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THE LEADER of Oxford City Council has hit out at developers behind the £50 million Oxford North project, claiming that a formal planning application includes zero affordable homes.

A ‘disappointed’ Susan Brown also warned that £16 million worth of public money earmarked for the scheme was ‘not guaranteed’.

However, the developer says the project will feature affordable homes.

Ms Brown said: “I am disappointed that the application currently includes zero per cent affordable housing. That is something I would like to see change.

“They [the developers] have described 25 per cent of affordable housing as ‘aspirational’ but there is no commitment to affordable housing whatsoever. Aspiration is not a commitment.”

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Plans for the new urban district, previously known as the Northern Gateway, could create 4,500 new jobs as well as 480 homes on land between the Wolvercote roundabout, the A34 and the Peartree roundabout.

The government define 'affordable housing' - for both rental and buying - as being no more than 80 per cent of market level. The county council say that for each 100 units of new housing, they aim for 40 units of social rented/council housing and 10 units of affordable housing.

Thomas White Oxford, the company working on behalf of St John's College, which owns much of land, dispute the suggestion that there is no commitment to affordable homes.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: “It has never been correct that the proposal for this site will not include any affordable housing. We recognise the need for affordable housing in Oxford and have been in discussion with the City Council over the last 18 months to see how this can best be achieved.

"It is our stated intention to provide a level of affordable housing of at least 25 per cent, the barrier to providing more is simply the cost of new road and other infrastructure that the project also has to fund. Zero per cent affordable housing will not be acceptable to the City Council nor to Thomas White Oxford.

"The City Council are aware our position through the long series of preliminary discussion that have taken place. We have worked with the City Council to secure Government grants to support some of the infrastructure costs and with this then the 25 per cent minimum is achievable and we hope we can go further.

"We will continue to work with the City Council to ensure the provision of affordable housing on the site is optimised. We hope that matters can be resolved as quickly as possible now that the planning application has been validated.”

Commenting on a part of the application stating the zero per cent figure, the spokesperson added: “As we are still in discussions with the City Council about the level of affordability, the form demands that, at this stage, technically the figure is zero per cent but this does not reflect the full narrative which is in the planning statement.”

Speaking in her capacity as leader, rather than on behalf of the council, Ms Brown continued: “St John’s College is the richest college – I think they can do better than that.

“It’s not unreasonable, given that £16 million of public money are being made available, to expect a significant amount of affordable housing.

“There has been quite a lot of discussion about this site over many years. It’s a strategic site in the local plan and that specifically includes affordable housing.

“There is still time and room for further discussions that could deliver real change to the plans.

“What happens next in terms of that public money, there is a process that those bodies go through to decide.”

More to follow.