BICESTER will become a garden city, bringing £100m investment for 13,000 homes, 21,500 jobs and a new motorway junction.

The town expressed an interest in following Ebbsfleet, Kent, to become the latest in a series modern garden cities announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

On Monday, Cherwell District Council was told it had been successful in its bid for multi-million-pound backing to build the homes as outlined in its Local Plan.

It is understood the Government could provide £40m for roads and £50m for parks and other public amenities out of the £100m.

According to the district council, a new motorway junction will be created south of junction nine of the M40 near Arncott, to ease pressure on existing junctions.

District council leader Barry Wood said Bicester would become a garden town, not a city, and explained the 13,000 homes total would include 10,000 homes already planned for the eco-town north west of Bicester, Graven Hill and south west Bicester. 

 
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But he welcomed the funding boost and believed the new status could speed up delivery of the planned housing.

He added: “A document called One Shared Vision for Bicester was adopted by the council, the county council, the town council and local businesses in 2009.

“It didn’t include a proposal for a garden city but the objectives in it, stemming from the eco-town programme, were almost identical with garden city principals of high-quality housing and lots of open space.

“It also featured the creation of jobs alongside the housing to reduce commuting, and creating good public transport links – Bicester’s rail links fit in well with that ethos.

“The funding we receive will enable us to fulfil our vision and provide the necessary infrastructure and transport improvements to improve Bicester as a place for people to live, work and visit.”

 

Banbury MP Sir Tony Baldry welcomed the announcement, saying: “We already have plans for new housing on the Kingsmere estate and elsewhere, so it makes sense to have a coherent development, with very substantial amounts of Government-provided new money.

“With the East/West rail link being constructed, Bicester will also be one of the few communities across the county with both East/West and North/South rail links. I think this initiative has broad community support.”

But there were fears last night the road network might not be able to cope with the extra homes.

Oxfordshire county councillor for Ploughley Catherine Fulljames said: “Bicester is a little town and if you put 13,000 more houses in you are going to get a population of 30,000 more.

“I do think the roads infrastructure is what’s failing in Bicester at the moment so development almost needs to be put on hold for a bit of a catch-up.”

Independent Bicester West county councillor Les Sibley said: “I welcome this investment. Bicester is going to be a great place to live and work but we need to provide the infrastructure first.”

District council Labour group leader Sean Woodcock said: “This is obviously huge news for Bicester. It is an opportunity for the town but there are huge concerns that I have which I am sure residents will share.

“This Garden City project must be an opportunity to plug the social housing gap in Cherwell district rather than an opening simply for property speculators, rogue landlords or the ‘haves’.

“This level of housing growth will require a massive investment in the infrastructure and facilities in and around Bicester. Sustainable development means more than just new houses, and adequate schools and health facilities are still not in place.”

According to the district council, the homes will be delivered in two stages.

The first phase will be in line with the Local Plan, which outlines the building of 10,000 new homes at the north west Bicester eco-town, Graven Hill and south west Bicester, from 2014-31.

 
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The remaining 3,000 homes will be built from 2031 onwards but, if new brownfield sites are identified, this could result in more homes being built.

 

DREAM FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

‘Owning a home was once a dream most people in Oxfordshire aspired to and could realistically achieve,’ writes Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

But after years of under supply by successive governments – Labour and Conservative alike – families are faced with a housing market that still prices too many people out.

Parents look at the lack of homes, rising prices and ask themselves how on earth they will help their sons and daughters on to the property ladder.

The plight of the next generation is making what was an abstract housing shortage increasingly tangible and real.

Oxford Mail:

  • Nick Clegg

In Coalition we have made a good start towards fixing the problem – but more still needs to be done. We need to build 300,000 homes a year just to meet demand.

If we are to give our children the homes they deserve and badly need we have to be bold and think big.

We can either condemn ourselves to unending urban sprawl, destroying our countryside, or cram ever more people into our existing towns and cities.

Or, as I strongly believe, we should build places people actually want to live.

Places which draw on the best of British design and have their own character and identity.

Places which, rather than destroy our rural environments, actually play a crucial role in keeping it intact – while helping solve our housing crisis at the same time. The Liberal Democrats have long argued that garden cities – which first appeared at the turn of the 20th Century – are an idea whose time has come again.

I am delighted, therefore, that Bicester has been chosen to be Britain’s newest garden city – a place of high-quality homes and thriving green spaces, where local people can live and work.

The initiative will be led by the community here, but the Coalition government will step in to help with both significant capital investment and support for developers, so that Bicester can turn the dream of being a garden city into a reality.

We have a duty to build the homes our children and grandchildren will need, as well as protect our environment for future generations too. Garden cities help us do just that.

FACTFILE

  • THE garden city movement started in the late 19th century in the wake of increasing urbanisation.
  • Attempts to create new settlements balancing homes with open space were pioneered at Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City.
  • Last year planning consultant Ken Dijksman put forward a proposal for an Oxford garden city for 30,000 homes south of Oxford on land between the Hanneys near Wantage and Abingdon, where Thames Water formerly proposed a £1bn reservoir.
  • Vale of White Horse District Council leader Matthew Barber described the proposal as “pie in the sky” after Mr Dijksman submitted the scheme during consultation on the council’s Local Plan but no planning application has been submitted.


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