BARTON West, Oxford’s biggest planned housing development in a generation, will be scrutinised at two meetings before it can win planning permission.

Oxford City Council wants to build 885 homes on land west of Barton and will stage the special public meetings next month.

A new primary school, a park, retail space, a potential hotel, community sports pavilion, two children’s play areas, communal gardens, allotments, and an adult sports pitch are also planned.

On Tuesday, September 24 a meeting of the east area planning committee will be held at Town Hall to decide whether to approve the scheme or not.

Before that, city councillors on the east area planning committee will be able to question officers about the scheme at another public meeting on Thursday, September 12.

The first public meeting will be for councillors to ask questions of planning officers, but at the second meeting, where the decision will be made, members of the public can put forward questions of their own.

City councillor Colin Cook, the board member for city development, said the two meetings would ensure all concerns were addressed.

He said: “It is probably the biggest application we have had in the last 10 years or so.

“We are holding these meetings to look at this properly. There is so much information and we don’t want that to get lost and for people to say they didn’t have the time to give it a thorough decision.”

Some who live near the site have concerns and have objected to it.

Derek Taylor, a Risinghurst and Sandhills parish councillor, said: “Our concern is that it will put more traffic on the Green Road roundabout.”

Veronica Hurst, chairwoman of the Friends of Old Headington, said she wanted the council to address the issue of the crossing between Barton West and Northway.

She said: “We are not really at all confident in anyone’s ability to prevent access for vehicles which are not intended to use the crossing. “A particular concern is also the height of the buildings as they will come above the treeline and be seen from the Headington side of the A40.”

GARDEN SUBURB

LAND west of Barton was earmarked for 1,000 homes as part of the South East Plan, a blueprint for development in the region over the next two decades, in 2009.
A government planning inspector approved the 38-hectare site west of Barton after an inquiry last year and a planning application for 885 houses was submitted in June.
It will include a new primary school, a park, retail space, a potential hotel, community sports pavilion, two children’s play areas, communal gardens, allotments, and an adult sports pitch.
The A40 was intended to be transformed into a “boulevard” with landscaping and a lower speed limit but this was dropped following concerns.
Barton West is described as a “garden suburb” inspired by developments in European cities such as Freiburg.
KEY QUESTIONS
 

  • How will the junction across the A40 be enforced?
  • Will traffic lights be installed at the Barton exit of the Green Road roundabout?
  • What will the extra traffic mean for the Green Road roundabout and what will be done about it?
  • Are the buildings too tall?
  • What can be done about the extra traffic which will come through Marston?