OXFORD could gain its first ally in calls for a countywide Green Belt review, after a district council leader signalled support.

As part of its proposed Local Plan for up to 2031, Vale of White Horse District Council reviewed the Green Belt within its own boundaries.

Leader Matthew Barber told the Oxford Mail it was a “necessary evil” to meet housing need, and he “would not stand in the way” of a review for the whole of Oxfordshire.

The Vale authority has broken ranks with other district councils and accepted figures spelt out in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA).

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The Government-backed report, published in March, said the Vale needed 20,560 homes by 2031 – out of a total 100,000 across Oxfordshire.

It has been strongly opposed by countryside campaigners, who see it as a threat to green space.

Mr Barber said: “While we recognise the importance of the Green Belt, we are looking at what the human impact will be when we build in certain places.

“The real risk if we do not take these difficult choices is that we could end up with sites in much worse locations that have to take the housing.

“We have had to take a fresh look at the issue of the Green Belt since the SHMA was published.”

Mr Barber said his authority was pressing Oxford – which has asked its neighbours for help in finding space for some 20,000 homes outside its boundaries – to first make sure it had built as much as possible in the city.

He added: “Each district needs to look at it on their own merits, but I certainly would not stand in the way of a countywide Green Belt review if there was support for it. We found it was a necessary evil, because it is not an alternative to just say ‘we don’t want this’.”

The Oxford Green Belt was first proposed in 1958, as a way of surrounding the city and preventing ‘urban sprawl’.

Areas covered by it are protected from development.

But after the SHMA figures were published, three of the county’s five planning authorities have had to create new Local Plans and are under pressure to find space to build thousands of new homes.

Cherwell District Council notably ignored the SHMA’s findings in an earlier version of its Local Plan this year, but the document was thrown out by a planning inspector.

Vale of White Horse District Council has accepted the figures and carried out a Green Belt review to find extra space for new homes.

It has proposed 15 sites be removed from the Green Belt and a total of 1,510 homes be built on four of them.

But Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said his authority continued to advocate “very strongly” for a countywide review. That would require cooperation from West Oxfordshire, Cherwell and South Oxfordshire district councils.

Mr Price said: “I very much welcome Mr Barber’s comments. The city council thinks a review makes sense and would take pressure off of Green Belt incursions in other areas.

“That is better than taking small parts away at a time.

“Like all things that are that old, there is a time for review in light of new pressures.”

 

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