Have your say on where new housing should be distributed in South Oxfordshire
People living and working in South Oxfordshire are being urged to have their say on where additional homes that may need to be built in the district to 2031 should be located.
A new evidence study on housing shows that there is a need for between 14,500 and 16,500 new homes in South Oxfordshire in the period 2011 to 2031. This is between 3,900 and 5,900 homes more than had already been planned for in South Oxfordshire District Council’s Core Strategy, a fifteen year plan which was adopted in December 2012.
South Oxfordshire District Council needs to test the extent to which this need can be met and look at where these additional homes, along with the associated infrastructure, should be built,
As a result of the additional housing need figures the district council will be revising its existing Local Plan, the document which shapes how the district will be developed, so that it looks ahead to 2031 and determines the best places for the extra houses and infrastructure. In order to do this the council is asking people to have their say in a six week public consultation which will look at both options for dealing with additional development and constraints.
The consultation asks people to consider a number of alternative options which suggest where in the district the additional developments could go. These include carrying on with the distribution of housing as outlined in the Core Strategy, dispersing development more widely including across smaller villages, and a more radical option such as building an entirely new town. Anyone submitting their views can choose their favoured option, pick a combination of options or provide their own suggestion.
The options are only indications of where the new developments could go, however the results of the consultation will help to determine which option(s) should be investigated further and potentially taken forward to the next stage of the process to form the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031.
Have your say now!
Tell us what you think now by:
- Going to www.southoxon.gov.uk/newlocalplan. Here you can view the consultation document, including the additional housing options, and take part in consultation online
- Visiting our offices (South Oxfordshire District Council, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh, OX10 8ED) or local libraries and one stop shops across our district and completing a response form,
Please be advised that all responses that we receive will be available to the public to view. This consultation is seeking people’s ideas on the scope of the 2031 Local Plan. The work the district council has carried out with the larger village communities over the last 18 months to assess and choose sites for new housing will be included in the new plan and there will be further opportunities to comment on sites at a later date. Comments about housing locations that were allocated prior to March 2014 will not be considered.
For more information about the consultation and how the additional housing need could affect South Oxfordshire please take a look at the video called ‘Help shape the future of South Oxfordshire’ which available to view at www.youtube.com/southandvale.
What happens next?
Your comments will help us draft the next stage of our plan. Once this has been carried out another round of public consultation will then take place at the end of the year.
You can keep up-to-date with our progress by visiting our website. The consultation closes on 23 July 2014.
For further information please visit our website or telephone 01491 827325
Cllr Angie Paterson, Cabinet Member for Planning at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “Given the evidence study we have a duty to consider where additional homes could be located. It is very important to make sure that we limit the impact that this extra housing has on local communities and that the infrastructure can be put in place to support the increased population.
“To ensure this happens we need people who live and work in the district to let us know what they think. We have a number of options that suggest where the housing could go and people can look through these, select a preference or suggest an alternative idea. We also need to carefully consider any constraints.”
“This consultation is one of the first stages of preparing the Local Plan 2031 and determining how additional houses are allocated across the district. Now is the time for you to help shape this process. Plans can only be truly successful if they are rooted in local knowledge, so it is very important that as many people as possible have their say and that many differing opinions are heard.”