Oxford City Council to proceed with plan for 3,000 new homes

Oxford City Council has formally agreed to proceed with a plan to build about 3,000 homes in the south of the city.

The authority has wanted to build homes on a site off Grenoble Road for decades but the land is in South Oxfordshire.

Labour's city council leader Susan Brown said extra housing was "desperately needed" in the city.

South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) allocated the site for development in its Local Plan, which was approved in December.

"We have got so many people in housing need in Oxford and Oxfordshire," Ms Brown said.

"Personally speaking as a local councillor, nearly all of my casework is people who are in desperate housing need."

The site lies close to Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys and is owned by the city council, Thames Water and Magdalen College.

A formal application for what will be be known as the South Oxford Science Village will still need to be approved by the district council before building can start.

The city council said that could be submitted as soon as 2023.

Half of the homes will be allocated as affordable and the development will also include an extension to the nearby Oxford Science Park, schools, open space and a park and ride.

It was included in the Oxford green belt until December, when SODC allocated it for development after pressure from the government.

Helen Marshall, director of Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Oxfordshire, said the group, which had opposed the sites removal from the green belt, would not be able to stop the development.

"But what we can still fight for is that the development that does come forward is as good as possible and actually does try to fulfil the [housing] need," she said.

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