What is it?

On 18 February 2021, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced that they will prepare a new spatial framework for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. This will cover Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

The plan will be a national planning policy, like the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Once it has been prepared, all local plan documents and planning decisions in the area it covers will need to be consistent with it as it will be a material consideration.

How will it be prepared?

MHCLG will set up a new planning body to prepare the spatial framework. It will extend to 2050 and cover strategic and cross-boundary issues, including environmental quality, climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as housing development and economic growth.

The preparation of the plan will include the following key stages:

1. Consultation on the vision for the spatial framework – spring 2021
2. Consultation on a draft vision statement – summer 2021
3. Consultation on ‘towards a spatial framework’, which will include policy and growth options – spring 2022
4. Consultation on a draft spatial framework – autumn 2022
5. Publication of the final framework – soon after the Autumn 2022 consultation

Local planning authorities, environmental and transport organisations will be consulted, and digital approaches will also be used to engage the public.

The Spatial Framework will be supported by a Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment to ensure sustainability and the environment are considered as core issues.

What will it do?

The Spatial framework will focus on the following key issues and seek to achieve the following objectives:

Economy – it will identify employment space, infrastructure requirements and growth locations.

Environment – it will take a natural capital approach to ensure that the environment underpins its proposals and to achieve nature recovery. OxCam has already undertaken work to evaluate natural capital and identify opportunities for this.

Transport and infrastructure – it will undertake an infrastructure assessment and include policies to deliver new infrastructure, based on work by England’s Economic Heartland.

Housing and planning – it will identify the most sustainable locations for housing, to be supported by infrastructure and environmental gains, focussing on brownfield sites and delivering affordable housing.

Data and digital tools – it will work with partners to create an open-source digital data platform using common standards across the Spatial Framework area.

What are the implications for local planning authorities?

Overall, the Spatial Framework is intended to lead to greater consistency and significant gains to the economy and connectivity across its area. However, there may be other consequences for the environment such as the cumulative impact of the extensive development envisaged.

Additionally, the pattern of development suggested within the Arc could result in undue burdens on certain authorities as Oxford and Cambridge export their housing development pressure while retaining much of the economic development. Issues may also relate to the way in which the historic environment is addressed within the natural capital / net gain approach currently envisaged. The process may also disrupt the local planning process as many of the local planning authorities within the Ox-Cam Arc are reviewing their local plans and are at different stages of this process. For example:

• The Greater Cambridge Plan (covering Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire) is at the early stages of development, with spatial distribution still being considered, but likely to be published this year.
• The Oxford Joint Statutory Spatial Plan (which covers all district councils in Oxfordshire County also goes to 2050) is also developing its spatial options.
• Peterborough City Council adopted its local plan in 2019.
• Bedford is currently reviewing its local plan with a draft plan expected in summer 2021.
• Central Bedfordshire’s new local plan is being examined by the Planning Inspectorate.

All of these plans will need to keep track of the emerging Spatial Framework as they move through the preparation process. It is possible that there will be delays as local authorities wait for the Spatial Framework to build its evidence base, which they will also utilise, and to set out its proposals, which they will need to take into account. This will also be the case for reviews of the existing local plans and those soon to be adopted (for example that of Central Bedfordshire).

What does this mean for the future of planning?

The fact that MHCLG has stepped in to produce this document does not signify a failure of the local authorities in the area covered to proactively plan for themselves. Rather it recognises that a more strategic and ‘larger than local’ approach may be beneficial. This is the first time since the abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies in 2010 that the Government has started to consider the value of planning at a scale larger than local planning.

For many in the planning profession, this will be a welcome return to joined-up strategic planning across local authority boundaries, so long as it is evidence-based and subject to the same tests of soundness and public participation as plans lower down the hierarchy. It is important that plans like this stand the test of time. They will need to have broad support amongst the local planning authorities expected to reflect them in their own Local Plans, the public they are most likely to affect, and the development industry and infrastructure providers who will be expected to deliver them.

The identified economic and infrastructure opportunities of development in the Oxford – Cambridge Arc, coupled with the need to safeguard sensitive environmental assets and resources, might be seen by MHCLG as a reason to set it apart and justify taking this sub-regional planning approach. It may also reflect a broader move, as outlined in the planning White Paper, to re-shape the role of the local plan.

LUC will be keeping a close eye on progress, not least because of our current work in the area:

• The Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulations Assessment, Green Infrastructure Study, Green Belt Assessment, and Infrastructure Delivery Plan for the Greater Cambridge Local Plan.
• Sustainability Appraisal of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.
• Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulations Assessment and Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan.
• Habitats Regulations Assessment of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan.
• Habitats Regulations Assessment of the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan.

To read more about the proposed plan, see the MHCLG policy paper here.