“The five Local Planning authorities in Oxfordshire have been working together on a joint plan for Oxfordshire to 2050. It is with regret that we were unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs within the framework of the Oxfordshire Plan.
“Local Plans for the City and Districts will now provide the framework for the long term planning of Oxfordshire. The Oxfordshire Plan 2050 work programme will end and we will now transition to a process focused on Local Plans. The issues of housing needs will now be addressed through individual Local Plans for each of the City and Districts. The Councils will cooperate with each other and with other key bodies as they prepare their Local Plans.”
The background here is the Oxfordshire Growth deal required such a plan to be in place by 2021. There was no progress so the government suspended the deal. The background being Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire being opposed to ‘growth’ per-se – ‘scary‘.
It only goes to show that unless you press forward with positive strategic planning Nimbyism will drive you back to square one every time. Its almost if the government now positively wants less housing built?
Only in June the Future Oxfordshire Partnership (former Growth Board as members didnt like the Word Growth) said ‘“We have recently agreed with DLUHC that we can amend the timescale, with the goal of adopting the plan by December 2024.’
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions 