Oxfordshire granted flexibility in demonstrating supply of deliverable housing sites.
A temporary change to housing land supply policies has been applied to Oxfordshire following the Government’s commitment to the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, supporting the delivery of 100,000 homes in Oxfordshire by 2031. The Government will also provide £215 million for affordable housing provision and infrastructure improvements.
On 12th September 2018, Secretary of State; James Brokenshire announced that he was implementing a temporary change to the application of housing land supply policies in Oxfordshire:
“For the purposes of decision taking under paragraph 11(d), footnote 7 of the National Planning Policy Framework will apply where authorities in Oxfordshire cannot demonstrate a three year supply of deliverable housing sites”.
The temporary change in application will apply to Cherwell District Council, Oxford City Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council, and will remain in effect until the adoption of the Joint Statutory Spatial Plan in each area.
The flexibility is supported by the Government who recognised the level of ambition in Oxfordshire’s Joint Statutory Spatial Plan in meeting longer term housing need. Authorities in Oxfordshire can focus their efforts on the Joint Spatial Plan instead of maintaining a five year housing land supply.
In the short term, this flexibility will likely decrease the number of applications that are granted under paragraph 11 of the NPPF.
Author: Robbie Locke
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