Projects > Broad Street, Oxford
Broad Street is one of the great urban spaces of Europe. The rich variety of architecture; the lives that have been lived and lost in the place; and the dynamic role of the street in the centre of Oxford, combine to give The Broad a powerful beauty and significance.
The street began life as a disreputable ditch outside the city walls. Gradually, as the University emerged from the back alleys; as the walls came down; and as the fine Wren and Hawksmoor buildings grew up, Broad Street became an elegant thoroughfare and meeting place.
The state of Broad Street has been a concern to many people and organisations in Oxford for some years, and a Plan for Broad Street by Kim Wilkie was published at the end of 2004 after extensive consultation with many individuals and groups throughout the City.
Since then a Broad Street Plans Group, chaired by the Master of St Catherine’s College, and with representatives from the Trust, City, County, Colleges, University and the Business community, has continued to meet, keen to ensure that these improvements to the Street do happen in some form when the time is right. As the County Council considers the Oxford Transport Study and as plans for the New Bodleian begin to come forward, the Trust will be working with others to help to ensure that the proposals for the improvement of Broad Street are fully considered as part of these major projects.
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