Oxford City Council is set to announce a new roadmap for the development of its next Local Plan – the planning policies used to determine all planning applications in Oxford.

Cabinet’s decision will need to be ratified by full Council on Monday 27 January.

Local Plan 2040 

The Council submitted the LP2040 for public examination by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) in March last year.

In September, the PINS recommended withdrawal of the LP2040 on the basis the Council had not met its duty to cooperate with neighbouring councils over cross-boundary strategic planning issues.

Inspectors also found fault with technical issues in the Council’s assessment of the number of homes needed to meet Oxford’s needs.

The Council has concluded the only viable option is to accept the inspectors’ recommendation and start work on a revised plan.

The adopted Local Plan 2036 remains in date and will continue to be used in determining planning applications.

Producing the new Local Plan 2042 will not mean starting from scratch. Much of the work previously carried out for the LP2040 remains relevant.

The government issued a new national planning policy framework (NPPF) on 12 December 2024 and the 2042 Plan will need to align with this. Among other things, it reintroduced mandatory housing targets dropped in 2023.

A new class of ‘grey belt’ land means the Council will need to formally review Green Belt sites within Oxford. An initial assessment suggests there will be very little if any grey belt land in the city itself.

The Council will also shortly begin a new call for potential development sites as part of its ongoing work to assess the capacity to deliver new homes within Oxford’s boundaries.

The Council aims to submit the Local Plan 2042 to the PINS for examination in April 2026.

Once the plan is submitted the timescale for approval is in the hands of planning inspectors.

Councillor Louise Upton, Cabinet Member for Planning, said: “While we don’t have much choice but to withdraw the Local Plan 2040 this doesn’t mean we have to start from scratch on a new plan. Most of the preparation we’ve already done is relevant, our evidence base is up-to-date and we’re hard at work on the areas we need to focus on amending.

“New mandatory housing targets are very much in line with our thinking on how many homes Oxford needs, and we think the introduction of the ‘grey belt’ is likely to have little or no impact within our boundaries.

“We aim to submit our Local Plan 2042 for examination in April 2026 after it has been through two rounds of public consultation later this year.”