THIS week, a group of Oxfordshire residents will get their day in court, where they will explain why they should be allowed to challenge their council's housing plan.

The residents, part of a campaign group called Bioabundance, want to stop the South Oxfordshire Local Plan from going ahead, a scheme which makes room for 30,000 homes in the area.

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 29, they will speak in court, appealing to a judge about why they should be allowed to take the plan to judicial review.

Who are Bioabundance?

Bioabundance was formed earlier this year to challenge the Local Plan, after it was passed by South Oxfordshire District Council.

Among the directors of Bioabundance is Sue Roberts a South Oxfordshire district councillor, who used to be party of the council's Green group but resigned her post with them after the Local Plan was approved to form an alliance of independent councillors called the South Oxfordshire Residents Group.

Sue Roberts, of Bioabundance, the company that wants to challenge South Oxfordshires Local Plan in court

Sue Roberts, of Bioabundance

Bioabundance claims to have 85 members including ten parish councils, such as Risinghurst and Sandhills, Sutton Courtenay and Garsington.

Alongside its challenge of the SODC Local Plan it has called for a new nature park to be created north of Oxford around Otmoor and Bernwood Forest, and is mapping the spread of urbanisation in the county.

Why the court hearing?

The group came to this courtroom challenge after previously having tried to take the plan to judicial review, a request which was turned down by High Court judge Justice Ian Dove at the start of April.

The judge did not think that its reasons to challenge the plan were worthy of judicial review and asked Bioabundance to pay the £8,000 costs of the council.

These reasons included that the plan did not meet with requirements in the law to prevent climate change and protect the environment, and that it was not approved democratically by South Oxfordshire District Council because of external pressure from the Government.

What is the Local Plan?

The SODC Local Plan includes room for 30,000 homes in the district, but as many as 16,000 of these have either already been built or granted planning permission.

Most of them would be built in seven large strategic sites, including Chalgrove Airfield and land north of Bayswater Brook in Oxford.

The council's ruling Liberal Democrat and Green coalition had attempted to scrap the plan or make changes to it because they were worried about the huge amount of homes it made way for.

South Oxfordshire residents and councillors protesting outside county hall in January 2020 over the proposal to hand control over where new houses are build in their area to OCC.

However, as they attempted to vote to scrap it in October 2019, the Government's secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, Robert Jenrick issued a 'holding directive' preventing them from doing this or discussing the plan in public.

South Oxfordshire residents and councillors protesting outside county hall in January 2020 over the proposal to hand control over where new houses are build in their area to OCC.

He later issued another directive, telling the council it had to pass the plan by December 2020 or face its planning powers being handed to another council.

Ahead of this, Oxfordshire County Council had agreed in principle to take power over the Local Plan if offered it.

Instead, SODC voted to pass the plan, though many councillors chose to abstain on the vote.

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