The Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy (OxIS) is an independent report commissioned by the Oxfordshire Growth Board.
The aim of the strategy is to set out the investment in transport, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure needed to support the predicted growth in population, jobs and homes up to 2040.
A technical Stage 1 report was published in April 2017 and work has been progressing on Stage 2 of the work.
The public were asked for their views on the work to date were invited to participate in an online engagement exercise.
The consultation closes on 10 September 2017.
NNGO has responded to the consultation saying OxIS is over optimistic and massively under-funded.
See: NNGO response – OxIS Consultation – 7 September 2017 – FINAL (3)
NNGO welcomes the principle of an Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy as a necessary first step to a more strategic approach to development. We support the principle of OxIS as a vital stepping stone to a robust Joint Spatial Plan and we applaud this attempt at identifying the infrastructure needed to support the current and future residents of Oxfordshire.
However, we are concerned about the ‘considerable’ funding gap outlined in this report – only £500 million of the £9 billion of infrastructure funding deemed necessary to support the growth targets has so far been identified. We believe the £8.5 billion funding gap is unbridgeable.
We have therefore asked what steps might be taken to re-visit the growth targets in light of the fact that only 1/18th of the infrastructure funding deemed necessary to support them has so far been identified?
We think that the growth targets should be revised downwards very significantly to a more reasonable level. We don’t want a plan that allows even more massive amounts of building, but cannot provide enough infrastructure.
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