The Forum

The Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum represents the residents of the Forum Area in local planned developments. It has done this by collecting and documenting the community’s views into a Neighbourhood Plan, which was presented to the residents of the Area in a referendum in Spring 2021, at which it was approved with a large majority. The plan was then “made” by the City Council, and became a binding legal planning document to be considered for all future planning applications in the Area.

Neighbourhoods with an adopted Neighbourhood Plan are entitled to 25% of the Community Infrastructure Levy (“CIL”: funding derived from a levy on large local developments such as the Mill Site and Oxford North), which can be spent on projects proposed by local residents. Such projects are described, though not exclusively, as “Community Policies” in the Neighbourhood Plan. 

The Forum was designated for five years by Oxford City Council in January 2014, following the guidelines set out in the 2011 Localism Act. It was re-designated in March 2019.