Brookes University plan upsets Oxford neighbours (From Oxford Mail)

Brookes University plan upsets Oxford neighbours

5:50pm Thursday 23rd April 2009 in Search By Reg Little

OXFORD Brookes University has come under fire from neighbours over its plans for a £150m modernisation of its Headington campus.

People living near the university say the size of the new buildings will blight the area.

And rather than provide a new gateway to the city, they fear the centrepiece six-storey student centre building would be an ugly addition to the city’s skyline, adding to light and noise pollution in the area.

The university submitted a planning application earlier this month, with public consultation on the scheme ending on May 1.

But Headington Hill Residents’ Association said the submitted plans represented “a major departure” from the original 2007 masterplan, which they claimed showed nothing on such a “monolithic scale”.

The group has written to the university’s Chancellor, Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights group Liberty, in the hope that she will intervene.

Fiona Maddocks, a spokesman for the association, said: “The proposed six-storey development, nearly three metres (10ft) higher than Carfax Tower and the length of Kassam Stadium’s football pitch, is intended as an “iconic building” at Oxford’s eastern gateway.

“The impact on the London Road environment and beyond is incalculable. As a ‘gateway’ it’s on the wrong side of the campus.

“As an icon it’s of neutral architectural merit, neither daring nor visionary, merely big and boxy.

“And it would be visible from Hinksey, Boars Hill and Chilswell Valley, while towering over the immediate vicinity.”

She said they were taking hope from comments from Ms Chakra-barti, who spoke of “human rights beginning in your neighbourhood, with individuals, in small places, close to home”.

But deputy vice-chancellor Rex Knight said the university had not added to its master plan.

The 2007 plan had set out the areas where the buildings would go, while the new masterplan included designs.

He said: “It’s wrong to say there has been any departure from an earlier masterplan. We’re putting the flesh on the bones.

“The South Eastern Regional Design Panel, who were commissioned to provide an independent view, found our proposed buildings were of high quality and the scale was appropriate.”

Mr Knight said a giant balloon had been used to show the new student building on the western side of the Gipsy Lane campus, which would include an atrium and a library, would not affect the city’s skyline.

He said university had consulted widely but had not received complaints from any other residents’ group about the plans to replace old buildings.

The student centre is due to open in 2012, as the first phase of a project taking a decade.

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