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.