UKPF consultant Hugh Blaza reports from the second meeting of the new Oxfordshire Developers Forum. It follows the inaugural ODF meeting in March.
With growth at the top of every agenda you care to mention, the importance of bringing together those charged with accommodating it cannot be overestimated.
Life science and tech need labs and research facilities. Computing needs data centres. Storage and distribution networks need sheds. People need houses, schools, medical facilities, community centres. Everyone wants better transport links and facilities. And we all need power and water and we want to be green.
The Oxfordshire Developers Forum demonstrates how the county council has grasped the nettle in a positive and energetic way and is bringing together representatives of the county’s development community to hear how it is delivering – and proposes to deliver – what growth demands of the region. The opportunities coming over the horizon are plain to see.
Starting with housing – but with placemaking too as that will be crucial in attracting and retaining people, business and research to the area and ensuring they stay – we heard how an obsolete US Air Force airbase is being transformed into a new settlement. The Dorchester Group’s Paul Silver is leading the creation of Heyford Park.
Its mission is to create a town of 2,800 new homes, with connections to the main centres of employment and learning. It’s not just about providing accommodation; the vision is to improve the county of Oxfordshire by taking a brownfield site and providing a vibrant, sustainable and varied settlement.
Looking at what has been delivered already, one can’t help but be impressed. And whilst the dreaming spires won’t exactly be on the doorstep (although less than half an hour away on the train), the cost of housing is currently around 50 per cent of that of Oxford city.
We had a fascinating insight into the workings of Cherwell District Council from its down-to-earth and pragmatic leader, Ian Boll. Gratifying to hear that HMG is going to invest in connectivity throughout the county to catalyse and unlock economic growth: the lessons from what has happened over in Cambridge have been learned.
Eleanor Wills from Great Western Rail delivered an upbeat presentation on plans for updating the service. Key gateway stations, platform upgrades, battery powered trains to replace the fundamentally unfit-for-purpose ones currently on the network: it’s almost tempting to take the train again! And an overall price tag of around £50 million doesn’t seem an awfully high amount to transform the service in the ways Eleanor described.
But how do we power up? Mark Saunders, head of Oxfordshire Local Energy Planning, provided insights as to how his team is working on the Local Area Energy Plan. It’s complicated and it’s not there yet. But with the developers insisting on solutions or simply failing to be able to accommodate the growth that is happening, there is no Plan B; the power must be supplied.
Mark provided reassurance that the frameworks are being put in place to do so. I sensed that the developers in the room would be keen to participate and try to help knock a few doors down by using their connections. Knowledge is power.
Thanks to the Heyford Hotel for hosting and appreciation to Robin Rogers of the county council for his energetic chairing of the event. Next meeting is in September.
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