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Rooftop terrace plan for former council HQ rejected

BBC A general view of the four-storey St Aldate's Chambers in St Aldate's in Oxford, with a bus parked to the side of it BBC
St Aldate's Chambers - pictured in 2022 - was used until council staff were moved across the road to the Town Hall

A company that is renting a council's former headquarters has seen its plan to install a rooftop terrace rejected by the authority.

Aurora Energy Research agreed a 10-year deal to rent St Aldate's Chambers in St Aldate's, Oxford, late in 2023 and the deal with publicly announced early in 2024.

Oxford City Council vacated the building after the pandemic and moved its offices across St Aldate's into Oxford Town Hall opposite.

But the plan by the tenants for a rooftop terrace was dismissed, in part because "visual clutter" would have "distracted and detracted" from Oxford's skyline, the council said.

The company had planned to install an outdoor kitchen, seating and outdoor planters on the roof.

Council planners said there was "no clear and convincing justification for the development" when it rejected the plan on 27 December.

Morgan Lovell/Oxford City Council A CGI image of people sitting at picnic tables on the planned - now rejected - roof terrace, with the top of Oxford's Town Hall and the city's famous skyline visible. Morgan Lovell/Oxford City Council
In rejecting the project, council officers said it would have resulted in "visual clutter"

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