Oxford: Plans reveal a major new urban district

Plans for a new urban district for Oxford have been unveiled by Thomas White Oxford, on behalf of St John’s College, Oxford.

Oxford North, previously known as Northern Gateway, will be a thriving and vibrant business community with innovation and sustainability at its heart. It will be unlocking previously inaccessible land to residents, visitors and people passing through, transforming the area by introducing tree-lined city streets for the A40 and A44 and building a new central street, and a mix of workplaces, homes, shops, leisure, arts and culture, and open green spaces for everyone to enjoy.

Oxford North will be delivering 87,000 sq m of workspace, creating around 4,500 new jobs, 480 new homes for circa 1,500 people, both market and affordable, 23 acres of open spaces including three new parks. The new urban district will see £100 million of infrastructure investment, including £30m being spent on improving the walking, cycling, bus and highway networks to create a truly connected community for Oxford North residents. It will link to the city centre and Oxford Parkway with 5.7 miles of new or improved cycle paths and be the gateway of the Oxford to Cambridge corridor.

There will be £5.9m of advanced A40 transport infrastructure improvements, with funding having been secured from the central government Local Growth Fund by Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Oxfordshire LEP.

It is forecast that once complete, Oxford North will be adding circa £150m per year in gross value added to the economy.

Oxford North has been designed to address the policies contained within Oxford City Council’s:

• Northern Gateway Area Action Plan 2015
• Oxford Core Strategy 2026
• The Sites and Housing Plan 2013
• The adopted Oxford Local Plan 2005
• The emerging Oxford City Local Plan 2036

It also addresses the policy and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Julian Barwick, project chairman Oxford North, said: “Oxford North will be a community including homes, day and night life, culture, entrepreneurs, scientists, venture capitalists, finance and big corporations, all needing to create business growth through collaboration and staff and residents’ well-being. It is designed by a world-class team to provide a place that has urban energy and is sustainable. From my personal perspective, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Oxford. Oxford North will be not just of local importance, but also significant at the UK and international level, supporting the world-class research that takes place in the city and creating a setting where it can flourish and adding to the economy. Our investment into the infrastructure will be significant. We look forward to sharing our designs for the emerging masterplan at the forthcoming public exhibitions and continuing our positive discussions with Oxford City Council on the details of the final scheme.”

Nigel Tipple, chief executive OxLEP, said: “Through world-class assets – like the University of Oxford, Harwell Campus and Culham Science Centre – our county’s economy is already having significant global impact. The Oxford North development has major potential and can become another key asset of our economy, generating new jobs and offering a vibrant and innovative community that will embrace innovation. Working alongside partners, we will continue to champion our economic potential ensuring that we do so in a responsible and sensitive manner, developing an infrastructure to match.”

The public consultation process will be seeking the views on Oxford North’s proposed plans before Thomas White Oxford applies for outline consent for the overall masterplan and detailed consent for the first phase of development. The applications will be submitted at the end of July 2018.

Acting on behalf of Thomas White Oxford are: Fletcher Priest Architects, Townshend Landscape Architects, Savills, Gardiner & Theobald, Peter Brett, Hoare Lea, EDP, AKT II, and BSG Ecology.