Vale of White Horse Local Plan

5 April 2014

The Vale of White Horse District Council is preparing a revised Local Plan to meet the need for new housing outlined in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA – briefly described here). VoWH needs to find sites for roughly 20,500 new homes by 2031. Harwell and Radley have been identified as particularly significant locations for development, with Harwell assigned 4500 homes and Radley 800.

The Council’s commentary on the draft local plan says

Our overall priority is to deliver the necessary growth as sustainably as possible while ensuring there are enough jobs and new facilities provided alongside new homes, whilst also minimising any harmful impacts. New facilities, such as new schools, new services, road improvements, and enhanced public transport should all be considered as part of the development we need to plan for alongside housing and jobs.

Our plan is to focus housing development within the Science Vale Oxford area. This is because the area is home to the largest of our significant employment sites and is where the largest number of new jobs will be created.

You can find links to the full draft plan and supporting documents on the District Council’s website, together with a useful short summary leaflet which shows locations for new housing, transport, roads, etc.