AN Oxfordshire MP is to help create a new planning law which is set to end plans to build 4,000 homes south of Oxford’s Grenoble Road.

Henley MP John Howell, who drafted a policy paper on planning before the General Election, will serve as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Planning Minister Grant Shapps, as the Government prepares to marshall a Bill through Parliament handing power over planning decisions back to local people.

Dr Howell said the new law would mean South Oxfordshire District Council, which has been long-opposed to Oxford’s urban extension, would have the final decision over whether the development would go ahead.

Dr Howell, formerly a member of the district council, said: “The impetus for this scheme relied principally on the South East Plan, which is no more. The aim now is to bring decision-making back locally, and build up from the bottom.

“The question is now for South Oxfordshire District Council, since the Grenoble Road site is within the district. It will be entirely a matter for South Oxfordshire District Council, and there are not going to be half measures on this.”

Oxford Liberal Democrats have already tabled a motion at their party’s national conference calling for a new housing policy, saying it is “not realistic” to find brown field sites in the city to redevelop as homes.

But Dr Howell said Oxford City Council had changed its mind over whether sites in Oxford could be developed to meet the housing shortage, and it would have to negotiate with its neighbouring council if it wanted Grenoble Road to go ahead.

He said: “From my recollection, Oxford has been fairly equivocal about whether there is other land available to build on or not.

“There will be provision for councils to work across borders if they wish to. It is a matter entirely for Oxford City to negotiate on.”

Many of Dr Howell’s ideas, contained in Conservative policy paper, Open Source Planning, published in February, are set to be drafted into law.

They include offering councils cash incentives to build new homes, equivalent to six years of extra council tax income for each new house, and continuing to protect the national Green Belt.

He said the councils would decide how to involve residents in decision-making, although guidance would be issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

He said: “It is good to start with a bottom-up approach.

“The larger villages and market towns in particular should already be working to put into place some robust plans with strong evidence for what development they want to see.”