Jericho Boatyard plans rejected

The city planning committee turned down plans to redevelop Jericho Boatyard yesterday.

The scheme, put forward by Cornerstone Land Development, entailed a new boatyard, a community centre, a café, and 18 new homes with a piazza in front of St Barnabas Church.

Private limited building developers Cornerstone Land Development submitted their planning application for the boatyard to Oxford City Council in 2020. 

First closed in 1992, the Jericho Boatyard’s first plan to renovate the site was approved two years later and once again in 2016, but both plans proved ineffective.

Soon after the application was submitted, campaigners from Jericho Wharf Trust (JWT), a community organisation, started to argue against the proposals ‘raised fundamental questions of principle’. 

One Jericho resident, John Mair, expressed his concerns: "I worry that the Jericho Wharf Trust is utopian, entirely negative and seemingly determined on kiboshing any plans put forward. They exist purely to prevent. They look to the past, not to any community's future."

In the beginning of February, Cornerstone Land Development held a consultation event to discuss their planning application with the local community, with the majority welcoming the plans while others were concerned about the site regeneration. 

Cornerstone Land’s Director, Oliver Holland, commented: "I am disappointed by the Planning Committee's perverse decision to reject this application despite council officers' clear recommendation for approval.

"It is a missed opportunity to breathe new life and open up the Jericho canal side for the community." 

One key issue that Oxford City Council pointed out was the lack of social housing incorporated into the plan.

Cllr James Fry said: “If you live in Oxford there is a Jericho premium. You can’t buy a house in Jericho for the price of a house in Barton or Headington."

The council, with the help of Evolution consultant Allison Blakeway, estimated how much the developer could get from selling the houses.

Jericho Wharf Trust stated in a letter to the council’s planners: “While Evolution valued the sales at £22.9 million, current Jericho market evidence indicate that the real value is £28.5 million. 

“Remarkably, the City Council planning officers have fallen in line with this assertion.”

JWT Chair Phyllis Starkey told the meeting there was "overwhelming opposition to the plans on both sides of the canal.

“This application is shortchanging the community by about £6 million.”

Cornerstone Land will have to further revise their plans in order to come to an agreement with the council.