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Next steps for Joint Local Plan

Published Tuesday 15 April 2025

We are pleased to announce that the dates for the start of the public hearings for the South and Vale Joint Local Plan have been published this week. This stage of the examination involves our appointed Planning Inspectors (Inspectors R A Bust and C Mulloy) holding hearing sessions to hear from the Councils and other participants about whether the local plan is sound and has been prepared in accordance with legal and procedural requirements.

The first week of hearing dates and the topics covered are as follows:

  • Tuesday 3 June 2025: Matter 1 – Procedural and Legal Requirements followed by Matter 2 – The Duty to Co-operate
  • Wednesday 4 June 2025: Matter 3 – The Housing Target/Requirement
  • Thursday 5 June 2025: Matter 4 – The Employment Land Requirement

Sessions will commence at 9:30am unless detailed otherwise on the Examination website.

All the hearing sessions will be held at Bee House on Milton Park, OX14 4SB. Those who made representations seeking changes to the local plan at the Publication stage in autumn 2024 can register with the Programme Officer by 6 May if they would like to speak at the hearings as a participant. The hearing sessions will be held in public and anyone can attend in person to watch (subject to capacity at the venue). The sessions will also be available to watch online via a livestream from Bee House.

Our Joint Local Plan examination webpage contains all the details produced by the Inspectors: the Matters, Issues and Questions (ID02), Guidance Notes (ID03) and a draft Hearings Programme (ID04).