Oxford: Homes, shops, hotel, workplaces to transform north site

A planning application to transform an area in north Oxford into a sustainable business community creating jobs, homes, shops, nursery, hotel, open spaces including three new parks and £100 million infrastructure investment has been submitted by Thomas White Oxford, on behalf of St John’s College, to Oxford City Council.

The submission for Oxford North is a hybrid application seeking outline consent for the overall masterplan and detailed consent for the first phase of development.

Julian Barwick, project chairman, Oxford North, said: “Since the Area Action Plan was approved by the City Council in 2015, we have spent the last three years designing a new mixed-use community that will form a key part of Oxford’s future. Our proposal is a high level of investment in social benefit, bringing open spaces, jobs, homes and a major investment in new infrastructure to Oxford.

“The main question during our public consultation has been the traffic situation and whether it will actually improve.

“We are investing in improvements to the A40 and A44 corridors to provide significant additional capacity for walking, cycling and public transport, in addition to our planned upgrade at Pear Tree junction to the benefit of everybody travelling along these routes, not just the trips to Oxford North. We will also be supporting the delivery of new bus services to serve the site and wider area, all of which will help to tackle the existing congestion in the area and accommodate the new trips.

“Phase One will see the A40 improvement works including a new bus lane and cycleways, complementing Oxfordshire County’s wider strategy to deliver an outer ring of park-and-ride sites and express busways to the City.

“Our central street will remain a private 20mph road primarily serving as an access to the development. The geometry has not been designed to accommodate HGV traffic, although it may be used as a through route by a limited number of car trips. Traffic modelling demonstrating this has been undertaken using both the county’s and our own models, and outputs have been agreed with officers at the county and Highways England with a Memorandum of Understanding in place.

“The most heartening parts of the consultation was the general support for the housing, the open spaces and the sustainability aspects. Many people, as do we, want to see a good number of affordable homes and we are in discussion with the City Council about the final amount.

“From 23 acres of open space to 40% reduced water consumption, 850 electric car charging points and 5.7 miles of new and improved cycle paths, and all the buildings in Phase One being 100% electric. Ecologically, we believe this is a development to be proud of.

“As we look at our future, with Oxford North forecast to bring in circa £150 million per year in GVA to the economy, we hope that this important development will be seen as transformational and positive for the city, county and UK.”

Once the application has been registered by Oxford City Council it will be publicly available on its website. Further information about the project can be found by visiting www.oxfordnorth.com