a robust challenge to local authorities as they go through this process.

Read more …→

Need not Greed Oxfordshire has written to all local authority officers representated on the SEP Steering Group, expressing our concern that there are serious discrepancies between local authority responses to the consultation on the SEP Refresh and the OxLEP summary of responses.

Recent NNGO research, which compares local authority responses with the summary provided in the OxLEP Report on Responses, reveals that the reservations raised by local authorities in their responses on the SEP Refresh have not been fully reflected in OxLEP’s summary.

See: NNGO – Local authority responses to consultation on SEP refresh – an overview

We believe the OxLEP Report which summarises comments from local authorities, is not reflective of the detailed and often critical responses provided by local authorities. Indeed, we maintain that the OxLEP Report glosses over the many real concerns that local authorities have raised about the SEP refresh.Read more …→