01/07/11……..More new homes approved for Thame
SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council last night approved changes to its core strategy on where 814 additional new homes in the district should go, including Thame.
The council came up with its proposals in response to a directive from the planning inspector currently considering the council’s Core Strategy for future development to 2027. The inspector has ruled that the council cannot rely on windfall housing sites to meet any of its housing needs during that period.
The approved changes include:
Thame: 600 to the northwest of the town (site F) (revised from 530) and a further 175 in or around the town (sites to be specified in a later document).
Wallingford: 555 to the west of the town (revised from 400)
Larger villages: 1,154 (revised from 740).
The council said today: “Despite this initial set back the planning inspector is happy for the council to move its strategy forward by holding some of the examination hearings in July and addressing the other outstanding issues in early November. The changes will be published for six weeks, between Friday, July 8 and August 19, before re-submission to the inspector in time for him to recommence the proceedings on November 1.
Angie Paterson, Cabinet member for planning, said:
?The Council?s decision last night to approve the changes to housing numbers means we can now move the strategy forward again – although having to revise our numbers was a disappointment for us and for local communities, it is in all our interests to work to submit a strategy that the inspector will find to be sound.?
Find out more at: www.southoxon.gov.uk
SODC’s statment explains: “The increase of 70 more homes to the northwest of Thame is on the originally identified preferred site. We have concluded this is still the most appropriate location in terms of the impact on the road network, access to public transport and flood risk. Importantly, an increase of this number could be included without increasing the size of the site needed. However, since this site cannot accommodate all the housing needed for the town, we propose further work to identify land either within or around the town suitable for the remaining 175 homes. In future there is a possibility the Lord Williams’s Lower School site could fit many if not all of these homes.
“Wallingford?s increase of 155 additional homes is also on the originally identified preferred site, west of the town. We have concluded this is still the most appropriate location as the increase in homes could be included without increasing the size of the site needed. The site also offers the best accessibility to the town centre for pedestrians and cyclists.
“In the larger villages, an increase of 414 more homes from 740 would be between twelve villages and land at Bayswater Farm north east of Oxford. The larger villages include Benson, Berinsfield, Chalgrove, Chinnor, Cholsey, Crowmarsh Gifford, Goring, Nettlebed, Sonning Common, Watlington, Wheatley and Woodcote.
“Details on the exact locations for Thame, Henley and the larger villages will be discussed at a later date. The council will set out specific sites for development in this document following the principles we established and agreed in the core strategy.”
Windfall sites
Windfall sites are sites suitable for development but are either too small for inclusion in the council?s core strategy or their particular availability cannot be predicted at the time the strategy is prepared.
After extensive consultation last year, the council decided windfall sites should be included as part of the supply needed for it to meet the district’s housing ambitions for the district.
This approach, said the council, was welcomed by local communities as it meant smaller numbers of homes had to be allocated to named sites.
In May the inspector concluded there were no circumstances to justify the council?s reliance on a supply of housing from windfall sites, in the final five years of the plan to 2027 and that it would therefore be: “..inconsistent with national policy.”
