Last night the Vale discussed how to move forward with Local Plan Part 2 having received a letter from the Inspector saying the plan was unsound without modification. Specifically, he gave three options in relation to Dalton Barracks and Abingdon Airfield; 1) stick with 4500 homes but do a lot more work to put the transport infrastructure in place, 2) change the plan to only allocate 1200 homes on this site, or 3) remove Dalton Barracks from the Local Plan and find other sites around the Vale to put the 1200 homes required.
The Council, and the Opposition, voted to proceed under Option 2. But I had the following to say during the debate:
“In our Reg 19 [formal consultation on the Local Plan documents] submission and during the examination in public, the Liberal Democrat group questioned the soundness of Local Plan Part 2 and asked the inspector to consider six modifications.
“In his letter Mr Reed agreed with four of these six; including Abingdon Airfield in the site name, the inadequate transport infrastructure to support housing at Dalton Barracks and Abingdon Airfield, deleting the pointless bus road through Sunningwell and not removing Shippon village from the Green Belt.
“The Inspector also addressed our fifth point about the number of homes we should be building in the Vale – he reduced the number of homes required in Southeast Vale and clarified that the size of Oxford’s unmet need should be treated as a “working assumption”.
“We still don’t have a sound Part 2 plan and are yet to learn what further modifications the inspector requires.
“But, we are where we are.
“Officers’ recommendation is to inform Mr Reed we intend to proceed with his ‘Option 2’. Of the three options available, given the time pressure we are under, this seems like the most sensible way forward.
“However, this course of action does raise some questions and concerns.
“Firstly, timing. The Local Plan Part 1 inspector said we had to have part 2 in place by December 2018. Our group warned council back in Sept 2017 that rushing to submit an unsound Part 2 plan would put this deadline at risk. I note Cllr Cox’s comments that he thinks we can still meet the 31st December deadline, but what are the consequences of this for the Vale if we don’t meet this?
“The Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal requires all 5 Districts to have submitted local plans by April 2019. But with this delay, and the uncertainly over what Oxford’s unmet need will actually be, is the Vale also at risk of jeopardising the growth deal?
“Secondly, this change in direction, and the work required on further modifications, will require additional staff time and money. I am concerned about the additional workload for our officers and the extra money this council will have to spend as a result. I would like to know how much has been put into the budget to cover these unintended costs and what the consequences will be for other projects the Planning team are responsible for?
“And finally, we need to make sure that residents, Parish Councils, Neighbourhood Plan Groups, county highways officers and members of this council are fully engaged with the development of the new plans for Dalton Barracks and Abingdon Airfield. So what arrangements are in place for public consultation so that the plan developed under ‘Option 2’ has every chance of being found sound by the inspector?”
Cllr Cox, leader of the Vale responded to these questions by saying he is confident we can meet all the required deadlines, that planning officers had not raised any concerns about workload and there would be a 6-week consultation on the new plans for Dalton Barracks.
There is a lot of work to do, and without knowing what other modifications the Planning Inspector requires to make the plan sound, I remain concerned about resources and hitting our 31st December deadline. We will see…