A HOUSING group has 'reluctantly' decided to stop working with the council, on a development that would see new homes built on green fields, after stating it would prefer to use a brownfield site.

Oxford City Council, in partnership with its housing developer Oxford City Housing Ltd, is planning to build at least 29 houses on land in Iffley Village, 12 of which will be social housing.

Oxford Cohousing, a community group working to create an ‘international village’ with households being actively involved in managing the neighbourhood and sharing resources like garden equipment, laundry, and cars.

For over 12 years the group has been looking for a site within the ring road to provide 15 to 40 private homes of affordable tenure – when the council purchased the Meadow Lane site last year, Oxford Cohousing thought it could be a viable site for its intentions.

Cohousing schemes are intentional communities run by residents, which look to create a ‘mutually supportive community’ to help improve wellbeing and the surrounding neighbourhood.

However, following discussions with the council’s housing developers, ‘it became apparent that site’ was not ‘viable’ for the housing model that Oxford Cohousing seeks to achieve.

The community-led housing group has said it ‘seeks to do everything in its power to reduce environmental impact’, and while the council will build passivhaus standard homes, it would rather use a brownfield site, rather than greenfield land.

The group now is welcoming inquiries from landowners who share its vision of building on brownfield sites, and its environmental goals.

Sarah Westcott, from the group, said: “Oxford Cohousing has been looking for land for over 12 years on which to create a cohousing community.

“Support from the city council, both councillors, and officers, has grown over these years and we have very much appreciated this recently, as community-led housing has received more attention, nationally and locally. We hope to continue working positively together to achieve our aims.”

OCHL said it will continue to support Oxford Cohousing aims and help them ‘realise their vision for a cohousing project’.

Helen Horne, managing director of OCHL, said: “The Local Plan 2036 supports community-led approaches such as cohousing because of the benefits they can bring for community cohesion, permanent affordability, and sustainable housing.

“Following initial discussions regarding Meadow Lane – as well as other development sites – it became apparent that this site is not viable for the housing model that Oxford Cohousing is looking to achieve. We will continue to support Oxford Cohousing and other groups to deliver community-led housing in Oxford.”

The council has said it is working with Oxfordshire Community Land Trust and Tradition by Design on plans to reclaim ‘disused land’ and brownfield sites for new homes.

Currently, 600 of the city council’s 2,000 garages are vacant – and so the council has said it is looking at the potential to build on these new homes, as well as other ‘unused pockets of land’ owned by the council.

It hopes these vacant spaces will yield five new sites, each containing around 30 homes.

On community-led housing generally, we’re working with Oxfordshire Community Land Trust and Transition by Design on plans to reclaim disused land for new homes.

The council hopes to submit a planning application to develop the homes at Meadow Lane by the end of this year.

Since the council bought the land in November, for £4.5 million off Donnington Hospital Trust, the housing plans have sparked division within Iffley Village.

Friends of the Fields of Iffley, a campaign group looking to stop the development, argues that the homes would destroy a nature corridor and lead to more congestion.

Others, however, have said they are supportive of the development, calling those opposing the housing plans as 'rich NIMBYs', who should be helping meet Oxford's housing needs.

The land was earmarked for development as part of the council's Local Plan 2036 - a development plan that will see more than 10,000 homes across the city if all plans are approved.

Last week, the city council gave the green light for plans to be drawn up for a massive new 3,000 home-development off Grenoble Road.

This would see homes built on what was considered green belt land until last year.

Labour’s city council leader, Susan Brown, said that the authority had been wanting to build homes on the site for over a ‘decade’.

The leader welcomed the development plans, claiming additional housing was ‘desperately needed’ in Oxford.

However, not everybody is happy about the plans to build homes in Oxfordshire.

The council also has plans to build at least 30 new homes on the New Hinksey on Bertie, known to locals as 'Bertie Park'.

Angry parents and children took the streets outside the Town Hall in St Aldates, to continue their plea to the council to reconsider the location of the development. rents and children took the streets outside the Town Hall in St Aldates, to continue their plea to the council to reconsider the developments location.