Meeting over controversial flats

10:02am Tuesday 19th June 2007

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By The Page Turner »

Residents in Jericho, Oxford, are meeting tonight to discuss new plans to build flats in the area.

Spring Residential has applied to the city council for planning permission to build 54 flats on a narrow strip of land next to St Barnabas church.

Jenny Mann, secretary of the Jericho Community Association, said the three and four- storey blocks would "crowd in" on both sides of the church and obliterate most views of it from the towpath.

She added: "This is currently a towpath walk of great character and historic interest, enjoyed by local people and visitors to Oxford alike, and the canalside here is the setting for the famous "Gyptian" episodes in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Artist Valerie Petts, a Jericho resident whose Oxford scenes are regularly seen in The Oxford Times' magazine Limited Edition, is preparing to draw before and after views of the area.

She added: "It's horrifying. We can not let this happen."

The meeting starts tonight at 7.30pm, at St Barnabas Church, and the plans will be on display in the church before the meeting from 7pm.