Letter regarding revised
planning application:
Jack Straw’s
Lane Association
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mr Michael Crofton-Briggs
By e-mail to
planning@oxford.go.uk
Head of City
Development
Ramsay
House
Planning Services - Oxford City
Council
10 St Ebbe’s Street
11 July
2009
Dear Mr Crofton-Briggs
Application No
09/00695/FUL Oxford Brookes
University – Headington Hill Conservation Area
Revised planning application
Having considered the revised plans, we
believe the height and bulk of the proposed new Student
Centre would still be entirely out of proportion to other buildings
in its vicinity and detrimental to the visual amenities of
this part of Headington, which lies in the Headington Hill
Conservation area.
It would not, as Oxford Brookes
suggests, enhance this section of the road as a ‘gateway to Oxford’.
We therefore remain of the opinion that
this planning application should be refused.
Yours sincerely
Dr Peter Sargent
Chairman, Jack Straw’s Lane Association,
on behalf of Jack Straw’s Lane Association
Full postal address
supplied
Copied to:
Cllr Mary Clarkson
Cllr Roy Darke
Cllr Beverley Hazell
Cllr Mohammed Altaf-Khan
Cllr David Rundle
Cllr Ruth Wilkinson
Letter
regarding original planning application:
Jack Straw’s
Lane Association
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mr Michael Crofton-Briggs
By e-mail to
planning@oxford.go.uk
Head of City Development
Ramsay House
Planning Services - Oxford City Council
10 St Ebbe’s Street
Oxford OX1 1PT
1 May 2009
Dear Mr Crofton-Briggs
Application No
09/00695/FUL Oxford Brookes
University – Headington Hill Conservation Area
Erection of new student centre
building consisting of lecture theatre, library, teaching
accommodation and social facilities, plus linked extension to the
Abercrombie building and arcaded building to new entrance piazza to
Headington Road .
We wish to register our objections to
the above application on the following grounds:
1. The
height and bulk of the proposed new Student Centre is
entirely out of proportion to other buildings in its vicinity.
Architect’s drawings produced for Headington Hill Residents’
Association give a clear indication of the inappropriate
volumetric massing of the building in question. Such a huge
building would be detrimental to the visual amenities of
this part of Headington, which lies in the Headington Hill
Conservation area. It would not, as Oxford Brookes suggests,
enhance this section of the road as a ‘gateway to Oxford’.
2. Concentration
on the Gipsy Lane campus of venues for entertainment and other
events open to the public will inevitably increase problems of
noise disturbance late at night, as well as light
pollution. We appreciate that the university’s intention in
abandoning its original plan to balance floor space between the
Gipsy Lane and Headington Hill Hall sites, and consequently in
scaling down plans for the latter, was to preserve and where
possible enhance the parkland setting of Headington Hill Hall.
However, the effects on the lives of local residents brought
about by increasing evening events that continue until the early
morning on the Gipsy Lane campus should not be underestimated.
In an article that appeared in The Independent on
Thursday, 15 January 2009, ‘Oxford Brookes gets a new look for
the 21st Century’ (available at
http://tinyurl.com/8693ak),
Vice Chancellor Professor Janet Beer is quoted as saying: "We're
shifting the focus, as the National Union of Students nationally
is suggesting, towards student representation rather than
running nightclubs and bars". Whatever form the new Student
Centre takes, the planning consent should have conditions
attached that restrict the size, nature and frequency of public
events in order to protect the living environment of local
residents.
Events open to the public inevitably attract additional
traffic to the area, including private cars, for which there
will be little in the way of parking provision. This is a
further reason for limiting the extent of the university’s
involvement in the provision of entertainment and hosting of
public events.
3. We
share the concerns raised by New Marston (South) Residents’
Association in their letter to you dated 30 April 2009 regarding
the possibility of additional sewage from Headington Hill
exacerbating existing problems with sewerage in New Marston.
We understand that Thames Water’s sewerage modelling report
(SWG-172, 30 Jan 2009) made no reference to a connection between
Headington Hill sewerage pipes and sewerage pipes in Ferry
Road, whereas the map that accompanied this report did indicate
such a connection. Any conclusions derived from the modelling
should obviously be based on correct data. We are concerned
that all the input to the sewerage system may not have
been considered. There also seems to be some doubt as to
whether the capacity of the holding tank in Croft Road is
adequate, particularly in view of the likely increase in
frequency of heavy rainfall events due to climate change.
In summary, we believe the size of the
proposed new building to be excessive, the current evidence
regarding potential effects on sewerage problems to be incomplete
and that any planning consent for a new Student Centre should place
restrictions on late-night events.
Yours sincerely
Marilyn Cox
Secretary, Jack Straw’s Lane Association, on behalf of Jack Straw’s
Lane Association
Full postal address supplied
Copied to:
Cllr Mary Clarkson
Cllr Roy Darke
Cllr Beverley Hazell
Cllr Mohammed Altaf-Khan
Cllr David Rundle
Cllr Ruth Wilkinson