THE rich and familiar voice of actor Simon Callow has joined the chorus of protests about Oxford Brookes University’s plans for a new £150m campus.

The Four Weddings and a Funeral star said he had been shocked by the Brookes scheme to redevelop its Gipsy Lane site. And the actor said he had decided to speak out in the hope that the large-scale scheme could be stopped before it “traumatised the local landscape”.

Mr Callow’s dramatic intervention came after The Oxford Times reported last week that people living near the university’s Headington campus were unhappy about the size of the scheme.

He said that while he lives in London, his television and stage work meant he regularly visited Oxford. And on learning about the Brookes scheme he decided to write to The Oxford Times to set out his concerns for a city that has always inspired him.

Mr Callow told us: “Like most people who have seen the plans, I am aghast.

“For several decades, I have been a regular visitor to Oxford, often working at The Playhouse, as director and actor, and appearing in films and television. I have been involved in teaching at summer schools at Balliol and Magdalen.

“Equally importantly for me, whenever I have a book to write, I come to Oxford because of its harmoniousness — the ideal balance between buildings, ancient and modern, and the landscape. The plans for Brookes are a shocking transgression of this balance.

“Both in scale and character they traumatise the landscape. It is shocking that such unimaginative, formulaic and unyielding architecture should be proposed by a university. Its unrelenting rectangles will brutally transform an area noted for its gracefulness and its human scale.”

Mr Callow, who has appeared in episodes of Inspector Morse and Lewis, said that he found it particularly depressing that this scheme was proposed at a gateway to a city viewed as “one of the great glories of Western urban architecture”.

He added: “It seems there have been so many crimes committed in the name of modern architecture in my lifetime. It would be utterly tragic to see it happen in such an important part of Oxford.”

Oxford Brookes deputy vice-chancellor, Rex Knight, said: “The comments made by Simon Callow are clearly not based on a proper understanding of our proposals.

“The new student centre building has been three years in the planning and has already involved considerable consultation — overall the feedback has been very positive.

Last week, Headington Hill Residents’ Association warned that the central building would be an ugly addition to the Oxford skyline, adding to light and noise pollution.

This week, Susan Lake, chairman of the Headington Hill Residents’ Association, said: “There is growing anger about Brookes threatening to swallow up the area with this latest planning application.

“Like Simon Callow, we feel Oxford’s traditional setting of harmonious balance between its buildings and its characteristic leafy landscape is betrayed by Brookes plans dressed up as ‘serving the communitys.”

Brookes submitted a planning application earlier this month, with public consultation on the scheme ending tomorrow.

University deputy vice-chancellor Mr Knight said the South East Regional Design Panel, which was commissioned to provide an independent view, had found the proposed buildings to be of high quality, with their scale judged to be appropriate.