AN APPLICATION which will take up a sizeable chunk of the Oxford North development has been submitted to the city council.

Plans for 317 homes have been sent to Oxford City Council, for land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals.

The application, which seeks reserved matters consent for the Canalside part of Oxford North, comes as a new report questions the number of homes set to be built across the county.

The Cherwell Development Watch Alliance (CDWA) commissioned a review by independent consultancy, Opinion Research Services (ORS), with the results critiquing the growth needs proposed as the basis for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.

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Oxford North is seeking to become the city’s ‘new innovation district’ and to be a ‘unique home and workplace for scientists, technologists and inventors’.

Split into three areas, Canalside will take up a large section of the 480 homes proposed.

The other locations are Central (to the north of the A40 and west of the A44) and Eastside (east of the A44).

Hybrid planning permission was granted for the wider Oxford North site in March 2021, while works commenced on site in September.

Oxford Mail: Plans for 317 homes on land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals. Picture via Oxford City CouncilPlans for 317 homes on land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals. Picture via Oxford City Council

A planning statement submitted alongside the Canalside application says: “The site that lays to the south of the A40 was formerly part of the Oxford Green Belt.

“However, as a result of the adoption of the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan in July 2015, the land has been released from the Green Belt and therefore is not subject to the associated restrictions to development.”

A consultee comment from Thames Water adds: “The application indicates that surface water will not be discharged to the public network and as such, Thames Water has no objection.

“Thames Water would advise that with regard to foul water sewerage network infrastructure capacity, we would not have any objection, based on the information provided.”

Oxford Mail: Plans for 317 homes on land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals. Picture via Oxford City CouncilPlans for 317 homes on land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals. Picture via Oxford City Council

While the Oxford North proposals take another step forward, the ORS report criticises the methodologies used for calculating population and employment growth in Oxfordshire, especially in Oxford itself, where ‘much higher population levels are predicted than in more recent official projections’.

The calculations, which will be used for deciding the future number of new houses to be built, appeared in the Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment (OGNA).

Suzanne McIvor, chair of CDWA, said: “Recently adopted local plans already commit Oxfordshire to 85,000 new houses with around 19,000 of them on the Oxford Green Belt.

“The Oxfordshire Plan 2050 threatens to bring as many as another 67,000 houses.

“The OGNA consultants have created their own ‘adjusted’ standard method, which uses questionable techniques to predict specious higher population growth in Oxford city.

“This would likely be allocated to the districts, thereby putting extensive areas of the Green Belt under further threat.”

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David Young, another member of CDWA, added: “The OGNA is all about growth, but it is not made clear that this is a choice in Oxfordshire.

“The ORS report shows in detail that this is not a normal housing market assessment prepared using standard techniques.

“The methods used do not appear to be standard practice, nor do they follow Government policy.

“Furthermore, the OGNA ignores reductions in population projections by the Office for National Statistics, and manipulates its own projections upwards using what ORS considers to be unreliable alternative data.”

Giles Lewis, CDWA committee member, said: “Amongst its findings, the ORS report considers that the OGNA significantly overestimates likely future employment leading to overstatement of the number of dwellings required.

“Tellingly, it calls into question the soundness of the OGNA as supporting evidence for the development of the Oxfordshire Plan.

“The ORS report on the OGNA exposes its many shortcomings. We are calling on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership to reconsider whether this document provides a sufficiently sound basis on which to decide the housing requirement for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.”

Oxford Mail: Plans for 317 homes on land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals. Picture via Oxford City CouncilPlans for 317 homes on land at Canalside – south of the A40 and part of the wider Oxford North proposals. Picture via Oxford City Council

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership, formerly the Oxfordshire Growth Board, is a joint committee of the six councils of Oxfordshire, together with key strategic partners.

A spokesperson for Future Oxfordshire Partnership said it will ‘take careful account of all evidence provided’ in relation to the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.

“No decisions have yet been taken on future levels of housing growth in Oxfordshire,” said the spokesperson.

“The councils are currently reviewing the evidence base, the programme and the timetable of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 in light of consultation responses and comments received.

“We will take careful account of all evidence provided, and CDWA is welcome to submit the report from ORS for our consideration at the next round of consultation.”

Since 1994, ORS has prepared housing needs assessments for nearly 150 local planning authorities, with assessments for 75 authorities in England during the past five years.

To view the Canalside proposals, search the city council planning portal using the reference number 22/00675/RES.