WOODCOTE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN ADVISORY GROUP

Minutes of the Meeting held at 19:30 on Thursday 13th April 2017

Present: Helen Baker (HB), Geoff Botting (GB), David Croft (DC), Richard Fletcher (RF), Jerry Green (JG), David Humphris (DH), Mark Lillywhite (ML), Robin Peirce (RP), Malcolm Smith (MS), Brian Williams (BW) and Liam Woolley (LW)

1. Welcome and Apologies The Advisory Group welcomed Helen Baker to her first meeting. Apologies were received from Mike Todd (MT).

2. Declarations of Interest None

3. Minutes of the meeting of 16th March 2017 The minutes were approved as a true record.

Matters Arising None

4. Project Status The expected dates of examination and adoption of the Local Plan 2011-2033have slipped 6- 9 months. The AG agreed that the project schedule must be modified to reflect this delay given the need for the emerging NP to be in general strategic compliance with the new Local Plan. The AG noted that until the new Local Plan is adopted our current NP remains the latest plan for the parish of Woodcote and agreed that the production of the new NP should proceed as quickly as possible subject to constraints imposed by SODC’s schedule.

5. South Local Plan 2011 - 2033 GB and MS had attended a SODC briefing on the 2nd Preferred Options for the Local Plan 2011-2033. The Advisory Group received a copy (attached) of the key points for Woodcote from that briefing.

6. Housing Sites DH has reviewed the HELAA (SODC’s Housing & Economic Land Availability Assessment) and constructed a list of 26 potential sites in Woodcote. He noted that: (i) some of the sites were allocated in the current NP; (ii) one site not in the current NP had obtained outline planning permission for new homes; (iii) the closing date for a response to the notice in the Henley Standard ended on the 13th April; and (iv) some sites submitted for the current NP had not been submitted or were present in the HELAA.

The AG confirmed the importance of not approaching landowners who had not responded to the Henley Standard notice or were not on SODC’s HELAA list and the importance of following an open, even-handed process both generally and when identifying potential development sites.

The potential sites had been allocated to 5 volunteers from the AG and the next step is to contact the owners or agents and get them to complete the site data form. The AG agreed that owners should be given 4 weeks to complete the form and that every effort should be made to obtain proof of receipt of the form.

A list of selection criteria has been developed, based largely on the needs of the SEA and the previously expressed wishes of residents. This will be used by DC and GB to construct the Site Assessment spreadsheet.

The AG noted: (i) the need to confirm the continuing availability of the reserve sites; (ii) that GB and RP will meet the Bursar of on 18-Apr-17 in respect of the reserve site at Chiltern Rise; (iii) the need to inform the village that the reserve sites must be considered as already selected for inclusion in the new NP given that they were seen as suitable when assessed for the current NP; and (iv) the decision of the Inspector of the Henley NP that if a site was judged suitable for inclusion as a reserve site then it was suitable for development.

7. Civic House Building Item deferred

8. Publicity & Communication ML presented his plans for the May consultation. He stated that to be considered successful those attending should leave: (i) convinced that the PC/NP team are working in the best interests of Woodcote; and (ii) with a clear understanding of why Woodcote needs a new NP; and (iii) to do would require: a. shouting about the success of the current NP; b. explaining why we need to update the current NP; c. revalidating the selection criteria and confirming that the community is happy for the PC and NP team to repeat the process used to produce the current NP; and d. 6 exhibition tables – listed below.

Table Content AG Members 1 Why revise the NP? RP 2 What have we achieved? MS 3 What type of housing? JG+RF 4 Plan methodology (site selction) GB+DC 5 Sustainability and biodiversity LW 6 Land requirements for non-housing purposes BW+HB The AG agreed to meet, at the Co-op on 4-May-17 to review all presentation material and to assemble the consultation on the evening of Friday 12-May-17 in the Village Hall.

9. Finance GB reported that SODC has agreed that Woodcote qualified for the grant of £10,000 to support the production of the new NP.

Action: GB/JG to construct an application for funding support to SODC.

10. Any Other Business JG informed the AG that he had contacted both Sovereign Vale and SOHA who were keen to talk about the affordable housing potential of the new NP

11. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting will be held on 4-May-17 at 19:30 in the Co-op meeting room.

SODC Local Plan 2011 – 2033

Initial Key Points

1. Plan Duration: 2011 – 2033 To be revised every 5 year

2. Plan Status Second Preferred Options

3. Plan Production Stages: . Consultation on second preferred options 29-Mar-17 to 17-May-17 . Pre-submission consultation Sep-17 . Submission Autumn 2017 . Examination Spring 2018 . Adoption Summer 2018

4. Housing is the driver (following the SHMA and the lack of a 5-year land supply) . SODC are planning for 775 new homes in the district per annum . The contribution to Oxford City is still a matter of dispute but SODC are looking at 25% of the Oxford City number – some 3750 new homes

5. SHELAA This is a technical assessment of the suitability, availability and achievability of land for development and has provided an indicative capacity of over 22,000 new homes.

NOTE Inclusion in the SHELAA: . does NOT determine whether the site should be developed; . does NOT constitute a land allocation; and . does NOT suggest that planning permission should be granted.

6. Housing Land Supply . SODC are planning to find sites for 23,468 new homes. . This ‘exceeds by some margin our need’ (SODC comment. . Henley, and Wallingford are pencilled in at 1355. . The larger villages are pencilled in for 1122.

7. There are strategic allocations at , , , and Wheatley . Berinsfield is in the Green Belt but the allocation is justified as village regeneration. . Wheatley is in the Green Belt but the allocation is on a previously developed site that is/was part of Oxford Brookes.

8. Woodcote ‘Allocations’ The larger villages are allocated 15% over the number of houses as at 1st April 2011. Windfalls and infill count.

For Woodcote this looks like Homes at 01-Apr-11 1012 15% 152 Core Strategy allocation 73 ------Sub-total 1237

Less already allocated 73 (NP) Completions since 01-Apr-11 17 Outstanding 135 (225 – 90)

In short this suggest that we have to develop the NP sites and find space for another 135 BUT this is an exercise in arithmetic, it is part of an allocation approach that produces far more than SODC need to (15% across the larger villages adds up to 1,733 – SODC only plan for 1,122 from the larger villages) and – most importantly – it does not, as recognised by SODC – take any account of environmental constraints – such as the AONB - which in our case are severe.

12 Consultations

Date From - To Didcot 05-April 13:00 – 19:00 The Cornerstone Wallingford 07-April 15:00 – 19:00 The Regal Centre Thame 08-April 10:00 – 16:00 Thame Barns Centre Henley 22-April 10:00 – 16:00 The Christchurch Centre