Councillor Railton and Taylor sent apologies.

Substitutions are shown above.

General

For 23/00988/FUL, Councillor Henwood declared that his group made a representation  to the Oxford Local Plan concerning the application, however he had approached the meeting with an open mind.

For 26/00266/FUL, Councillor Corais declared that he was the Ward Councillor for Littlemore but had not discussed the application and had attended the meeting with an open mind.

For 26/00266/FUL, Councillor Elphinstone declared that she had been advised that she had made comments about the proposals and therefore had a pre-determined position. She would withdraw from the consideration of the item and leave the meeting.

For 26/00266/FUL, Councillor Davis declared that he had made comments on the Ellison Institute of Technology but not on the application and had attended the meeting with an open mind

Recommendation: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2026 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2026 as a true and accurate record.

Site address: Bertie Place Recreation Ground And Land South West of Wytham Street, Oxford 

Proposal:Erection of 31 affordable residential dwellings, with associated public open space, multi-use games area, childrens play area, access and landscaping (Amended Plans) 

Reason at Committee: Major Development

RECOMMENDATION

Oxford City Planning Committee?is recommended to:?

1.    Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of this report and grant planning permission subject to: 

·       the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section.106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in this report; and  

2.    Agree to delegate authority to the Director of Planning and Regulation to: 

·       Finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary and 

·       Finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers as set out in this report, including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in this report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and  

·       complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission. 

Site address: Bertie Place Recreation Ground And Land South West of Wytham Street, Oxford

Proposal: Erection of 31 affordable residential dwellings, with associated public open space, multi-use games area, childrens play area, access and landscaping (Amended Plans)

The Oxford City Planning Committee resolved to:

1.    Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of this report and grant planning permission subject to:

·       the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section.106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in this report; and

2.    Agree to delegate authority to the Director of Planning and Regulation to:

·       Finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary and

·       Finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers as set out in this report, including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in this report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

·       complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission.

The Committee considered an application for the erection of 31 affordable residential dwellings, with associated public open space, multi-use games area, childrens play area, access and landscaping (Amended Plans) 

The Planning Officer gave a presentation outlining the details of the location and the proposal. This included existing and proposed elevations and plans: 

• Since the publication of the report, written submissions in the form of posters and a survey were published online, circulated to Planning Committee Members and displayed in the Town Hall this evening. 
• The Planning Officer noted that Condition 17 had been amended to remove the reference to statutory Biodiversity Net Gain, as the application had been submitted before the regulations came into place. Additionally, paragraph 3.2 of the report referred to the legal agreement on the provision of affordable housing. The applicant had requested a staircasing arrangement allowing a minimum initial share of 10%, increasing to a maximum of 100% ownership.
• The proposal was a full planning application for the erection of 31 affordable residential dwellings with public open space, a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), children’s play area, access and landscaping. The proposed use of the existing recreation ground had attracted significant local objections around loss, re-provision, or enhancement of open space and play facilities. Comments from Environment Agency, Oxfordshire County Council, Sport England, Thames Valley Police, Thames Water and others contributed to assessments against local and national planning policy. However, the recommendation was that the scheme be approved after balancing all the relevant material planning considerations, particularly the adopted Local Plan site allocation for housing, provision of affordable housing and the city’s need for new homes.
• Officers concluded that the lack of a 5-year housing land supply, site allocation, the benefits of delivering the allocated housing site and affordable homes outweighed the identified harms. The scheme was in broad compliance with the adopted Local Plan and National Planning Policy Guidance.
• It was therefore recommended that the Committee resolve to grant planning permission for the development proposed subject to the completion of a legal agreement to secure the affordable housing and the conditions listed in the report.

Councillor Muddiman and Kaddy Beck spoke against the application.

Stuart Moran spoke in favour of the application.

The Committee asked questions about the details of the application which were responded to by officers, applicant and the objector. The Committee’s discussions included, but were not limited to:

• Concerns were raised regarding whether the Thames Valley Police (TVP) objections had been fully addressed. The Planning Officer noted that, while not all the objections had been addressed, the applicant had gone a long way towards addressing concerns. However, concerns remained regarding the location of the MUGA, which would be closer to existing and proposed homes, potentially leading to disturbances and antisocial behaviour. The Planning Officer acknowledged that these impacts had been carefully considered in the report but could not be fully mitigated. She noted that this formed part of the overall planning balance between harms and benefits. The Development Management Service Manager added that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Site Address: Plots 23-26, Oxford Science Park, Grenoble Road, Oxford

Proposal: Partial demolition, alterations and upward extension to existing buildings and erection of 2no. link atriums to provide 1no. building for research and development (Use Class E). Provision of access, parking and landscaping works.

Reason at Committee: Major development

RECOMMENDATION

Oxford City Planning Committee?is recommended to:?

1.    Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of this report and grant planning permission; and subject to:

·       the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section.106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in this report; and

2.    Delegate authority to the Director of Planning and Regulation to:

·       finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

·       finalise the mechanism to secure Biodiversity Net Gain; and

·       finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in this report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

·       complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission.

Site Address: Plots 23-26, Oxford Science Park, Grenoble Road, Oxford

Proposal: Partial demolition, alterations and upward extension to existing buildings and erection of 2no. link atriums to provide 1no. building for research and development (Use Class E). Provision of access, parking and landscaping works.

The Oxford City Planning Committee resolved to:

1.    Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of this report and grant planning permission; and subject to:

·       the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section.106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in this report; and

2.    Delegate authority to the Director of Planning and Regulation to:

·       finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

·       finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in this report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

·       complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission.

Councillor Elphinstone left the meeting.

The Committee considered an application for the partial demolition, alterations and upward extension to existing buildings and erection of 2no. link atriums to provide 1no. building for research and development (Use Class E). Provision of access, parking and landscaping works.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation outlining the details of the location and the proposal. This included site photos and existing and proposed elevations and plans: 

• The Planning Officer provided a verbal update. With regards to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), taking account of the scale of development already delivered on the site and captured through CIL, the remaining CIL contribution for the scheme was recalculated at £315,515.42p, representing a significant reduction from the figure set out in the report. This is due to CIL already being paid by the previous applicants on the building structures that would remain on site and the CIL calculation for this application being based on additional floorspace only. 
• In respect of ecology, the original recommendation sought delegated authority for the Director of Planning and Regulation to negotiate and finalise the mechanism for securing Biodiversity Net Gain. Since publication of the report, officers had received an amended BNG metric and assessment which confirmed that 10% BNG would be achieved through a combination of on and off-site enhancements. The off-site units would be purchased from The Trust of Oxfordshire’s Environment and used on a site near Thame. The applicant had provided sufficient information to give officers confidence that the BNG condition under schedule 7a of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 would be discharged through a biodiversity gain plan agreed with the local Planning Authority, following the approval of planning permission.
• Concerns had been raised during the pre-application process regarding embodied carbon, particularly given the partial demolition of recently constructed buildings and the direction of emerging policies. However, the applicant demonstrated a strong commitment to circular economy principles through the retention of the existing structural frame, the re-use of building elements on and off-site, the minimisation of construction waste and the specification of recycled and responsibly resourced materials.
• The proposal included provision of 332 car parking spaces, a substantial reduction from the 861 previously approved, equating to a mode share of 34%. Adequate cycle parking would be provided across the site, with further details secured by condition. Officers were satisfied that the development would not give rise to adverse impacts in relation to flood risk, drainage, land contamination, noise pollution or air quality impact.
• It was recommended that the Committee resolve to grant planning permission for the development proposed subject to the conditions in section 12 and to the satisfactory completion of the legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers.

Guy Wakefield and Matt Abney spoke in favour of the application.

The Committee asked questions about the details of the application which were responded to by officers and the applicant. The Committee’s discussions included, but were not limited to:

• Questions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Items currently expected to be considered by the committee at future meetings are listed for information. This is not a definitive list and applications may be added or removed at any point. These are not for discussion at this meeting.

The Committee noted the list of forthcoming applications.

Future meetings of the Committee are scheduled at 6.00pm on:

14 July 2026

25 August 2026

15 September 2026

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings.