David Bainbridge, planning director for Savills Oxford, considers the effects of last Wednesday’s announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the context of the devolution agenda.
In a speech given in Oxfordshire on January 29, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, vowed to go further and faster to kickstart economic growth.
Planning for development and infrastructure is front and centre-stage of the Government’s plans to grow the economy. Reeves promised de-regulation through a streamlining of the planning system – and devolution – with more responsibility flowing from central to local government.
Crucially, she also asserted an ambition to reignite the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, recognising its potential to become Europe’s Silicon Valley. Her announcement of a new Growth Commission for Oxford is welcomed, with its aim of accelerating growth in the city and surrounding area.
We look forward to working with Lord Vallance’s team to help deliver the necessary infrastructure, including green infrastructure to support nature recovery, and thereby realise the jobs and homes for which there is such pressing need.
Underpinning the delivery of all the infrastructure is the need for resources. Savills is committed to working collaboratively with clients, local authorities, Government agencies and other service providers to ensure the necessary resources are in place.
The authorities in Oxfordshire are supportive of change in local governance, whether through a new unitary authority or moving to a new mayoral strategic authority. An issue over which there is not yet agreement is the ‘geography’ of a unitary authority.
Currently, the city council’s proposed option is the creation of a city-based unitary authority with potentially one or more adjoining unitary authorities.
The Government has stated its expectation that a unitary authority should incorporate a minimum population of 500,000 people. Oxford’s approach would therefore have to incorporate a substantial additional area if it were to achieve this level, given that its population is around 170,000.
The options are therefore many and it will take a while before the final formulation is fixed. The key next question is whether Oxfordshire is selected as one of the front-runners to be fast-tracked. Oxfordshire County Council would like to be considered for fast-tracking as a unitary authority and separately as a mayoral strategic authority, possibly along with Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. This could see the whole of the county as one unitary authority with a population of around 730,000.
It must be hoped that the authorities can swiftly unite behind one model of governance and continue to provide leadership, setting a vision, objectives and policy to support inward investment and economic growth.
In the meantime planning for new development and infrastructure must continue if Oxfordshire is to contribute towards targets on new housing, job creation and improvements to the environment and take a leading role in leading the growth that the Government is clearly set upon.
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