MACE held their exhibition of their proposals for West Way last week.

The main response seems to be that “it’s better than what Doric proposed”. That’s true but it’s not the point! Doric’s proposals were roundly opposed by local people as totally inappropriate, and were unanimously rejected by the planning committee. If all that can be said is that the new plans are ‘better’ that’s not really saying very much.

The plans have to be judged on their own merit, from the few words and friendly looking drawings that were shown. These were very scant, especially for the eastern end of the site, which on close inspection looks like it would be nine storeys high plus a roof in places, and four or five storeys over much of the rest.

Elms Parade may be safe for the time being but it would be dwarfed by the supposed ‘mirror’ Elms Parade behind it. It would all look very much bigger and overbearing than the pictures imply.

We knew in March that Elms Parade and Field House were not part of Mace’s current plans so that’s not news. They have recently decided against a multiplex (due probably to unviability rather than public opinion) and they plan for more housing for local people, which is good.

But it still includes nearly 300 student rooms in an area where students don’t seem to want to live, and the hotel is larger.

What we have seen is the best PR efforts to show what would still be a very large development through rose-tinted spectacles. When the final plans appear they will need very close scrutiny to see whether what now may appear ‘much better than Doric’ is actually appropriate for the local shopping centre.

GORDON STOKES
Cumnor