Planning: City Planning Issues 2006

Universities, individual colleges and University bodies, continue to consult with the Trust on their plans for development and change. The University put forward an application for a very large new Library Depository at Osney Mead, within an important view of the city, which would severely damage the world-renowned green setting of Oxford’s dreaming spires. The Trust consulted widely, undertook numerous site visits and wrote an article for The Oxford Magazine No 248, Hilary Term 2006, entitled ‘The Newly Proposed University Libraries Building: How did a scheme so damaging to the setting of Oxford get so far?’ English Heritage also objected strongly to the application and it was subsequently withdrawn. It is understood that other sites and design issues are being considered, with another application expected in 2007.

Following two and a half years of consultation and design, the Westgate Partnership submitted a detailed planning application to Oxford City Council in June 2006 for the refurbishment, part redevelopment and extension of the Westgate Shopping Centre. Mrs Dance, with Mr Steven Sensecall of Kemp & Kemp, and with input from Trustees, met the developers and architects at various times during the drawing up of the details of this project, particularly in regard to the views from outside the city. The application was discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the Trust’s Plans Sub-Committee on 24 July. In the end, the Trust still had concerns over the scale and height of this proposed application, and the harm that the car park building, in particular, would do to the views from St. George’s Tower and the Castle Mound. Although the Director raised these concerns before the City’s Strategic Development Control Committee in October, the application was approved. The Secretary of State decided not to call in the application. The Trust resolved to work with the developers and the City Council ‘on the ground’ to try to ensure that the finished development would be the very best for Oxford.

The West End Partnership, which was established in 2003 and comprises Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council and the South East England Development Agency, set up a Steering Group to oversee the West End Area Action Plan for the regeneration of the West End, and the Trust’s Director was invited to sit on this group. The Preferred Options Document prepared by Oxford City Council was subject to public consultation in the autumn. The plan was based on the recommendations for the regeneration of this area of Oxford set out in the Area Development Framework for the West End which was produced by David Lock Associates in 2005. Locally, particular interest has been focused on the future of the Worcester Street Car Park, and it has been agreed that a more thorough assessment and understanding of the history of this area is an essential prerequisite to its future redevelopment.
Among the residential planning applications a number causing concern were for the demolition of attractive and significant houses, including some within conservation areas, which generated much public protest. In North Oxford, demolition of 26 Lathbury Road, an ‘Arts & Crafts’ house by the architect Percy Morley-Horder, was refused permission before Christmas. Across the city, 190 Iffley Road was discovered to be an attractive, little known example of the work of Frank Mountain, and permission to demolish was refused at the end of the year, as was that for the historic Coach & Horses Public House in St Clements and for Dorset House in Headington. The nearby Warneford Meadow outline development application was also subject to much public debate when Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Healthcare Trust submitted their five applications in September for student and/or key worker accommodation and healthcare and/or medical research uses.
The City Council continued its programme of Conservation Area Appraisals with the Trust’s continued financial support. Conservation Area drafts completed include Wolvercote and Godstow, Bartlemas, North Oxford, Osney, and St Clements and Iffley Road.

Extract from the Trust’s 2006 Annual Report

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