Oxford News
Oxford: 330 home £100m development gets the green light
Oxford City Council’s cabinet approved the £97.6million scheme at a meeting on Wednesday (March 18), giving the go ahead to progress the major development of affordable homes.
With a total of 331 homes going to be built on the Sandy Lane Recreation Ground in Blackbird Leys, chosen for position next to the upcoming Cowley Branch Line development, the council has agreed the football pitches used by local clubs will be relocated.
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Councillor Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing and communities, said at the meeting that building on the recreation ground is ‘not something to be taken lightly’.
She said: “There’s a strong case for development there because of the reopening of the Cowley Branch Line and the citing of the new station, but what we need to be absolutely clear about is that the football pitches on the site, which are well-used by local teams at weekends, they will be re-provided.
Sandy Lane Recreation Ground in Blackbird Leys (Image: Ed Nix)
“No housing development will take place on this site until those pitches have been re-provided and they’re up and running and in use by those teams.
“I’m determined, as a cabinet member but as a local Blackbird Leys councillor as well, that we don’t just re-provide those pitches, but the local teams affected, the Greater Leys football club and the Blackbirds football club, they get improved facilities – an enhancement of the facilities for their teams to enjoy.
“We can’t say that enough.”
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The plan is to relocate the four football pitches from Sandy Lane to Herschel Crescent Recreation Ground, 150 metres away, with newly-built changing facilities and storage.
They will proceed any housebuilding and are expected to be useable by summer next year.
Alongside the relocation of the existing pitches, the city council is ‘exploring’ the delivery of an additional pitch at another council-owned site.
The new homes will be 100 per cent affordable (Image: Andrew Matthews/PA)
Built on council-owned land by OX Place, the wholly council-owned housing development company, more than 800 new residents are expected to be housed including 300 children, and with reallocations of existing stock, the knock-on effect is expected to be felt by 1,200 people.
Council officer Dave Scholes, the corporate lead on affordable housing supply, said: “The numbers really start to multiply out, and you can see the impact on people’s lives.”
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The council plans to work ‘closely’ with the developers of the Cowley Branch Line to deliver the scheme in phases, which includes a central boulevard and station square with direct links to the new station ‘Sandy Lane, Blackbird Leys’ via a footbridge over the railway.
The development will also link directly to the Oxford Arc Business Park in Cowley for easy access to employment opportunities.
Approval was given at the cabinet meeting for the grant project, including the £97.5m budget, and for the legal and planning processes to bring the site forward to be started.
Oxford News
Real reason for Beckham family fallout with Brooklyn revealed
Brooklyn, 27, had shared a statement on social media in January, making several accusations about his parents, David, 51, and Victoria, 52.
The source of the tension was reportedly his relationship with his fiancée, Nicola Peltz, 31.
According to the Daily Mail, things became so strained that Brooklyn and his parents were not on speaking terms for some three months before his wedding to Nicola in Palm Beach, in April 2022.
Despite the family rift, the Beckhams maintained a united front for the cameras at the wedding, and posted adoring posts on social media after the event.
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Lady Victoria Beckham with her family. (Image: Victoria Beckham / Instagram)
Brooklyn’s accusations included claims that Victoria ‘hijacking’ his first dance with Nicola and danced with him ‘inappropriately’ in front of his 500 guests.
He also alleged that the fashion designer pulled out of making Nicola’s dress at the last minute.
Following these accusations, Brooklyn reportedly issued a legal notice to his parents, instructing them to only contact him through his lawyers.
An insider told The Sun that Brooklyn felt his parents ignored his wishes and continued to mention him online instead of reaching out privately.
The insider said: “Truly, people do not know the full facts of this heart-breaking tale, and think Brooklyn was just being truculent when he blocked his parents.
The reality is that he issued them with a letter at the end of last summer, asking for any correspondence to go via lawyers only, and wanted to try and make amends privately not publicly.”
Oxford News
£7 billion East West Rail Oxford to Milton Keynes row solved
Instead, Chiltern Railways has started hiring Customer Service Inspectors—roles that closely resemble the duties of traditional guards.
Oxford’s new railway line to Milton Keynes has been complete for almost two years, but passenger trains still aren’t running.
The move comes after the Government’s initial instruction to adopt driver-only operation, with unions demanding that a guard be present.
The new inspectors, to be based at the Bletchley depot—home to East West Rail services—will undertake tasks including customer care, revenue protection, making on-train announcements, and reporting or rectifying faults.
While a second staff member will typically be present, train doors will still be operated by drivers, meaning the absence of a second staff member in rare cases will not prevent a service from running—mirroring practices commonly seen south of London.
45 drivers have been recruited for the new service, but no guards.
An internal government document confirms issues at Winslow station will not obstruct operation, and the fleet of trains has been upgraded with ‘Superpower mode’ to enhance acceleration and meet a tight timetable.
The project delays have already taken a significant financial toll.
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Six two-carriage trains have accumulated £2.6m in costs due to delays in their lease.
Currently idle in a Bletchley depot, these units are costing the Department for Transport money without generating any fare income.
Previously, the rail industry attributed setbacks to complications in finalising Winslow station.
However, observers note this typically does not stop a line from launching, as seen with the Northumberland Line, which managed to start operations even with incomplete stations.
A total of 45 drivers have been recruited for the new service, but the absence of guards, also known as ‘train managers’, has proved more contentious.
The Government has been pushing for ‘Driver-Controlled’ or ‘Driver-Only Operation’—a cost-saving method introduced widely on London commuter lines in the 1980s.
However, this system’s extension to new lines has faced staunch resistance from rail unions, who have fielded several disputes over the years, the most recent of which extended more than four years with South Western Railway.
The stalemate over guards has ultimately stalled the Oxford-Milton Keynes route, but the introduction of the ‘Customer Service Inspector’ role now seems to pave the way for the resolution, hinting at imminent rides for the eagerly awaiting passengers.
The Government previously said trains from Oxford to Milton Keynes are being lined up to appear in the December rail timetable.
In a written statement, rail minister Lord Peter Hendy said: “Chiltern worked with Network Rail, the Department for Transport and other operators on the December 2026 timetable and services have been timetabled between Oxford, Winslow, Bletchley and Milton Keynes.”
Oxford News
215 homes, care home and retirement village plans approved
Cherwell District Council has backed the plans to transform the 14-hectare brownfield site at Islip Fuel Depot, a former RAF fuel depot near Islip village.
The plans include 150 homes, of which half will be affordable, up to a 70-bed care home and up to 65 retirement units, subject to 20 conditions.
These will replace the decommissioned Islip Fuel Depot off Bletchingdon Road, which was taken over by the Esso Petroleum Company in the 1960s before being shut down in 1991.
The current state of the decommissioned Islip Fuel Depot (Image: Barwood Development Securities Ltd and NCM Real Re)
Under approval conditions, the developer must contribute almost £5m to local services, councils and police, under S106 contributions.
More than £300,000 will go towards local services. This includes improvements to Household Waste Recycling, Kidlington Library and Islip Medical Practice, or an identified primary care project in the local area.
The district council requested more than £1m in contributions towards enhancing community hall facilities, outdoor and indoor sport provision, a community development worker and fund, and public art.
Oxfordshire County Council requested more than £3.6m in financial contributions, including almost £3m towards primary and secondary education.
Thames Valley Police requested more than £30,000 towards additional staff, vehicles, premises, equipment and ANPR cameras.
In the case officer’s report, Katherine Daniels noted that while the proposal would result in the development of a substantial site on the edge of the village with some landscape and visual harm, weight is given to the benefits.
One of those is the council not being currently able to demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing land.
She said: “The delivery of market housing attracts significant positive weight and the affordable housing provision attracts very substantial positive weight given the acute need for affordable homes across the District.
“National policy and guidance recognise the pressing need to provide accommodation for older persons and specialist housing to meet changing demographics. The proposal would make an important contribution towards addressing that need.”
Weight is also given to the redevelopment of the “largely redundant” brownfield site.
Illustrative views of the proposed development at the decommissioned Islip Fuel Depot (Image: Barwood Development Securities Ltd / NCM Real Re)
She said: “The proposal would secure remediation of contaminated land, environmental improvements and the beneficial reuse of previously developed land in accordance with national and local planning objectives.”
The site was first thought to be within Oxford Green Belt but officers concluded the site constitutes Grey Belt land.
She said: “The proposal would not result in unacceptable impacts in respect of highway safety, heritage assets, ecology, flooding, drainage, contamination, residential amenity or infrastructure provision.
“These matters can be appropriately addressed through planning conditions and planning obligations.”
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