Vale of the White Horse District Council Local Plan 2031
The Vale Local Plan 2031 is in two parts. Part 1 was approved in December 2016. Part 2 was approved in October 2019. It can be viewed and accessed here.
Local Plan Part 1
Local Plan Part 1 (LPP1) was based on work commissioned by the Oxfordshire Growth Board.
This is the body responsible for deciding the strategic housing numbers across the County and provides a liaison forum on spatial planning, economic development, housing, transport, and general infrastructure issues arising at regional and sub regional level. They are responsible for the Strategic Housing Needs Analysis (SHMA) which dictates our housing numbers. See our page for more details on the SHMA.
The Strategic Housing Needs Analysis (SHMA) for Oxfordshire identified housing needs for Oxfordshire of 100,000 homes by 2031 with 20,560 to be built in the Vale of the White Horse. See our page for more details on the SHMA.
LPP1 decided where these homes would be built and they included:
2,500 on Grove Airfield
1,500 on Crab Hill
885 homes on Monks Farm
Because of the time taken to develop the Plan, a significant number of developments were approved because we didn't have a plan in place. They included:
380 homes at Stockham Park Farm
85 homes on Chain Hill
200 homes spread around East Hanney
200 homes on two sites in East Challow
320 homes in smaller applications around Wantage and Grove
150 homes given permission on King Alfred’s East site.
Local Plan Part 2 (LPP2) had to allocate land for 2,200 homes to meet the needs of Oxford City (apparently there isn't any land in the city to build enough homes). The new allocations include:
1,200 homes on Dalton Barracks
600 homes on the eastern edge of Kingston Bagpuize (in Fyfield parish)
400 more homes in North Grove (north of the Airfield)
130 more homes in East Hanney and
90 more in Marcham.
The 600 homes in Fyfield can’t be occupied before the completion of the upgrade at Frilford Junction, because the County Highways Team say the current junction wouldn’t be able to cope.
The 400 in Grove are supposedly to assist with delivering the North Grove Link Road and may only be a start:
The Plan states that “The allocation at North-West of Grove has the capacity to deliver more housing, subject to appropriate infrastructure improvements. Housing which is in addition to the 400 homes is expected to be delivered after 2031.”
It goes on to say that development on the additional site allocations will be supported through a “master planning process involving the community, local planning authority, developer and other stakeholders” and “The allocation of the North-West of Grove site will assist with delivering the North Grove Link Road that will form an important connection between Grove Airfield and the A338, along with contributing to a range of other services and facilities.”
“Understanding how future growth should maximise opportunities for enhanced public transport connections, including a future railway station at Grove.”
Yet it also includes the old policy from the 2011 Local Plan which required the Grove Airfield development to build a “New road from the site to the A338 north of Grove to be ... completed before any more than 1,500 dwellings in total have been built on the site.”
So why do we need the assistance of the additional site to build this road?
