Oxford City Council’s plans to tackle Oxford’s housing crisis face a setback as planning inspectors have recommended the withdrawal of its draft Local Plan 2040.
The Council submitted the plan for public examination by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) in March. Inspectors then held an initial set of public hearings in June to decide whether the Local Plan 2040 satisfies national planning policy and other legal requirements.
The urgent need for homes
The PINS has accepted the Council’s approach to maximising the number of new homes that can be built within city boundaries by 2040, with 481 a year proposed.
However, inspectors have rejected the Council’s assessment that 1,322 homes a year are needed in total, with 841 of these needing to be built outside Oxford’s boundaries.
Oxfordshire's thriving life science and technology sectors mean the county has been one of the few hotspots in a stagnating UK economy for some time. Economic growth creates the need for more homes than allowed for in the National Planning Policy Framework’s (NPPF) default 'standard method' for calculating how many homes are needed.
Inspectors had previously agreed Oxfordshire’s exceptional circumstances justified the need for more homes. Oxford’s existing Local Plan 2036 and those of its neighbouring districts are based on this foundation and the districts have already agreed to build 14,300 homes to meet Oxford’s needs.
The Local Plan 2040 takes a similar approach in using job and population growth forecasts to assess how many homes are needed. The inspectors have now U-turned and said there are no exceptional circumstances justifying the need for more homes, even despite continued strong economic growth.
This means the Council would need to use the standard method calculation of 762 homes a year.
This is not enough to meet the need for new homes, even if economic factors are disregarded. The need for affordable housing alone would require 700 new homes a year.
Oxford is one of the least affordable places to live in the UK, with average house prices more than 12 times household earnings and more than 3,300 households on the waiting list for council housing.
The PINS U-turn also flies in the face of the new Labour government’s intention to set new mandatory housing targets requiring a 59% increase in the number of homes to be delivered in Oxfordshire – an extra 1,900 a year countywide.
Duty to cooperate
Despite a long history of collaborative working with stakeholders and neighbouring councils on planning issues affecting Oxfordshire, the PINS has also concluded the council failed to meet its ‘duty to cooperate’ in preparing the Local Plan 2040.
This finding relates to a single five-month period in 2022 after the collapse of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 that involved all five district councils. In this period, the Council was working with Cherwell District Council to commission the Housing and Employment Needs Assessment (HENA) as a joint evidence base for their respective plans.
Oxfordshire’s other districts declined the invitation to take part in this project. However, they were offered the opportunity to engage with the findings of the work.
While the Council strongly disputes the inspectors' findings as it is confident it engaged appropriately with neighbouring councils, the NPPF provides no mechanism to appeal them.
The Council is currently considering its options. However, any amendment to the Local Plan 2040 would mean the need for further public consultation and delay any implementation of the plan.
Comment
“We are alarmed and extremely disappointed by the recommendation to withdraw our Local Plan 2040 from public examination.
“The planning inspectors have failed to grasp the seriousness of Oxford’s housing crisis and the number of new homes we need to tackle this crisis – and don’t appear to have heeded the clear message from government which requires all councils to up their housing delivery ambitions.
“The logical outcome of the inspectors’ conclusions will be a delay to proactively planning for the homes we need. The reality is that while the City Council are builders, there are others elsewhere who are blockers. Waiting for a situation where all councils in Oxfordshire are agreed on housing numbers and cross-boundary matters is just not realistic. That’s why the government is planning the reintroduction of mandatory housing delivery targets.”
“Our approach hasn’t changed. Yet the PINS now says there are no exceptional circumstances and we should now use the current ‘standard method’ - already rejected by the new government - for working out how many homes we need. This would mean fewer homes being built, and far fewer than we actually need.
“The current standard method is not fit for purpose and flies in the face of the government’s policy intention to overhaul a broken national planning system and deliver 1.5 million homes. The current standard method does not even take account of population increases that have already happened in Oxford and across Oxfordshire recorded in the census. Using this discredited method to calculate how many homes we need would make the city’s housing crisis worse.
“Oxford City Council also disputes the finding it has not met the duty to cooperate. We have a longstanding history of working collaboratively with neighbouring councils and other stakeholders on planning issues affecting Oxfordshire - including during the preparation of this plan.
“The duty to cooperate is not a duty to agree. Nor should it be a charter for those who object the loudest to be able to block the building of desperately needed homes.”
Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council
The inspectors’ recommendation (PDF 182kB), the Council’s response (PDF 361kB) and a summary briefing note are on the Council's website.
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