Oxfordshire council area

Selling Land in West Oxfordshire

West Oxfordshire built 104% of the homes the government's delivery test asked for, yet the council reports that it could not show five years of housing land in March 2025, its adopted plan dates from September 2018 and the garden village it planned for Oxford had not delivered a home by July 2026. The final draft of its Local Plan 2043 went out for comment with a closing date of 9 October 2026, so the coming year decides a great deal for land around Witney, Carterton, Chipping Norton and the Cotswold villages.

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Witney, Carterton and the Cotswold Edge

West Oxfordshire District Council covers some 714 square kilometres and about 121,000 people. Its towns are Witney, Carterton, Chipping Norton, Woodstock, Burford and Charlbury, with large villages such as Eynsham and Bampton and many smaller ones in the valleys of the Windrush and the Evenlode, both tributaries of the Thames.

Witney. The district's administrative centre.
The Cotswold Line. Its stations at Hanborough, Combe, Finstock, Charlbury, Ascott-under-Wychwood, Shipton and Kingham give much of the north of the district a rail link.
The Cotswolds. Some of the district lies in the Cotswolds National Landscape, formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Delivery on target. The council built 1,771 homes against a requirement of 1,701 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 104%.

The planning picture is a plan now 7 years old, a supply of housing land the council itself says falls short, a large share of homes promised to Oxford that have been slow to appear, and a replacement plan on its way to an inspector.

West Oxfordshire in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
104%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
Not published
No current figure published. Position at 31 March 2025, measured against local housing need by the standard method, 905 homes a year. Stated by West Oxfordshire District Council, which states in its Annual Monitoring Report 2024/25 that it was unable to demonstrate a five-year supply at 31 March 2025 but gives no figure in years.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
1,771
of 1,701 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
September 2018
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Local Plan 2043 published for final comments (Regulation 19), closing 9 October 2026
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Short of Five Years, on the Council's Own Account

The council's Annual Monitoring Report for 2024/25 is plain: it "was unable to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply" at 31 March 2025, measured against local housing need of 905 homes a year on the standard method as revised in December 2024. It gives no figure in years. Only 300 homes were completed in 2024/25, about 157 of them affordable, against the plan's step of 1,125 for that year, while 667 more gained permission, including at the East Witney strategic site.

The report puts the shortfall down to "slower than anticipated delivery" on some larger allocated sites. From 2011 to 2025 the district built 8,019 homes against a plan requirement of 9,200, about 1,181 short, having been effectively on track until 2023. Its table of allocations shows where the gap sits:

Source: West Oxfordshire Local Plan 2031 Annual Monitoring Report 2024 to 2025, table 10.
Allocated site	Homes allocated	Expected by March 2025	Built by March 2025
North Witney	1,400	325	0
East Chipping Norton	1,200	427	173
East Witney	450	175	0
Salt Cross Garden Village	2,200	880	0

How the Position Slipped

The council's position statement of October 2023 claimed 5.4 years at 1 April 2023: 570 homes a year, a 64-home shortfall and a 5% buffer made 3,060, against 3,318 deliverable homes. At Land south of Burford Road, Minster Lovell, where 134 homes were proposed, the council defended 5.41 years, but the inspector found 4.38 years, a supply of 2,498 homes, and allowed the appeal on 28 March 2024.

A 2018 Plan and a Higher Yardstick

The Local Plan 2031 was adopted in September 2018, and the monitoring report records that the council reverted to the standard method for supply from 2023/24. It gives the old method's figure then as 549 homes a year; the October 2023 statement, on that year's inputs, used 570. The December 2024 method gives 905, some 356 more than 549, so far more deliverable homes are needed to show five years.

What the Shortfall Does for Land

Because the council states the shortfall itself, national policy treats it as evidence that need is going unmet. Policy S5 of the August 2026 framework supports homes on land beyond a settlement's limits provided the land is well related to that settlement and can be served by roads, schools and drainage. It is evidence to be weighed, not a finding in favour of every field. S5 does not apply to Green Belt land, where grey belt has its own need test. Within the towns and villages, policy S4 applies whatever the supply position: approval unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.

Salt Cross and Eynsham: Oxford's Homes, Still to Arrive

The 2018 plan agreed to provide 2,750 homes for Oxford between 2021 and 2031 on two sites. The memorandum on Oxford's unmet need, signed by the five Oxfordshire district councils on 2 July 2026, reports how far that has got:

Source: memorandum of understanding on meeting Oxford's unmet housing need, 2 July 2026.
Site	What the 2018 plan set	Position in July 2026
Salt Cross Garden Village	2,200 homes, all for Oxford's unmet need	No homes built. The Area Action Plan was adopted in February 2026 and the council is in active discussion with the company bringing the site forward.
West of Eynsham	1,000 homes, 550 of them for Oxford	237 homes completed, though none of the affordable homes has yet gone to households on Oxford's housing register.

What Changes Under the New Plan

The memorandum puts Oxford's unmet need at 12,519 homes between 2025 and 2045. West Oxfordshire keeps the 18% share agreed in 2016, taken pro rata for the 18 years from April 2025 to March 2043, which gives 2,028 homes, and it intends to go on providing them at Salt Cross and West Eynsham. For other land, the point is that Oxford's need is being met on these two sites and opens no separate route. Our Oxfordshire page sets out how the other districts share the rest.

The Local Plan 2043 at Its Final Draft

The council's Local Plan 2043 page traces the plan from a Your Voice Counts consultation in August 2022, through a focused consultation with a call for sites from August to October 2023 and preferred policy options from June to August 2025, to preferred spatial options, including a revised settlement hierarchy, from 3 November to 22 December 2025. A Carterton strategic study is part of its evidence.

The final draft, prepared under Regulation 19, is the version the council intends to submit. The council's launch announcement calls it the final opportunity to comment before independent examination, and the council's leader says more than 6,900 responses have shaped the plan so far. Drop-in events ran in Witney on 1 September, Carterton on 9 September and Chipping Norton on 10 September, and the consultation was set to run until 9 October 2026.

How Land Is Treated at This Stage

Land in the final draft. An allocation carries growing weight as the plan advances, and the evidence behind it will be tested at the hearings.
Land left out. Omission sites can still be argued before the inspector through a representation made during the consultation.
Land that missed both. The next review, or an application judged on the supply position and the settlement hierarchy, is the way in.

How a site moves from first submission to allocation is covered in our call for sites and local plans guide.

The Cotswolds, the Windrush and the Valleys

Constraint	What it means for a site
Cotswolds National Landscape	Parts of the district lie within it. The adopted plan allocates no land for homes inside it, and the council approved about ten homes there in 2024/25, none of them major. National policy gives great weight to its scenic beauty, and major development inside it needs exceptional circumstances. Its board comments as a consultee on emerging plans and major applications, though it writes no plans and decides no applications. Land just outside the boundary is judged on its setting.
River flooding	Parts of the district flooded severely in 2007. Along the Windrush, the Evenlode and the Thames, the developable part of a site is usually kept to Flood Zone 1. Our flood risk guide explains the sequential test.
Village scale	The new plan revises the settlement hierarchy, and the scale of any scheme needs to suit its village's place in it.

None of these rules a site out on its own; they decide its size, its layout and its route, so we check them first.

The Land We Look for in West Oxfordshire

Fields of 2 acres or more on the edges of Witney, Carterton or Chipping Norton.
Land against the larger villages, sized to the village's place in the new settlement hierarchy.
Sites within a reasonable walk of a Cotswold Line station such as Hanborough, Charlbury or Kingham.
Land outside the National Landscape, or on its edge where views allow.
Yards and previously developed land in or beside a settlement.

On land we take on, every survey, the planning work and any appeal are ours to fund, at our own risk, and the option price is fixed at the outset, above what the land is worth today. Day to day use of the land carries on until completion. If no permission is granted, nothing is owed and the land stays with you. Our how it works page has the detail.

West Oxfordshire's Plan Heads for Examination

From Consultation to Submission

The council's October 2025 timetable, as its monitoring report sets out, placed publication in May 2026, submission in September 2026 and examination and adoption in 2026/27. Publication came later, so submission, with every representation made, will follow the close of comments on 9 October 2026, and a revised timetable is the one to watch. The hearings will be where omission sites and the settlement hierarchy are argued, and where the inspector tests whether the plan meets its housing figure.

A New Supply Statement

The next monitoring report, for 2025/26, will give the position at 31 March 2026. The council has tied its shortfall to large sites running late, so the first homes at Salt Cross and progress at North and East Witney will shape it. While the council says it is short, S5 carries weight for well placed land; once a new plan is adopted with fresh allocations, the council will be on firmer ground to resist sites it has not chosen.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026; at 104%, West Oxfordshire clears every threshold. Under 95% would mean an action plan, and under 85% a 20% buffer in place of 5%, deepening any shortfall.

Reorganisation, Paused

On 16 July 2026 the government confirmed three unitary councils for Oxfordshire and West Berkshire from 1 April 2028, with most of West Oxfordshire and Cherwell forming a Northern Oxfordshire Council. On 7 September it announced a review of its reorganisation decisions, pausing them, and confirmed that May 2027 elections will be held on existing boundaries. The district council remains the body taking its plan to examination.

What This Means for Timing

If your land is in the final draft, its evidence needs to be ready for the hearings.
If it is not, an application may be the more direct route while the council is short of land, where the site suits its place in the settlement hierarchy, with the next review behind that.
If you are unsure, our free review looks at the draft and your land together.

Questions About Land in West Oxfordshire

The council could not show five years of housing land in 2025. Will my field near Witney get permission?

Not automatically. The shortfall is evidence of need that an inspector or the council must weigh, but the field still has to sit well against the town, with safe access, drainage and a scale the settlement can absorb. We check those points first and tell you plainly whether an application now makes sense.

Does Salt Cross mean nothing else will be approved near Eynsham?

Not necessarily. Salt Cross and West Eynsham carry the homes the district owes Oxford, but other land in the area is judged on the same local tests as anywhere else in the district.

My land is inside the Cotswolds National Landscape. Is there any point asking?

Sometimes. Major schemes inside it face a very high bar, but small, well designed sites against a village can be different. Land just outside the boundary is often the better prospect, and we will say plainly which applies.

My land was left out of the final draft plan. Is that the end of it?

No. The Regulation 19 consultation, with its closing date of 9 October 2026, is the stage for asking the inspector to add an omission site, and comments carry more weight when backed by evidence. Beyond that, an application under the shortfall or the next review can still bring well placed land forward.

I farm near Carterton. Is that a growth area?

Carterton is one of the district's main towns and a Carterton strategic study is part of the evidence for the new plan, so land there deserves a look. What the final plan does with that work is set out in the Regulation 19 draft.

Tell Us About Your Land in West Oxfordshire

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.