WORK to shape the way Oxford will ‘look and feel’ until 2036 will move forward after it was approved last night.

Last night Oxford City Council agreed its Local Plan, which outlines where the authority wants new developments to be built, after cabinet members approved the document on Wednesday.

Alex Hollingsworth, the city council’s board member for planning and transport, said the new Local Plan will ‘shape the homes, jobs, community facilities and new transport infrastructure for the next 20 years’.

The council has proposed about 8,500 homes will be built within Oxford – but has asked for Oxfordshire’s other district councils to take some of its burden.

Key new changes include the city council insisting that any new developments ‘near shops and public transport routes’ in Oxford must be car-free.

While other work will focus on development in district centres, including Cowley, Headington and Summertown. It is hoped residents will be able to access them more easily and, in turn, use the city centre less.

Mr Hollingsworth said: “This new Local Plan will strike the right balance between the different pressures that Oxford and its citizens face.

“Providing more homes – especially homes for social rent, community-led housing, self-build housing and other forms of affordable housing – is one of its key priorities.”

He added: “We can’t treat the city like an artefact; it would be easy to wrap up the historical core in aspic and turn our home into a monument to the past.”

The authority is now expected to send its report for a final round of public consultation and for approval from a planning inspector.

But Liberal Democrat group leader Andrew Gant attacked the city council’s lack of building over recent years.

He said: “In the two years to mid-2018, the total number of local authority units built in Oxford was zero. Overall completions, including market housing, were 350.

“Neighbouring Vale of White Horse [District Council] built at almost six times the rate, with over 2,000 completions. All other districts in our region are way ahead of Oxford in all types of housing.”

Later this month, a planning inspector is set to decide whether the proposal that 4,400 homes are built on the Green Belt between Kidlington, Yarnton and Begbroke is sound.

That proposal is included in Cherwell District Council’s Local Plan, which was approved by councillors in February.

Those homes are allocated as part of Oxford’s unmet housing need.

South Oxfordshire District Council has provisionally said it will accept 3,750 homes for Oxford, while Vale of White Horse’s has agreed to 2,200.

West Oxfordshire District Council adopted its Local Plan on September 27 and agreed to 2,750 homes as part of Oxford’s unmet housing need.

Vale of White Horse District Council’s Local Plan Part 2 was assessed in the summer; South Oxfordshire District Council is still yet to approve its Local Plan.

All Oxfordshire’s district and city councils must adopt a Local Plan by April 2019 under terms set out in the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, which provides £215m of Government funding.