Calibro was recently commissioned by Dorchester Residential Management Ltd to support their promotion of an urban extension to Oxford where up to 1,500 dwellings would be provided, as part of the emerging South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) Local Plan. As part of our appointment, Calibro’s specialist accessibility planning skills were used to analyse the transport-related sustainability credentials of the Proposal Site in contrast to 34 competing locations also being promoted through the emerging Local Plan.
Figure 1 – Scope of Study
In this respect, transport-related sustainability reflects a site’s opportunity to access key amenities, including jobs, shops and services, and the related social, economic and environmental costs associated with undertaking those journeys. Our approach therefore reflects the benefits of locating development closest to where the greatest cumulative need arises.
Our study incorporated consideration of the existing infrastructure as well as future improvements that can be reasonably anticipated to be brought forward as part of any large-scale development, as well as strategic growth ambitions of neighbouring Local Plans. It considered the accessibility of all 34 competing sites over a geographical area that extended towards Gloucestershire, Hampshire and the fringes of London, and comprised over 10-million individual calculations to enable tangible outputs to be calculated in respect of the social, economic and environmental strands of sustainability. In this way, each site was ranked to demonstrate the relative transport-related sustainability merits of each site.
Figure 2 – Transport-Related Sustainability Ranking
Our analysis clearly demonstrated that the proposed allocation of the urban extension to Oxford would be amongst the very best locations for residential development when considered in the context of its transport-related sustainability credentials. The findings of our analyses were set out within a Comparative Study Report and further supplemented by Transport Representations to the SODC Local Plan process.
Since submission of the above, Calibro’s involvement in the project has been extended to include the preparation of on-going transport evidence, flood risk, drainage and hydraulic modelling.
For further information relating to our industry-leading accessibility capabilities and how these might benefit your project, please contact Stuart Choak (stuart.choak@calibro-consultants.com / 07984 585 403)
