PLANS to create more car parking spaces at Oxford Ice Rink are set to take a step forward.

Oxford City Council’s cabinet will meet this evening, with the future of parking provision at the Oxpens site on the agenda.

A report prepared for the cabinet recommends that councillors agree that options to provide ice rink car parking are progressed on the basis of making 25 spaces in total.

The Oxpens public car park adjacent to the ice rink is currently used by visitors but the ice rink operator, Fusion Lifestyle, has no formal agreement to use Oxpens.

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The council report states: “There are proposals to redevelop the surface car park as part of the redevelopment of the Oxpens site, which is an allocated site in the Local Plan and is currently at pre-application stage with a planning application due for submission later this year.

“OxWED is requesting that the council makes a decision now on whether to release the requirement it has for land for car parking.

“A decision on this is needed urgently because, if car parking is to be provided as part of the new scheme, the master plan will need to be changed to accommodate the area ahead of a planning application, which is to be submitted later this year

“There has been some very early consideration of relocating the ice rink within the city over the next 10 to 15 years when the existing rink will be close to end of its functional life.

“Among these are early considerations as to whether the ice rink could be relocated within the OxWED development.”

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This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.

Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailLiamRice