I fell in love with Oxford only when I came here to Wadham College in 1964, even though my father and many relations before him had been born and brought up in Oxford.

I revered the university for its history, eminence as a place of learning and the beautiful buildings that it and the colleges had created over the centuries. That reverence has turned to dismay following a series of misguided planning applications relating to the well documented flats overlooking Port Meadow, the Blavatnik Building, the New Road development and now, perhaps, the Wolvercote Paper Mill site as well.

Most public opprobrium seems to have been directed at the city planning committee but the fundamental responsibility must lie with the university itself for making these applications in the first place and only secondarily with the planning committee for approving them.

The university is a wealthy institution even more so after the response to its recent appeals. In its pursuit of even greater wealth, albeit spent in a very good cause, it owes a duty to the city and its populace to enhance the environment in so far as it is able, a duty which it is discharging lamentably badly.

Even the new buildings on the old Infirmary site which face Woodstock Road are a severe disappointment.

Perhaps the granting of these disparate planning permissions is due to the influence of the university on the planning process in one way or another or those who are in awe of it. Whatever it may be, the university seems to have a record of unwarranted success.

Fortunately there are a multitude of new college buildings which are harmonious to their surroundings to offset the brutality of university buildings.

Future generations may come to form a jaundiced view of the university’s part in the development of Oxford in this decade.

If there are those now who hope for more harmonious and elegant progress, they should beware of the enemy within . . . the university . . . and be prepared to fight it.

John Simms

Foxcombe Road

Boars Hill

Oxford