West Oxfordshire District Council has submitted an updated Net Zero policy for the Salt Cross Garden Village Area Action Plan (AAP) to the Planning Inspectorate for review.
Residents may recall that the initial AAP for Salt Cross Garden Village included an ambitious net zero policy which was not approved by the Planning Inspectorate. The decision to ‘water down’ the net zero ambitions was successfully challenged by Rights Community Action (RCA) at the High Court, with the District Council being invited to resubmit the net zero policy.
In January we reported that WODC was appealing to the Government as to whether their ambitious net zero policy could be re-instated. Following a review, WODC has confirmed that they can and will remain ambitious in their approach to net zero in the policy, which has now been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. Chief Executive Giles Hughes explained that WODC would:
“continue to promote a net zero carbon approach. Our evidence demonstrates that it is not only financially viable and technically deliverable, but has a number of clear advantages over an alternative low carbon approach. Importantly, we are now seeing more and more proposals like ours approved in other areas of the country which is welcome news.”
The Planning Inspectorate is expected to return a decision later in the year. As the Area Action Plan has already been approved, a positive decision over the net zero policy would allow the District Council to consider the Salt Cross AAP for formal adoption. Planning applications would then be submitted and, when approved, building work would commence in due course.
The news release as published by WODC is available in full on their website: Council submits Net Zero updates for Salt Cross Garden Village | West Oxfordshire District Council News
More information on the Salt Cross development is available here: Salt Cross Garden Village - West Oxfordshire District Council