EXTRA consultation events on plans for the 885-home Barton West development have been arranged after residents demanded to have their say again.

In June, Barton Oxford, the consortium behind the plans for the new estate, said it was not planning to arrange any further consultation sessions.

But after residents contacted development partners Oxford City Council and Grosvenor, two new events were arranged.

The first was held yesterday, and the second will take place tonight at the Barton Neighbourhood Centre from 4pm to 7pm.

The extra sessions have been welcomed in the Barton community, where plans have sparked a mixed response.

Barton and Sandhills city councillor Mike Rowley said: “Because the planning application has been put in there is a statutory consultation period on that.

“Although it’s not strictly necessary to have these events, I think they’re a good thing to have. I think there has been a very successful consultation on the proposals, and I think we had about 700 paper responses and a lot of people attended the earlier events.

“However, now that the outline plans have been put in, with some small revisions, it’s good that people will be given the chance to look at them and comment again.”

The news comes after an outline planning application for the development was submitted.

Plans for the development have been in the pipeline for more than four years, but an outline planning application was finally submitted to Oxford City Council on June 3. The plans include a primary school, a shop and a community hub. The artist’s impressions feature a Marks & Spencer Simply Food shop, although the details of specific stores have yet to be confirmed.

In total there will be 673 houses – most of them with three bedrooms – and 212 apartments, mostly with two bedrooms.

Forty per cent of these will be affordable housing.

Outline permission is often sought for large developments, setting out a rough plan for the site. Details are then ironed out later with further applications.

Council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “The drop-in sessions are being held for the local community, to help them get further clarification on any parts of the Barton scheme.

“As it has gone in for planning, they won’t be able to influence this part of the scheme, but the application was very lengthy and we hope that these sessions will help answer any questions residents may have.”