Joint Local Plan Examination Hearings 

Published Friday 3 June 2026 

The second stage of public hearings for the South and Vale Joint Local Plan start next week. 

They run from Tuesday 7 July to Thursday 9 July 2026 (with Friday 10 July as a reserve day). The venue is upstairs at Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, please use the side entrance, shown in the map in the attached Visitor Information document.   

The dates and the topics covered are as follows: 

• Tuesday 7 July 2026, 9.30am – 5pm – Matter 1: Legal and Procedural and Matter 2: Maintaining Effective Cooperation. 

• Wednesday 8 July 2026, 9.30am – 5pm – Matter 5: Vision, Objectives and Spatial Strategy (please note the days for Matters 2 and 5 have switched from the original programme).  

• Thursday 9 July 2026, 9.30am – 5pm – Matter 3: The Housing Target/Requirement. 

Sessions will commence at 9:30am each day. 

The hearing sessions will be held in public, and anyone can attend in person to watch (subject to capacity at the venue). 

Livestream 

The sessions will also be available to watch online via a livestream on the Councils’ YouTube Channel in the Live Streaming section. 

• The Inspectors have issued agendas for the July hearing sessions (ID21, ID22, ID23, ID24), as well as an updated draft Hearings Programme (ID18).  

Our Joint Local Plan examination webpage contains further details.