Sir – Your leading article of July 21 is a powerful reinforcement of the overwhelming case against the proposed development of the St Clement’s car park site.
The Local Plan of 2005 allocated the site for the residential housing of Oxford University students only. Yet neither Oxford University nor any of its constituent colleges has expressed interest in the project — indeed the University opposes it on the grounds that it will overshadow its graduate housing in Alan Bullock Close (itself a model of imaginative and sensitive architectural design, unlike the proposed high-rise building). Nor has Brookes University expressed interest: it has recently announced its intention to reduce student numbers. There is now a sufficiency, if not a surplus, of student accommodation in this part of Oxford, therefore, and yet the council proposes to cram 140 extra student units into this tight space.
Where will these students come from? Perhaps the council has English language students in mind? If so, local residents should be told.
If there is no need for yet more student accommodation in the Magdalen Bridge area, why is the council forcing this scheme through against the wishes of local residents? Why is it putting short-term financial gain before the long-term interests of the community and the environment?
Martin Murphy, Oxford
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