AVDC is making progress towards a final version of the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan, after the independent Planning Inspector who assessed it during the summer gave his response to the council’s comments on his Interim Findings.
Following the issuing of his Interim Findings in August, which set out areas where further work was needed to make the plan ‘sound’, the Inspector agreed to consider a number of comments from the council about the issues he’d raised; he has now supplied his response to these comments.
Amongst the content in this document is an acceptance from the Planning Inspector that the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor should not affect the housing figure used in the VALP, as AVDC had suggested. The Inspector has also asked the council to suggest what adjustments should be made to matters such as migration and housing affordability which affect the calculation of housing need in the Aylesbury Vale.
The council will now take these matters into account in producing modifications to the plan, and it will be offering the public a chance to give their views on these latest changes. The timetable for this further work, the consultation and the next phases of the work to progress VALP to adoption will be published as soon as it has been confirmed.
Cllr Carole Paternoster, AVDC’s Cabinet Member for Growth Strategy, said: “VALP will be crucial in shaping the future development of the Aylesbury Vale and ensuring its ability to respond to future needs of residents, communities and businesses alike. We are pleased to receive the Inspector’s latest response and to see that he has agreed with our assessment of the impact of the Oxford-Cambridge Corridor on housing numbers. We are investigating the issues he has raised, so we can continue to progress the plan.”
Anyone interested in reading the Planning Inspector’s latest response in full will find the document (called Discussion Document D5 – Acting on Interim Findings) on the council’s website at www.avylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/discussion-documents-main-modifications. The Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan and other related documents can also be found on the website.