Controversial plans to turn the Oxford Castle site into a hotel will go ahead despite a massive petition against it.

The £16m scheme, from developers the Osborne Group, has an 87-room hotel as the main use for the former prison and castle site in New Road but also includes two museums, a tourist information centre, student accommodation, a wine bar, gallery and craft stalls.

New footpaths would pass through the area and the public would have access to most buildings, including lower floors of the hotel and parts of the 19th century cell block. However, car parking is likely to be a problem. Most will need to be off-site.

The scheme was recommended for approval at a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council's strategy and resources committee yesterday. It will go before the council on November 16 and is still subject to planning permission from the city council. The county council bought back the historic site after the prison closed in 1996. Now, after exploring a wide range of options, they seem to have reached a decision.

Neil Monaghan, the county's chief property officer, said they wanted a place that was welcoming to the public and also a commercial development.

He said: "This mix of uses has achieved a good balance."

The county council will still own the site but lease it to the Osborne Group. The heritage and museum part of the site will be managed separately by a charitable trust.

The Oxford Civic Society raised a 3,500-name petition which called for the site to be managed by a trust rather than one developer. But this was rejected by the committee.

Society chairman Edwin Townsend-Coles said he was disappointed.

He said: "This is an historic moment in the life of our city and county. It is for the county council to seize this opportunity of passing on for future generations a site which has been at the centre of the history of the county."

Story date: Wednesday 27 October

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