The Inspector has called for an exceptional 1 day preliminary Hearing. The Agenda suggests that this is a crucial meeting to decide the fundamental soundness of Cherwell's partial review of it's Local Plan. We believe the Plan is fundamentally unsound on both the key issues raised by the Inspector. We shall be working closely with our partner local groups to prepare our case for the preliminary hearing. KDW encourages all interested residents to attend what should be a fascinating and pivotal meeting.

The official announcement from Ian Kemp says:

Planning Inspector; Mr Paul Griffiths BSc (Hons) BArch IHBC has been appointed on behalf of the Secretary of State to conduct an Examination into the soundness and legal compliance of the Plan. I am the appointed Programme Officer and my role is to assist the Inspector with administrative and procedural matters during the Examination. I am not a Council employee and have not been involved in the preparation of the Plan. I will be your primary point of contact for any queries you may have during the Examination process.

 "The Inspector will conduct a Pre-Hearing Meeting on the 28th of September 2018 commencing at 09.30am within the Council Chamber of Cherwell District Council Offices, Bodicote House, White Post Road, Bodicote, Banbury, OX15 4AA. The purpose of this meeting is for the Inspector to initially explore some key issues before deciding on the next steps for the process.

1. Working through the ‘working assumption’ that Oxford has an unmet need of 15,000 homes (which became 14,850), based on an overall housing requirement for the city to 2031 of 28,000, is the apportionment of 4,400 homes of Oxford’s overall unmet need to Cherwell soundly based?
2. Assuming that figure of 4400 is soundly based, and bearing in mind paragraph 83 of the (previous version of the) NPPF, can Oxford’s unmet housing be an ‘exceptional circumstance’ that justifies an alteration to Green Belt boundaries?

Anyone with an interest is welcome to attend and observe the session without prior notification. Should you wish to participate in the discussions I would be grateful if you could advise me of your intention to do so by the 14th of September 2018. Further submissions in writing are not necessary but should you wish to add to your previously submitted comments in the context of the issues identified for the Pre-Hearing Meeting you may do so by the same date. Details regarding the submission of statements and the wider Examination process can be found in the attached Guidance Note.

An Examination website has been created which will be regularly updated throughout the process.

Ian Kemp (Programme Officer) can be contacted at:  idkemp@icloud.com