EPIC and GreenTEA (Transition Eynsham Area) have put together two options for you to respond to West Oxfordshire District Council's consultation on the Salt Cross Garden Village Area Action Plan.
Consultation closes on 4 November.
The first option is simply tailoring and putting your own words into this short summary. Just copy the summary below and paste it into a Word document or directly into the West Oxfordshire email address above.
Summary
Put simply, so many policies are now so vague with wording such as “wherever possible”, that the Plan now fails the NPPF requirement for soundness as it should “contain policies that are clearly written and unambiguous.” We were told that the AAP was the opportunity to set legally binding aspirational standards, but core policies, notably net zero carbon development, have become weak and unenforceable (MM2/Core Objective GV3 and MM4/Policy 2 – Net Zero Carbon Development). These changes are not justified, are not consistent with the NPPF reference to ‘radical reductions’ in carbon emissions ‘in line’ with the Climate Change Act 2008, which requires 80% carbon reduction by 2035 and net zero by 2050. The changes also ignore the submitted evidence.
If nothing else, ask that the original Core Objective GV3 and Policy 2 be reinstated to meet our climate obligations and local ambition for this ‘exemplar’ garden village.
The fact that the Inspector has given no reasons relating to law nor policy behind what appears to be an unreasonable decision also amounts to a legal flaw in the making of the Area Action Plan.
These changes are no way to respond to the accelerating climate and biodiversity crisis.
Detailed Response
The second option is to use or adapt EPIC/GreenTEA's more detailed template which you can download here. As it is a PDF file, whilst you can copy and paste into a word document, you would have to re-insert the footnote links. Instead, you could email EPIC and ask for a Word document version.
NB. Links in Footnotes 1 & 2 in this detailed template PDF do not work so open up here if you wish to see them when you are preparing your response:
[1] https://www.westoxon.gov.uk/media/wdxagt5w/cd7-schedule-of-proposed-main-modifications-salt-cross-sept-2022.pdf
[2] AAP Main Modifications Guidance Note - Salt Cross - Sept 2022 (westoxon.gov.uk)