ON TUESDAY night, a small handful of Labour and Lib Dem city councillors on the west area planning committee voted to leave the controversial Castle Mill blocks in situ.

They agreed to accept Oxford University’s cheapest offer (Option One), to plant trees (it is not clear where) reaching halfway up the buildings at their highest, and to work out how to paint or clad the facades so they are less glaring, starting the actual work in around two years’ time.

Only one councillor, Elise Benjamin, bravely stood up and resisted the university’s shabby offer, and raised the option of removing the roof (Option Two), or the roof and one floor (Option Three), or going for discontinuance.

The officially designated ‘Substantial Adverse’ damage to centuries old beloved heritage views which the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had flagged up were swept aside, as were the views of 97 per cent of respondents (nearly 800 responses) to the EIA consultation, who had called for Option Three and a restoration of the timeless atmosphere of Port Meadow and the heritage views which until recent years graced the miles across there.

So this is it, after a campaign involving hundreds of people’s time, money and energy, a few local councillors choose to ignore the instruction of their own committee three years ago, to ‘ameliorate the size and impact’ of the blocks.

Their size will remain as a mark of shame on Oxford University and Oxford City Council for all time.

This period will be remembered as the one when the internationally celebrated views of Oxford’s dreaming spires and the Grade I listed St Barnabas tower were trashed by the greed for 38 graduate student beds.

Shame on you, Oxford City Council and Oxford University.

SUSHILA DHALL
Stable Close, Rewley Park, Oxford