PLANS for a controversial heating pipe in Headington have been declared “invalid” by Oxford City Council after being blasted as “unlawful” by local residents.

Comments on the application for the £14.8m scheme to connect the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals, have highlighted that Oxfordshire County Council may not own the land where the pipe would be installed, as assumed by contractors Vital Energi.

Patsy Dell, head of planning and regulatory services for the city council, said: “The retrospective planning application to install an energy pipe between the Churchill and John Radcliffe Hospitals has been declared invalid.

“This is because the necessary notifications relating to the ownership of the land have not been carried out in accordance with the mandatory requirements.

“Specifically, it is our understanding that Oxfordshire County Council may not own all of the highway land where the pipeline would be installed.

“As a result, the application cannot progress until further information is provided or a revised application form has been submitted.”

The information regarding ownership of land was put forward by Headington solicitor Ann Marie Dickinson, who says the county highways authority only owns the first two spadefuls of soil below the surface and nothing above or below that, which is where the pipe would be installed.

Mrs Dickinson, from Stapleton Road, said she wrote to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Vital Energi, Aviva Investors and the county council before Christmas to raise concerns their actions were “unlawful” but claims they were overlooked.

She said: “We pointed out that the soil below the street surface belongs to the owners of the properties on each side of the street, and that the grant of a street works licence does not displace the need to get the landowner’s permission.

“The trust told us that Vital Energi was responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions.

“The county council has said that it is concerned only with highway management, and is not the owner of the land.

“Vital Energi has not disputed that we (and others) own the land below the street surface, but has suggested that it will only be placing pipes ‘in’ the highway and that the street works licence provides it with all the authority that it needs to proceed.

“In our view, its explanations don’t hold water.”

City councillor Ruth Wilkinson said she believed the process has been a “disaster from beginning to end” after Vital Energi was forced to fill in trenches it had dug to install the pipes, having started work before applying for permission.

She said: “If indeed the people affected by the route do own the land, Vital Energi will have to inform every single person who lives in the area, which perhaps they should have done in the first place.”

The Oxford Mail has been unable to reach Vital Energi for a comment.