18/05/12….Thame Neighbourhood Plan update

SOUTH Oxfordshire’s Core Strategy Examination in Public resumes next week to consider the Main Modifications to the plan which will decide how South Oxfordshire, including Thame, will grow and develop to 2026, including where new housing will go.

These modifications have been made following the Inspector’s initial ?soundness? findings, following the Examination in Public (EIP) last November.

What are the modifications?

The principle modification in the Core Strategy relating to Thame was that the Inspector considered that the decision as to where to allocate the 775 houses in Thame should be deferred to the Neighbourhood Plan, rather than allocating a site (Site F) in the Core Strategy. This modification has, itself, given rise to additional issues that will now be considered at the Examination.

The main question the Inspector has asked is whether, in deferring the matter of the allocation of houses to the Neighbourhood Plan, there needs to be a contingency option included in the Core Strategy in order to make it effective. Two options have been suggested by South Oxfordshire District Council:

(a) to include a ?reserve site allocation? in the event that the Neighbourhood Plan is not adopted by April 2014; or

(b) to include a requirement that an alternative document (to the Neighbourhood Plan) be prepared if the Neighbourhood Plan has not been adopted by April 2013.

The District Council favours option (a), and has suggested that Site F should be retained on a reserve basis and allocated for 400 dwellings if the Neighbourhood Plan is not adopted by April 2014.

These matters, and other issues, will be considered at the Examination. Thame Town Council will be represented at the Examination to discuss these matters, and to report on progress in connection with the Neighbourhood Plan.

As it relates to Thame, it has been publicised that the Examination recommences at the District Council Offices, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, and will begin at 9am on Wednesday May 23. (Though this may have changed to Monday, May 21 – I am trying to find out whether a note on SODC’s website that the meeting regarding ‘MM25’ scheduled for May 24, is now on May 21 !!)