Purpose

To review and approve options for local plan making.

Decision

To RECOMMEND Council to:

(a) agree, subject to the agreement of South Oxfordshire District Council, preparation of the next Joint Local Plan for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts.

(b) agree the principle of governance to prepare this new joint local plan under Section 15l of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and to delegate the detailed arrangements to the Director of Legal and Democratic, in consultation with the Director of Policy and Programmes and the Cabinet Members for Policy and Programmes, and Legal and Democratic.

(c) approve formal commencement of the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse Joint Local Plan 2045, in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026.

Subject to Council deciding to accept recommendations (a), (b) and (c), Cabinet RESOLVED to:

(d) approve the giving of a Notice of Intention to commence local plan preparation (see Appendix 1), its publication on the council’s website and making it available for inspection.

(e) approve the Local Plan Timetable (as set out in Table 1 of the report), its publication on the council’s website and making it available for inspection.

(f) delegate authority to the Director of Policy and Programmes, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Policy and Programmes, to:

i. update and publish the Local Plan Timetable monthly (or as required) to ensure an up-to-date timetable is publicly available

ii. authorise commencement of a Scoping Consultation

iii. undertake a self-assessment of readiness for local plan preparation (at Gateway 1) and publish a summary document

iv. approve, submit and publish documents to meet Gateway 2 (Regulation 26) and Gateway 3 (Regulation 31) requirements.

v. agree the content of and commencement of consultation on proposed local plan content and evidence (Regulation 23) and consultation on the proposed local plan (Regulation 27).

(g) If (a) above is not supported, to agree the preparation and production of a Vale of White Horse Local Plan and to approve (d) – (f) above in respect of such a plan.