Banbury Road, Oxford
Fixcove Ltd

Reworking of Oxford office scheme secures permission with generous on-site parking despite range of policy constraints.

A scheme for three floors of office accommodation above shops in a district centre in Oxford had been submitted by the client and refused. We were instructed to recover the situation.

Restrictive planning policies and members’ aspirations to squeeze as much planning gain as possible from new developments complicated a resolution. There was also a well organised local residents group and an enthusiastic local ward Councillor to manage.

We submitted a planning appeal but in the meantime continued to negotiate with the Council over the reasons for refusal. At the same time objections were made to the emerging Local Plan in order to limit the weight to be given to the restrictive policies. It also protected our client’s position should future market conditions require the scheme to be modified. The site was also subject to an over-ambitious, Council written, Design Brief. This had been produced without a policy basis in the adopted Local Plan. This allowed us to argue that its influence should be limited.

Through working up our position for the inquiry, we secured the withdrawal of some of the reasons for refusal.

The Council’s very lenient car parking standards but tight restrictions on on-site car parking were in fact a device to secure funding for park and ride schemes. Despite this we managed to secure 50 on-site basement spaces whilst limiting the financial contribution to park and ride.

The Council were very insistent on a mix of uses in the development in order to gain some affordable housing. Accommodating residential on site would have destroyed development viability. We persuaded members to accept an off site contribution towards affordable housing whilst providing no residential accommodation in the development.

With all these matters resolved it was decided to submit a revised scheme with design enhancements. These also addressed concerns relating to residential amenity and the scale of the proposal. Relevant local objectors were also briefed individually and at a public meeting. The revised application was approved and the appeal withdrawn.