Your Plan For The Future - June 2025

Preferred Policy Options Consultation

West Oxfordshire District Council is currently developing a new Local Plan, which will help steer future growth and development in the district and help to define our long-term vision.

This consultation marks the next important step in Plan making process, focusing on our Preferred Policy Options for the West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2041.

While this is not the final Draft Plan, this consultation represents a key milestone, as it outlines the Council’s current thinking on the plan’s overall structure and direction, with a series of preferred policy approaches to address the many challenges and opportunities facing the District in years to come.

Building on the previous consultations, this Preferred Policy Options Paper sets out the Council’s emerging approach, including:

1) A draft vision of West Oxfordshire in 2041

2) Revised objectives for the Local Plan

3) Preferred policy options, covering:

a) Core policies

b) Place-based policies

c) Settlement strategies

d) Development management policies

The Council is inviting feedback on:

·        The overall structure and content of the emerging Local Plan

·        The proposed vision and objectives

·        The preferred policy options

All comments will be carefully considered, alongside further evidence and analysis to help inform the next steps towards a full Draft Local Plan.

Included in the emerging Local Plan are better, stronger updated policies on the issues that are critical to West Oxfordshire including climate, water quality, housing and jobs, supporting infrastructure, town centres, nature recovery and health and well-being.

These are intended to be organised into clear and accessible sections, with policies grouped by theme, identified by concise headings.

We welcome your feedback on the structure and the content of the emerging Local Plan.

The proposed vision and objectives

We have shared our vision of our ambitions for West Oxfordshire in 2041, along with the 5 key priorities that we believe will help us make this a reality. 

We welcome your feedback on both our vision and objectives.

The preferred policy options

For each policy, we have indicated our preferred policy approach– the approach that we think is the most suitable and effective for that policy goal. For some policies, we have also presented alternative options that we have considered.

We welcome feedback on our preferred policy approach to each policy and any alternatives that we have considered.

Development Locations

This consultation does not include information on specific locations for future development. A consultation on Preferred Spatial Options will be held later this year.