SOME of the new builds on Oxford’s Barton Park estate will be handed over to the council in the next couple of weeks.

Oxford City Council’s board member for housing Mike Rowley, said: “All being well, I’ll be accepting handover of the first new council homes this month – we are already advertising them.”

The Barton and Sandhills city councillor added that he was delighted the first residents have moved in, with 40 per cent of the homes being social-rents.

He said: “I’ve had the opportunity to speak with some of the new private residents.

“Angela Turon, the head of the county Music Service, which is attached to Bayard’s Hill School in Barton, is one of them.

“As well as directing the Lord Mayor’s carol concert in December with great aplomb, Angela makes a great contribution to the Barton Estate with the work the Music Service does with the school.

“And another new resident is the curate at Barton St Mary’s Church, Rev Ben Baker. So it’s good to see that even some of the private houses are going to people with connections to the existing estate.”

Oxford Mail: Oxford's Barton Park

The 885-home estate is a joint venture between Grosvenor and Oxford City Council.

It has now completed a number of homes for families to move into as part of the scheme called Mosaics Oxford.

Speaking on the development the team at Hill, who are building some of the houses on the site, said: “Hill is delighted to report that Mosaics continues to progress well.

“Handovers will be continuing throughout 2019 and 2020, with full completion expected through to the end of 2022, as originally planned.”

A range of apartments and houses for first-time buyers and families have been put on the market, with some available through the support of the Government’s Help to Buy Scheme.

As it is, 50 residents have moved in to a range of the one and two-bedroom apartments up for sale, and the section of two and three-bed homes.

The next stage for the development will be the completion of the four and five-bedroom houses, which if all goes to plan, will be finished by the end of the year.

In August 2017, the Oxford Mail revealed the cost of a three-bedroom home on Oxford’s largest new estate would set homeowners back £595,000.

The price of a two-bedroom apartment on the development was also revealed to cost £299,950.