Housing secretary blocks council from scrapping local plan in response to climate emergency

Councillors on South Oxfordshire District Council had resolved to scrap its draft local plan and begin again at a meeting due to be held last night, but Jenrick said that going back to the drawing-board would be “likely to create uncertainty and expose communities to speculative planning applications".

The council’s South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2034 was submitted for examination in March by the local authority's previous Conservative administration. But in May, the Conservatives lost control of South Oxfordshire Council to a Liberal Democrat and Green coalition, which was elected on a platform of opposition to the local plan.