Could new report mean more new homes for Thame?

FOLLOWING a warning that the Thame area may have to provide for increased new housing numbers, local planners have responded to the recently published SHMAR (Strategic Housing Market Assessment Report) figures.

Image courtesy of wbn.co.uk

Cllr Nick Carter warned Thame Town Council recently that this Government commissioned report could mean higher new house building numbers for South Oxfordshire, which could impact Thame.

The report has now been published and shows a need for between 4,678 – 5,328 additional homes per year across Oxfordshire for the period 2011-2031, specifically for between 725-825 per year for South Oxfordshire. (More information about SHMAR here: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/news/2014/2014-03/countys-new-housing-market-assessment

The reports identifies a need for 965 additional affordable homes per year in South Oxfordshire, throughout the period, 2011-2031.

In response to the new figures, South Oxfordshire District Council has stated: “The new SHMA, a new study of housing need in Oxfordshire, provides evidence on housing need over a longer period to 2031. We now need to review our plan to look ahead to 2031, and to work out the best places for the additional new housing to go. Our new Local Plan 2031 will do this, and we look forward to working with our communities to create the new plan. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor our housing land supply based on the requirements and housing delivery plans in our Core Strategy. “

Thame’s MP, John Howell, whose constituency covers part of Oxfordshire, has today published his opinion on the matter. He has stated: “There is no need for an immediate adjustment to the South Oxfordshire Local Plan as a result of the recently approved, county-wide Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA).”

He continued: “The SHMA is a contributory paper to the setting of housing targets. As the report makes clear, it does not set them but contributes to an evaluation of them. In contrast to the South Oxfordshire Local Plan, this report has been through none of the verification procedures that the Local Plan has. In South Oxfordshire’s case, that local Plan was agreed with Inspectors only at the end of 2012.

“Recent guidance produced by Central Government has shown clearly that in relation to the provision of a five-year land supply of sites, assessments are not automatically outdated by these new household projections. It should not therefore be possible for developers to simply over-ride the South Oxfordshire Local Plan on these grounds given that it has an up-to-date assessment of needs.

“Councils need to continue to work together to study these findings and to assess the extent to which the numbers can be accommodated in a sustainable fashion with the correct infrastructure.”

It is not yet known whether this new housing needs report will impact on the housing numbers catered for in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. No one from Thame Town Council was available for comment at the time of going to press.