OXFORD’S music community has welcomed the prospect of a new 1,000-seat concert hall for the city.

It comes after the first phase of the £16m music development which will culminate in the construction of the concert hall has been approved.

St Edward’s School, in Woodstock Road, has been given the go-ahead to build a new music school that will replace the school’s existing 50-year-old music facilities.

The school says the approval should now clear the way for a £10m fundraising effort to create a 21st-Century concert hall in North Oxford.

Lindsay Sandison, director of the City of Oxford Orchestra, said: “I think as much as anything we need it because of the parking in central Oxford.

“There is so much music going on in Oxford that the more venues we have, the merrier.”

Michael Smedley, founder of the Oxford Pro-Musica Singers, said: “There is no venue in Oxford worth having a concert in at the moment, not where you can get a drink and there are more than two toilets.

“So if something like this had all those things then fair enough.”

The concert hall would be built next to the new £6m music school, on the site of the former Lemon Tree restaurant and neighbouring land occupied by the Jack FM radio station in Woodstock Road.

It will be built after a fundraising effort is launched once the music school is completed in 2016.

The warden of St Edward’s, Stephen Jones, said a key factor in the coming months would be to win the “whole-hearted support” for the hall from both Oxford University and Oxford City Council.

Mr Jones said: “A concert hall able to seat 1,000 people in comfort is something that the city has never had. We have got to a point where this is now within reach but we have got to get phase one under way first.”

He estimated that the concert hall could open in 2020.

The new music school will see the demolition of the existing music school, rifle range and estate management offices.

The original plans were amended following concerns from planning officers over the scale of the music school building and dominance over neighbouring buildings.

It was unanimously approved by all nine councillors last week.

The music building will not be for the wider public, but other local schools will be invited to use the facilities.

It will have a recital room for 130 students, 20 teaching rooms, three classrooms, a staff room, instrument store and library.

While the new concert hall would be used for school performances, Mr Jones said it should be big enough to attract international orchestras.