Oxfordshire needs to show it has five year's housing supply

Since 2017, the county has had a special arrangement with the Government where planning chiefs must demonstrate three years' worth of homes are being built to meet predicted need for housing.

But now, all five of Oxfordshire’s district councils, which oversee planning, will have to revert to the normal arrangements of maintaining a five-year housing land supply, to meet housebuilding targets calculated by the Government.

Property firm Savills has said the change leaves all Oxfordshire councils at risk of developers building on land which is not set aside for homes if they cannot show they have a five-year supply, while council leaders have said they are disappointed.

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The news of the end of the special arrangement was read out at the Oxfordshire Growth Board by West Oxfordshire District Council leader Michelle Mead.

She said: “Like all leaders I am very disappointed that the Government has not extended this provision alongside the extension of the dates for completing the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 which the variation from the national five-year land supply provisions was intended to support.

“This provision has provided valuable certainty to local communities while we have been developing our longer-term plans in Oxfordshire.

“The risk is that the need to refocus on short-term housing land supply considerations will divert resources away from the longer-term planning.”

West Oxfordshire District Council’s new leader Michele Mead. Picture: WODC

Michelle Mead. Picture: West Oxfordshire District Council

The Growth Board had been due to finish a new Oxfordshire Plan 2050 by March 31, which would have planned out where new homes are needed in the county over the next 30 years.

This is now expected to be finished later in the year, and the board had hoped the special land supply target could be extended too.

Katriona Ormiston-Rees, a senior planner for Savills Oxford said: “Developers may be scrutinising Oxfordshire’s councils closely, and considering suitable sustainable sites, which are not necessarily in Local Plans, to come forward. Any upcoming planning appeals may examine the robustness of the councils’ calculations.”

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Under the new rules, if one of the district councils did not have a five-year land supply, then plans for new homes should automatically be granted permission, unless there are very special circumstances.

According to the latest annual reports from the councils, Oxford City Council has a 5.33 year land supply; South Oxfordshire District Council has 5.35 years and Vale of White Horse District Council has 5.0 years; West Oxfordshire has 5.4 year – but Cherwell in northern Oxfordshire only has 4.8 years.

According to Cherwell District Council, the only one currently unable to meet the new requirement, the land supply is expected to improve in coming years.

Its annual monitoring report says more sites are coming forward in the future to support this, and funding from the Oxfordshire Growth Deal is also helping.