West Oxfordshire District Council to build on recent successes and push forward with future plans for the district

West Oxfordshire District Council has published its Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) for 2023/24 which shows that excellent progress against much of the district’s current Local Plan. It highlights achievements in delivering housing, jobs, infrastructure and environmental improvements that meet the needs of local residents and communities, but also outlines where the current Local Plan is not delivering enough for the district.

Councillor Hugo Ashton, Executive Member for Planning, expressed pride in the progress while also recognising areas for future focus:
"We are delighted to see tangible outcomes from our planning and development strategies. These achievements demonstrate our dedication to addressing housing needs whilst fostering sustainable economic growth and preserving the special character of West Oxfordshire. We are delivering real benefits for the district but we also know there is more to do.

“We can see some key sites outlined in the current Local Plan are not delivering at the pace they should, and this is mostly out of our control.

“This council has started the process of renewing our Local Plan to make sure it not only addresses the issues in the current plan but also does more to deliver more affordable housing, more sustainable developments, better infrastructure, and more job opportunities.

“We need the right homes, in the right places with the right infrastructure, and our new Local Plan will help stop the speculative development we are seeing. We are also doing more to push developers to deliver on sites in the current plan that have not progressed as expected but will not allow rushed applications that don’t deliver the right infrastructure to support communities.”

The report highlights where the Local Plan has delivered tangible benefits for residents including:

• Two more neighbourhood plans at Cassington and Milton Under Wychwood were approved with six more in the pipeline, allowing local communities to guide future developments in their local area.
• The majority of developments were delivered in line with the Council's ambitions to improve quality of life, and protect the environment and character of our towns and villages.
• The Council secured over £3.1M in funding from developers for infrastructure relating to applications submitted during the year. The money will be recieved and spent in the coming years as developments are built.
• 238 new affordable properties were built, helping local people own and rent their own homes.

Whilst the report shows a total of 683 new homes were built in 2023/24, looking forward, the Council cannot currently demonstrate what is known as a ‘five year land supply’ meaning some new proposals are being approved by the Planning Inspector to make up the numbers.

This is largely down to major sites in Witney, Carterton, Eynsham and Salt Cross not delivering the homes that were expected by this stage. Salt Cross has been held up as the Council and community have pushed for ambitious net zero policies that were declined by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate before being overturned at the High Court.

Some sites have seen no planning applications submitted until very recently and now need to go through negotiation to make sure the right road upgrades, community contributions and other infrastructure are included. Other sites now have planning approved but have not yet built any homes. On another site, important archaeology has been discovered, limiting the building of homes.

The new Local Plan is due for completion in 2026, following a delay due to the Government consulting on national changes to planning. This would be a quick turnaround on a plan that spans nearly 20 years, includes a lot of detail, and has been consulted on multiple times to get residents' views.

The new Local Plan will include more ambitious targets for affordable housing, making homes more energy efficient, building the local economy, and making sure the right infrastructure is developed.

The Annual Monitoring Report 2023/24 is now available to view on the Council’s website, providing a detailed overview of the district’s achievements and future plans.

Contact Information

West Oxfordshire District Council Communications Team

communications@westoxon.gov.uk