Overview

By working in partnership, the Future Oxfordshire Partnership secured over £500m of additional investment to deliver projects that secure a better future for the county has since its formation.

Housing and Growth Deal

The FOP oversees delivery of the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, which was agreed in 2018 and secured £215m of Central Government investment to advance housing delivery and boost economic productivity in the county. There were originally four key workstreams within the Deal, three of which are still in progress:

  • The Homes from Infrastructure Programme (HfI), a £150m investment in strategic infrastructure to support the acceleration of at least 6,549 already planned houses in Oxfordshire, over a five-year period from 2018/19 to 2022/23.
  • The Oxfordshire Affordable Housing Programme (OAHP), a £60m investment over three years to support the delivery of at least 1,322 affordable homes.
  • A Productivity workstream led by the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP); central to this workstream was the development and implementation of a Local Industrial Strategy (LIS) and investment plan, to map out the long-term vision and activity for growth.
  • A county wide Joint Strategic Spatial Plan (JSSP), known as the Oxfordshire Plan 2050, to enable a more coordinated and joined-up approach to long term spatial planning across the County, together with policies that spatially embed the ambitions of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision. The work on this joint programme ended in 2022 because City and District Councils were unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs within the framework of the Oxfordshire Plan”. As Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), the District Councils will now look to address housing needs through their individual local plans. The councils cooperate with each other and with other key bodies as they prepare their Local Plans through the Planning Advisory Group.

Oxfordshire Rail Corridor Study (ORCS)

The ORCS provided a strategic vision for the proposed development of rail services in Oxfordshire, aligning major programmes of work on the rail network within the county. It identified a collection of evidenced based rail outputs and enhanced train services the rail system should deliver to support forecast passenger and freight growth in the short-term (2024), medium-term (2028), and long-term (2033). Recommendations from the ORCS have been brought together in an overarching industry strategy for the county known as ‘Oxfordshire Connect’, which will align all major rail programmes seeking to introduce new services into Oxfordshire, as a means to identify the most optimal way to deliver these services.

Oxfordshire Health Impact Assessment Toolkit

Oxfordshire Health Impact Assessment Toolkit was approved by the Future Oxfordshire Partnership in January 2021 for use by all six Oxfordshire Local Authorities.

A Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a tool used to identify the health impacts of a plan or project and to develop recommendations to maximise the positive impacts and minimise the negative impacts, while maintaining a focus on addressing health inequalities. By bringing such health considerations to the fore, HIAs add value to the planning process.

The purpose of the toolkit is to deliver sustainable growth across the County. It aims to positively impact on existing health inequalities and to create healthy, more resilient and sustainable communities. It provides a suite of tools for use by all those involved in the development process, including developers, land agents, planners and policy makers, as a mechanism for putting healthy place shaping principles into practice and delivering improvements to health and well-being, whether as part of regeneration and development schemes in existing communities or in new settlements.

Resources

If you have any queries about use of the toolkit please contact Rosie.Rowe@oxfordshire.gov.uk