Sir – Disturbing news reaches me of secret negotiations between a new developer and the city planning department over the Jericho canalside.
It seems that the previous ghastliness — which sank with the collapse of Lehman Brothers — is to be revived in the now habitual form of blocks of flats along the canalside. The proposal is objectionable on several grounds, namely: 1: The elephant in the room can no longer be ignored: we have to take measures to reduce the consequences of global warming, much of which is generated by the exiled population who drive into Oxford in their SUVs every day.
2: At the same time we need to increase the population of areas such as Jericho, by redeveloping its housing stock in the form of multi-storey apartment blocks, say between four and seven storeys high: Freiburg’s Vauban quarter has been mentioned.
3: A car-free Jericho will need to be serviced by the trams, so strongly desired — according to your letters pages.
4: All these changes will require planning: the sort of planning that contemplates a future state. In the case of Jericho, we have a suburb blessed with strong boundaries, some splendid buildings and a clear grid.
Let us not have to experience plot development ie a lump here, and a lump there, and definitely not the proposed iteration, which as viewed as part of the public realm, should be reserved for the enhancement of Jericho and the whole city: this, in the interest of our children and grandchildren.
Simon Norris, Oxford
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