Tory-controlled Oxfordshire County Council has been accused of sticking two fingers up to democracy after ignoring the results of an housebuilding consultation they sanctioned.
The authority masterminded a five-week consultation asking people living in the county where they wanted to see 8,000 homes built between 2016 and 2026. Yesterday, (November 1) it emerged neither of the Conservative-run cabinet's preferred options had been backed by the majority of those who responded - causing chaos in a packed council chamber.
Out of the 3,000 people who replied, more than half (1,700 people) said they wanted the houses built around Oxford - principally land south of Grenoble Road - and a further 300 singled out Shipton Quarry, north of Kidlington, as another potential development site. The council revealed that only 350 people favoured Option 1 in the consultation - 4,000 homes each in Bicester and Didcot - and just 200 wanted Option 2 - 4,000 in Didcot and 2,000 each in Bicester and Wantage/Grove.
The Labour group tried in vain to pass an amendment calling on the cabinet to accept the results, build in the Oxford area and review the authority's policy of building in the Green Belt. Labour leader Liz Brighouse said: "If democracy is about anything, it's about listening to the people, but this cabinet is determined not to put 8,000 homes around Oxford and listen to the views of the majority. It's the only sustainable option, because we can't continue to put people miles outside their means of work and then encourage them to use the A34 or A40. The cabinet represents the green welly brigade and can't be trusted to meet the needs of Oxford city, because it simply doesn't care."
The cabinet has effectively decided that houses should go in Bicester and Didcot, despite no promise of money to improve the infrastructure, like the clogged-up A34. Feedback from this consultation will be passed to the South East England Regional Assembly and in turn to the Government. Ultimately, however, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott could overrule the council and order homes to be built in the Green Belt.
In a recorded vote on where councillors thought the 8,000 houses should go, 24 councillors abstained, while 23 backed Option 1 and 21 supported Option 2. Six councillors - Patrick Cartledge, Sushila Dhall, Colin Lamont, Rosemarie Higham, Bill Service and Harry Wyatt - were absent. County council leader Keith Mitchell, who lives in Adderbury, near Banbury, and is also chairman of Seera, abstained. High-profile fellow Tories Patrick Greene, John Howell, Michael Waine and David Wilmshurst followed suit in the free vote.
Conservative Roger Belson, the cabinet member for sustainable development, added: "I don't think anyone wants the housing numbers that are being forced upon us. We're going to have to make a decision, because if we don't, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will, so the destiny is in our own hands. I will accept that the survey was not perfect, but we did do our best with limited resources."