THE VALE OF WHITE HORSE LOCAL PLAN, AND RESOLUTION OF THE WANTAGE, GROVE AND DISTRICT AREA COMMITTEE

1. In mid-November, the Vale of White Horse District Council placed on deposit, for public comments, their local plan. Objections lodged will be analysed by the Vale during the Spring of 2003, and lead to a second deposit plan, probably around September 2003. A consultation period on the plan’s changes (not original material) then follows. This could lead to an Inquiry around mid-2004, with the Inspectors’ Report being available around the end of that year. This would imply a 2005 adopted plan. That said, there is the potential to accelerate these timeframes in that a developer can now put in, at any time, an application, which must be determined within normal guidelines.
2. The Vale’s published plan suggests an additional 750 homes in the area by 2011 (principally the old airfield at Grove), rising to 2500 additional homes by 2021. The number of secondary age children generated by a development of this size is difficult to estimate: much will depend on the type of housing provided. By 2011, only c. 150 extra may reasonably be expected. This report assumes an additional 500 secondary aged pupils from this development by 2021. This would suggest a total need for approx. 2400/2500 secondary age school places in the Wantage/Grove area.
3. The need to provide housing in the Vale to meet future Structure Plan requirements is likely to remain after 2021. The thrust of Government policy is that new housing should be located in and around existing built up areas in order to achieve sustainable development. Although Abingdon is the Vale’s largest settlement, it is surrounded by serious planning constraints: Green Belt, floodplains, high quality farmland, an ancient monument, the A34, mineral workings and a waste disposal site. This makes substantial and sustainable development beyond the built-up area of the town difficult to achieve. Wantage and Grove are the second and third largest settlements in the Vale. Although there would be problems planning for further developments in these locations, post 2021, in the District Planning Officer’s views, these would not be as difficult to resolve as those around Abingdon. Unless the demand for housing in Oxfordshire reduces significantly, or there is a radical change in planning policy, the indications are that the Wantage and Grove area would be seriously considered for further development beyond 2021. If radical changes are to be made to the secondary schooling system in the area, it is clearly important that these changes must have inherent operational flexibility to take future growth beyond 2021.

Wantage, Grove and District Area Committee

4. This Committee met on 9 January, and the following Resolution was passed, with a request that this be reported to the Executive:

1. that the Wantage, Grove and District Area Committee supports the two schools (one in Wantage and one in Grove) option for future secondary school provision in the area and that this option, together with the other options identified, should be subject to informed public consultations;
2. that if the option detailed in (a) is supported above is supported by Oxfordshire County Council’s Executive then the Area Committee considers that this should be progressed as soon as possible and not awaiting the additional housing identified in the Vale of White Horse Local Plan 2011 – First Deposit Draft;
3. that the County Council’s Executive be requested to release into the public domain the results of the questionnaire exercise previously undertaken by its Education Department on options for future secondary school provision in Wantage, Grove and district area, and
4. that a copy of the report being submitted to the County Council’s Executive on 5 February 2003 be circulated to all Members of the Area Committee."

• Two separate schools (Grove and Wantage), but with 16+ provision being in Wantage only;
• Similar to the above, but with a single management structure:
• The single new school option.