West Oxfordshire DC is consulting on a schedule of Main Modifications to its net zero policy, as requested by the Government Inspector after the hearing in June. Deadline for responses is 17:00 on Friday 14 November
DATELINE 07/08/2025: WODC is celebrating a major milestone in its plans to deliver one of the most forward-thinking, sustainable new communities in the country. View the press release
DATELINE 28/06/2025: A virtual hearing for Area Action Plan Policy 2 – Net Zero Carbon Development and any consequential revisions to the AAP opened today. See the documents.
DATELINE 17/04/2025: WODC has submitted a revised Net Zero policy to the Planning Inspectorate. ‘We have carefully considered the best way forward and decided to continue to promote a net zero carbon approach’, they say. Read the overview.
DATELINE 19/11/2024: Climate collective Rights Community Action has won permission to appeal against the judgment restricting the net zero ambitions of local planning authorities - starting with WODC plans for Salt Cross.
Meanwhile, WODC has written to request a pause in the Examination, highlighting the inconsistency of approach to this issue within the Planning Inspectorate.
DATELINE 31/05/2024: A new Inspector has been appointed to revisit AAP Policy 2.
DATELINE 20/02/2024: WODC proposed one of the most progressive plans for a net-zero village in the UK but Government planning inspectors said the plans were too ambitious! RCA took the Government to court to challenge this decision... and the High Court ruled today that the Inspectors were ‘plainly wrong’.
The tale may take another twist, however, as a Written Ministerial Statement last December says ‘the Government does not expect plan-makers to set local energy efficiency standards ... that go beyond current or planned buildings regulations’.
DATELINE 14/04/2023: The fightback continues. RCA has issued a High Court legal challenge to the planning inspectorate rejection of WODC’s net zero plans for Salt Cross.
Locally, the EPIC response to the inspector is typically robust; and an insidious threat to biodiversity net gain is the subject of a separate blog.
DATELINE 01/03/2023: The Planning Inspector’s report on Salt Cross Garden Village AAP, published on WODC’s dedicated web page, is a slap in the face for zero carbon ambition.
WODC will now review the recommendations and formally consider its adoption. View the press release.
DATELINE 01/12/2022: WODC consultation on a series of Main Modifications to the AAP closed on 4 November. A schedule of responses has been forwarded to the Planning Inspectors. 136 of the total 174 relate to Policy 2 – Net Zero Carbon Development, including...
DATELINE 23/09/2022: WODC is consulting on Main Modifications for the Garden Village AAP, as required by the Government Inspector.
Its net zero carbon development policy in particular has been watered down, since the Inspector ruled it ‘neither consistent with national policy nor justified’: view the press release.
The Oxford Mail records a stream of protests, from local and national organisations; and EPIC promises more. However, ‘The consultation... is on the substance of the modifications themselves. It is not on whether parties agree or not with [our] reasoning,’ write the Inspectors.
DATELINE 16/06/2022: The Planning Inspector has finally approved the Area Action Plan (framework) for Salt Cross Garden Village, excepting chiefly the requirement for new homes to be built to net-zero carbon standards