Plan for 13,500 South Oxfordshire homes approved

Proposals to build 13,500 homes in South Oxfordshire have been approved after years of debate.

A coalition of Liberal Democrat and Green councillors said they were "forced" to adopt a Local Plan for the area after the government intervened.

Sue Cooper, the Liberal Democrat leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, voted against the authority's plan.

The coalition-run council had wanted to scrap the plan over the amount of homes proposed and green belt development.

South Oxfordshire's Local Plan - a blueprint for development up until 2035 - has cost more than £3.6m.

It includes proposals to build thousands of homes on green and brown belt sites, including Grenoble Road, Culham and Chalgrove Airfield.

Anne-Marie Simpson, cabinet member for planning said the council was "faced with no real choice but to adopt the plan" due to a "very real possibility of the government removing planning powers from South Oxfordshire if the plan was not adopted".

"It is not the plan of our choosing but having a plan in place that we have successfully managed to improve will help to protect South Oxfordshire from speculative, unplanned developments," she said.

Labour councillor Mocky Khan said voting the proposals through would secure more than £200m in infrastructure funding for Didcot.

The council first drafted a Local Plan in 2014 and has conducted about 120 studies and seven public consolations on various versions.

In March this year, communities secretary Robert Jenrick ordered South Oxfordshire to adopt its plans by December or face further government intervention.

He said there was a "clear case" to intervene because of the authority's lack of progress and housing pressures in the area.

The plan earmarks sites for more than 30,000 homes in total, but many houses have already been or are due to be built.

A total of 17 councillors voted in favour of the Local Plan. Seven voted against and nine abstained.