A JERICHO councillor has warned developers that a £20m scheme will not go ahead until its community benefits have been guaranteed.

On Tuesday night Oxford City Council granted planning permission for the redevelopment of the Castle Mill boatyard.

It will create a square between St Barnabas Church and the Oxford Canal, bordered by a community centre, boatyard, nursery, restaurant and 22 homes. But concerns were raised by councillors that it did not meet city council housing policy, which required 50 per cent of new homes to be affordable.

The approved development has 39 per cent affordable homes, or nine social rent flats.

Councillors decided the developer’s pledge to build the boatyard, square and part of the community centre outweighed concerns.

Developer Johnny Sandelson, chief executive of Strategic Iconic Assets Heritage Acquisition Fund, said he would also provide £150,000 to residents to help raise money for the rest of the community centre.

Councillors agreed a separate meeting would be held in the near future to make a legally binding agreement for the commitments.

Yesterday Jericho city councillor Susanna Pressel warned that the final contributions agreed would be carefully scrutinised.

She said: “I was terribly disappointed we did not get 50 per cent affordable housing, but if we can get all the other things that would go some way towards making up for it.

“We want to get on with the process and have this next meeting as soon as possible. But the developer should absolutely not rest easy until we have that final agreement.”

Our top stories

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.