In the long-running saga of the Castle Mill flats overlooking Port Meadow there are few things which retain the capacity to surprise.

We have learned that Oxford University is offering to create a protective layer using 390 tonnes of topsoil to protect the people who live there from potential contamination.


Its report into planting trees to screen the buildings also suggests the buildings might be a bit too large and puts forward some interesting proposals — none more so than a giant trellis to effectively camouflage the blocks.

Campaigners will inevitably raise the cogent point that no matter how effectively camouflaged these buildings are, and no matter how much topsoil the contaminated land is buried under, the views of the dreaming spires remain lost.
What happened, when, where and why, will all emerge during the numerous reviews which are now taking place. These reviews, as well as the university’s and the council’s efforts at mitigating the impact of these buildings, should doubtless be welcomed.
But there are so many new report

s being commissioned and so many reviews now taking place that perhaps it would be best if both institutions were to take a pause for thought.


The current situation gives the feeling that many people are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. A better way of going about this might be waiting for the results of the reviews and then dealing with the
fall-out.