At last night's full Council meeting held at the new relaunched Beacon in Wantage, all parties supported the Cabinet's position of keeping open the prospect of new settlements to address the Vale's long term housing needs.
Council unanimously agreed the motion:
"Council commends Cabinet for being committed to continue to explore all possibilities to address our long term need for housing, including the feasibility of one or more new settlements and carry out appropriate public consultation."
Whilst all present agreed that it was unlikely that a major new settlement would deal with the short term problems of tackling the Vale's 5 year land supply, it was recognised that any new settlement is likely to be at least a decade away and would require long term planning and cross party commitment if it were to be a credible possibility.
Cllr Matthew Barber, Leader of the Council, said: "We are keeping all options open in addressing the Vale's housing problems. We will continue to meet with those proposing an Oxford Garden City and look at any proposal for new settlements with great interest."
He added, "It is important that everyone realises that a major new settlement isn't a panacea, and almost certainly will not tackle the immediate problems that we have to deal with, but we are rightly keeping an open mind about long term solutions up to 2031 and beyond."