District Council may go ahead with Core Strategy housing
SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council is reported to have said that it will press ahead with deciding where it will build hundreds of new houses, despite previously postponing its decision while the general election was on.
The council is reported to have told MP Ed Vaizey, a minister in the new coalition government, that waiting for any change in the government’s planning policy, was not possible.
The leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, Ann Ducker, has confirmed that the Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework, which includes 850 new homes for Thame, would be discussed SODC’s Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday, June 1, and voted on by the council cabinet two days later.
According to an article published by The Herald Series newspaper on its website today, Mrs Ducker is reported to have said “that delaying a vote in the hope of buying time for the new Government to change planning policy could allow big developers to ignore local concerns and build homes where they liked.
“She said it was her responsibility to prevent that and the council had to press ahead with the process.
“She said: ?If we do not have a core strategy and our five years? land supply, we would be extremely vulnerable for developers developing sites that would be most unsuitable.
?There is no room for delay. We are already behind some councils, and all the advice we have is that we should have something in place. Otherwise we are extremely vulnerable.?
The article continues: “In March, the council postponed voting on the core strategy until after the General Election, saying it could become a political issue in the campaign.
“At the time, Mr Vaizey suggested a Conservative Government could halt the process of allocating sites on the edge of Wallingford for new homes, while the party’s Green Paper on Planning, prepared by Henley MP John Howell, suggested housing targets for South Oxfordshire could be cut.
“However, there was no mention of planning policy in the deal struck between David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the days following the election.
Mrs Ducker added, says the article : “If this new coalition Government comes out with alternatives, then, obviously, we will review that at that time. We would like a review of planning policy, but the bottom line is that houses are needed in South Oxfordshire.?
Recently, a group of Thame Residents’ groups collected more than 800 signatures on a petition against building as many as 850 homes on the outskirts of Thame.
TO READ ALL BACKGROUND STORIES ABOUT THE CORE STRATEGY AND ITS IMPLICATIUONS FOR THAME, put the words Core strategy in the Search box top right of this page.
