5:09pm Friday 17th July 2009
By Chris Koenig
WORK on the controversial Northern Gateway development in Oxford could start in as little as two years, according to the lead developer.
Richard Cutler, director of strategy and planning at property developer Goodman, believes the business park scheme on college-owned land between the Wolvercote and Pear Tree roundabouts will provide a major boost for the city’s economy.
But his plans could be hit by opposition from campaigners, since the proposals include two pockets of Green Belt land.
Mr Cutler said: “It is a fantastic site and the only one available on that scale in the city boundaries.
“Oxford is probably the best market outside central London because of the universities and its global brand.
“It is special, but it has not done as well as it should because growth has been dispersed to the county towns. This will enable Oxford to catch up with Cambridge. We have been working with the city council for three years on the proposed development and it is very exciting.”
Mr Cutler believes the development could create up to 5,000 jobs over the next five years.
Goodman wants to develop the land owned by Worcester, St John’s and Merton Colleges and Mr Cutler is confident concerns over the green belt can be overcome.
But Mr Cutler is set to face major opposition.
Hugh Jaeger, chairman of the Oxford branch of Bus Users UK, said: “The Northern Gateway would attract jobs that Oxford does not need and workers Oxford cannot house.
“The resulting congestion would be no gateway but a ‘Northern Roadblock’.”
The Campaign to Protect Rural England is opposed to the scheme, saying the use of the area for commercial development, housing, and retail would “suburbanise this rural approach to Oxford”.
CPRE spokesman Christopher Gowers said: “The area may have to accommodate major road improvements at the convergence of three trunk routes, but this should be against a background of protecting the Oxford Green Belt and green lungs around and within the city. Development of this site, on the city boundary, would have a negative impact on the narrow gap between Oxford and the surrounding villages of Yarnton, Begbroke and Kidlington, all of which lie within the Oxford Green Belt.”
Debbie Dance, director of the Oxford Preservation Trust, said: “The suggestion they should take Green Belt land does not have any credibility at all.
“We recognise the arrangement whereby there is safeguarded land for development — there is nothing we can do about that. But there is no precedent for developing the Green Belt.”
Oxford’s chief planner Michael Crofton-Briggs said: “It’s true we have been in discussions for about three years, but I think the notion of the scheme starting in two years is a little optimistic.
“At the moment we are in a recession, but large developers like Goodman have to plan over a five to 10-year time horizon and look to the next upturn and beyond.”
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