Deddington, Clifton and Hempton in Oxfordshire’s neighbourhood plan successfully passed referendum in May 2024. The plan was given a dwelling requirement figure of 45 homes to cover the three villages, but chose to allocate 90, this was extremely successful in planning for and securing delivery of a new local nursery and public parking scheme.
ONH began working with the Deddington, Clifton and Hempton team after the group had originally prepared and withdrawn a draft plan. The original plan had not allocated land for development and some locally wanted policies were removed at examination, requiring a complete rethink of the approach taken.
ONH were appointed to support the group to deliver their new neighbourhood plan:
Communicating the need for a change of approach
Identify pressing issues within the villages. These were identified as: land and building for the nursery and public parking in a busy village location close to the school and health centre.
Identifying land that may be available for development and liaising with land interests.
Completing a site assessment. Each site was judged on its ability to deliver the nursery building and carpark in an appropriate place as well as other opportunities and constraints
Liaising with the developer and parish council to secure an appropriate housing figure in order to deliver the facilities wanted
Supporting the parish council to liaise with the planning authority. This was the first neighbourhood plan in Cherwell to make a housing allocation.
Support for the group at regulation 14 and through the examination process.
The planning application to begin building at the site was approved by committee shortly after the plan was made in 2024, with final details currently being agreed before building can begin. This means the community will have their much wanted nursery and car park more quickly than would have been possible if the community had not taken a collaborative forward-thinking approach to planning for the future of the area.
The Deddington plan was mentioned in a speech by Baroness Scott, President of NALC, in a speech at the House of Lords in 2024, advocating for the benefits to communities of Neighbourhood Planning.
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