Oxford Local Plan set to be open to public opinion

Oxford City Council is preparing to launch a new round of public consultation as the next stage in developing its Local Plan 2040.

At its next meeting on Wednesday, February 8, the council's cabinet is expected to approve consultation on a further preferred options document focusing on housing need, together with a new independent report providing the evidence base underpinning the local plan.

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This will be the third round of public consultation on the emerging local plan and follows consultation on emerging issues in 2021 and on preferred options in 2022.

Consultation is expected to run for six weeks until Monday, March 27.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, cabinet member for planning and housing delivery, said: “As the Local Plan 2040 will set out how and where we intend to deliver jobs and homes in Oxford, we require robust and objective evidence on exactly what’s needed.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth

“The Local Plan will help guide the development of our city for the next 20 years and I look forward to launching public consultation in February.”

The council will use consultation results to guide the further development of its draft Local Plan 2040.

This is expected to go out for further consultation in November and December before a final draft is submitted for examination by government inspectors by the end of March 2024.

The evidence base report is a housing and employment needs assessment (HENA) that was jointly commissioned by Oxford City Council and Cherwell District Council to support the development of their respective local plans.

The council has stated Oxfordshire has a strong and diverse economy which is forecast to keep growing, even during a prolonged period of economic volatility as a result of Brexit, Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This is primarily due to the county’s science, education and technology sectors.