Legal win for Oxfordshire garden village net zero plans

Drawings have been prepared of how the the new Salt Cross Garden Village could look

Planning inspectors acted unlawfully when advising a council on building energy efficient homes, a judge ruled.

Climate group, Rights Community Action (RCA), had challenged a decision to "water down" the net zero ambitions of West Oxfordshire District Council.

The High Court ruling found inspectors incorrectly applied national planning policy to proposals for 2,200 homes in Salt Cross Garden Village.

The Planning Inspectorate has declined to comment.

Ricardo Gama, the solicitor representing RCA, said: "The case is a frustrating example of a local authority trying to take ambitious action on climate change and being hamstrung by confusion in central government and so it's welcome that the judge has clarified the legal position.

"The government updated its policy in between the High Court hearing and the judgment and the lawfulness of that policy is also being examined by our client." 

Originally the authority said it wanted the garden village, set to be built north of the A40 between Witney and Oxford, to be fossil free.

The initial proposal given to inspectors set out plans for the buildings to only use renewable sources for energy consumption.

The site, north of the A40, is about 215 hectares (531 acres) in size

However, planning inspectors published a report about the plans in March 2023 questioning the council on its net zero carbon development and whether it was consistent with national policy.

The judicial review heard inspectors told councillors their plans were "too rigorous" in light of national policy on energy efficiency in the 2015 Written Ministerial Statement (WMS).

Members of RCA decided to take legal action after this report, arguing the national policy was "out of date".

In her ruling, Mrs Justice Lieven said: "The inspectors' error in respect of the WMS infected the entirety of their analysis.

"If they had properly understood and applied national policy, then they might well have reached a different set of conclusions."

Naomi Luhde-Thompson, director of RCA, said the judgement was a sign of what needed to happen across the country

Naomi Luhde-Thompson, director of RCA, said: "This judgment affirms what we already know needs to happen across the country.

"Local action from communities and local councils, developing and adopting zero-carbon plans, needs government support - not nonsensical barriers, which run contrary to everything that needs to happen now, to achieve climate safety and security for us all." 

Councillor Andy Graham, leader of West Oxfordshire District Council, added: "We want this to be a groundbreaking, sustainable housing development, which is why we pushed for higher standards in regards to net zero carbon homes and energy efficiency.

"We would like to thank RCA for bringing the case to the High Court and all others who have taken such interest in the outcome. We will be analysing the detail of the judgement in the coming days to see how it impacts our plans moving forward."

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