ALLOTMENT holders have reacted angrily after Oxford Brookes University earmarked their patches for thousands of student flats.

Brookes has told council planners the Morrell Trust allotments in Pullens Lane and playing fields at the Warneford Hospital could be used for new development.

A planning inspector is currently deciding where thousands of new homes should be built across Oxford.

And the university has said it believes the areas are suitable for development as it tries to build accommodation for 2,550 students near its Headington campus.

But residents said the proposals had come out of the blue, with Brookes accused of trying to get the sites into a key planning document without consulting local people.

A three-week inquiry at the Town Hall is currently determining planning developments in the city over the next 17 years.

Marie Power, secretary of Pullens Lane Allotments, said: “The university did not even have the courtesy to tell us about this before putting in the submission, which means we do not have the opportunity to put our case to the inspector.

“It is a pre-emptive strike. So, once again East Oxford is having to mobolise against Brookes expansion plans.

“As the allotment is next door to their main campus, it is clearly attractive. But increasing numbers of people rely on the allotment to make ends meet or for a bit of peace and quiet.

“What makes Pullens Lane an even more valuable resource for all of us, is that it is an area of green land, which provides the green lungs which East Oxford desperately needs.”

Brookes is already engaged in another major planning battle over its plans to redevelop its Gipsy Lane campus as “a new gateway to Oxford”.

In a bid to appease local opposition to the £150m scheme it agreed last month to reduce the height of the main building by creating an underground library.

Brookes deputy vice-chancellor Rex Knight said last night the university had a responsibility to plan for the future.

But Joe McManners, city councillor for the Churchill ward, said: “I am concerned that Brookes has not involved either the council or residents’ groups. It appears like an attempt to bypass democracy by going through the back door.

“I share people’s concerns that Brookes wants to concentrate more of their students in Headington, which would put too much pressure on our precious green spaces.”

Sara Banerji, of London Place, said the Pullens Lane site had be used for allotments for nearly a century. “At a time when the Government is encouraging everyone to have an allotment, it is being threatened by Brookes, who want to build housing on it.

“The allotments committee have purposely run it with a light hand to encourage birds to breed there.

“It is one of the rare places where you can still find nightingales nesting in undergrowth, three kinds of woodpecker, red kites wrens and numerous others.”

BROOKES SAYS. . .

BROOKES deputy vice-chancellor Rex Knight, defended the university’s desire to plan ahead.

He said: “Oxford Brookes has a responsibility to plan for the future. The suggestion of the Warneford Hospital site for student accommodation is not new, and indeed has been part of ongoing discussions with the city council. The Core Strategy covers almost a 17 year period and during this time it is conceivable that sites which are currently used may become vacant.

“This suggestion from Brookes does not mean that allotment holders on Pullen’s Lane are going to lose their sites. Decisions that would lead to the site becoming vacant would not be made by the university.

“We’re often criticised for not providing enough dedicated student accommodation. There is no lack of will to reduce the number of students living in private rented accommodation.

“We can only achieve this if the local authorities are willing to plan for suitable sites close to the Brookes campus to build new halls. The university has to plan for all manner of possibilities, including the unlikely event of this site becoming free.”