The five constituent local planning authorities (South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, Cherwell District Council, Oxford City Council, and West Oxfordshire District Council) had been working on a joint plan, but were unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs. Each authority will now focus on producing their own local plan.
Brett Spiller, Director at Chapman Lily Planning commented ‘This is disappointing news as it makes sense to plan for the City Region. In the current political climate, the challenges of joint working arrangements are immense (West of England and Oxfordshire now being a case in point). Given the uncertainty over the future of the duty to co-operate, planning is in danger of losing its strategic overview and logic. This is a real concern as decisions on infrastructure necessarily need to be taken across a wider geography and should go hand in hand with planned new development.’
For further information on how this news might affect your proposal, please contact us.