Last night I attended my second briefing on the new draft of the Vale of White Horse Local Plan 2031 Part 1.

My previous enthusiasm that the Cumnor site had been saved is now diminished.

It HAS been saved from immediate, large-scale development — it’s been removed from Local Plan’s ‘strategic’ sites list. (Stragetic sites are where 200 or more houses are planned.)

But the Local Plan still would still remove the site from the Green Belt, which would make it available for development, either by a speculative planning application being registered, or from it being included in the smaller housing sites proposed in Local Plan Part 2 (in about 2 years’ time).

I’m against piecemeal nibbling away at the Green Belt. I think all authorities with Oxford Green Belt land within their boundaries should work together on a comprehensive review so that decisions are consistent and for everyone. It’s worth noting that, by legislation, the Green Belt can only be built on in ‘exceptional’ circumstances, and housing need is explicitly not an exceptional circumstance. The only way the Tories can build on Green Belt Land is to take the land out of the Green Belt so that it loses its protection.

So far, I’m not inclined to support the Tories’ Local Plan 2031 Pt1.