Statement of Community Involvement

Statement of Community Involvement

Statement of Community Involvement Communications Management April 2021 STATEMENT OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT FOR CLIVE BOOTH STUDENT VILLAGE, OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY April 2021 1: PURPOSE This document represents a formal ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ (SCI) that provides evidence of how Oxford Brookes University has proactively and extensively engaged with the local community to encourage and to respond to their views, comments and ideas in relation to the latest proposals for the University’s Clive Booth Student Village (CBSV), at John Garne Way, in the Headington Hill and Northway ward of Oxford. This document supports a full planning application submitted to Oxford City Council for the following: Demolition of twelve buildings (including main accommodation Blocks C, F, G, H, J, K, L and M) and erection of twelve buildings to provide student accommodation, with ancillary communal and social facilities and associated administrative building (Class C2). Erection of children’s nursery (Class E). Alterations to car parking, installation of cycle parking structures and associated landscaping works, including reorganisation of existing footpaths and cycle ways, drainage features and ancillary development. Installation of a waste compactor unit and alterations to an existing road to enable access. 2: HISTORY It should be noted that Oxford Brookes University was previously unsuccessful in its submission to Oxford City Council for planning permission for a quite different set of proposals to redevelop the CBSV, which were considered by the East Area Planning Committee on Wednesday 5 June 2019. During our more recent community engagement programme (to support the newly evolved and much- changed application) we specifically held in mind the reasons for the Committee’s rejection in 2019 - including: the impact on the Headington Hill Conservation Area and on the neighbouring allotments, the loss of trees, and the perception that the case for public benefit had not been sufficiently proven at that time. 3: THE SITE CBSV is located on Oxford Brookes University owned land (of approximately 4.8 hectares) located within the Headington area of Oxford and just north of Headington Hill Hall and the Headington Road / London Road. CBSV is close to the Headington campus of Oxford Brookes University and is within 1 easy access of the Headington Hill Hall area of teaching and learning space. The CBSV site is (immediately) surrounded by John Garne Way, Marston Road, Headington Hill Park, Cuckoo Lane and Pullens Lane. 4: THE PROJECT PURPOSE The purpose of the proposed scheme is to redevelop a large part of the CBSV (excluding the Postgraduate Centre) in order to provide more modern accommodation for undergraduate students, to create more shared communal space for students, provide more sustainable and efficient buildings, and to accommodate more students at CBSV in line with the objectives of the Oxford City Council Local Plan (to make more efficient use of the land and to limit our student numbers in private rented homes in Oxford thereby opening up access to these homes for citizens and contributing to longer term homelessness). A statement of the public benefits of this project are presented separately in Section 8 of the Planning Statement that accompanies the application. 5: COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT - OXFORD CITY COUNCIL’s POLICY GUIDANCE In preparing for our own programme of community engagement about the future of the CBSV, we have taken account of Oxford City Council’s professional standards and guidance provided in its own Statement of Community Involvement in Planning (as produced in July 2015, and as updated in the Statement of Community Involvement Addendum of June 2020 to conform with social distancing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic). We note the underlying drivers in this guidance as working towards greater inclusivity, openness, two-way communications, sustained engagement and ensuring that there is formally recorded capture of the community response. 6: COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT - OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY’s STRATEGY Oxford Brookes University is an embedded member of the Oxford community and regards itself as a highly active partner, especially in the Headington community. In its latest University strategy, Oxford Brookes makes significant provision for ‘Partnerships and Place’ and has set the objective that “we will contribute to the economic prosperity, health and wellbeing, and the social and cultural vitality of our local communities to support recovery from COVID-19 and in the times beyond”. The University has donated to, and works very closely with, Oxford Hub as a local charity offering practical volunteering, skills placements, projects, and events to help shape a better world and community in Oxford. The University fully understands that it may not always be able to meet the specific needs and concerns of its neighbours, and of local citizens, but it is committed to understanding their issues and to working hard together to address these wherever possible and practicable. 2 For the CBSV project, the University created (from the start) a comprehensive community engagement programme. This was designed as an integral part of the application process and with a timetable that would enable members of the local community to comment at the earliest possible stages and throughout the design process. This ensures that their views could be captured, understood and responded to, and that community members have influenced the design and content of the final application. 7: IDENTIFYING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY FOR THE CLIVE BOOTH STUDENT VILLAGE In preparing for a comprehensive programme of community engagement (in relation to plans for the CBSV) Oxford Brookes University has undertaken detailed analysis of the local community constituents. This ‘community mapping exercise’ is based on Oxford Brookes University’s own community liaison experience and ongoing relationship management, the input of locally-based planning advisers, and specific tailored stakeholder research undertaken by a community engagement specialist agency. Through this process we have identified the local community (with relevance to the planning submission) as being made up of the following:- Immediate local residents - all those in residential accommodation in the boundary neighbourhood that covers: John Garne Way; Pullens Lane; Pullens Field; Marston Road. Extended area local residents - all those in residential accommodation in the extended neighbourhood that covers: William Street; Harberton Mead; Feilden Grove: Moody Road; Peacock Road; Pritchard Road; Holmes Park; Mary Price Close; McCabe Place; Rolfe Place; Jack Straws Lane; Doris Field Close; and Staunton Road (between Jack Straws Lane and Headley Way). 3 We also contacted several local estate agents (including Chancellors, Penny and Sinclair, and Scott Fraser) who operate in the above area so that we could work with them in engaging with prospective home-buyers in this specific neighbourhood. Organisations with properties and premises in this area (20): St Michael’s Church of England Primary School; EF Academy; EF International School of English; Rye St Antony Independent School; Jack Straws Lane Day Nursery (Bright Horizons for the University of Oxford); Headington School; Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies; Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan universal brotherhood mission; Londis store (at the junction of William Street and Marston Road); Marston Court care home (Order of St John Care Trust); Crossroads Centre care centre (Cross Roads Care); St Michael and All Angels Church of England Church; St Clements Church; The Vines - SCIO (Scholarship in Christianity); New Marston Scout Hall; 150 Squadron of the Air Cadets, Marston Road; Magdalen College (with regard to its cricket ground off Marston Road); Trinity College (with regard to its sport ground off Marston Road); and the Up in Arms public house. Local residents’ associations (8): Pullens Lane Residents’ Association; Feilden Grove Residents’ Association; Jack Straws Lane Residents’ Association; New Marston (South) Residents’ Association; New Marston Association; Harberton Heights Residents’ Association; Headington Hill Residents’ Association; Granville Court Residents’ Association. Allotment holder associations (2): John Garne Way Allotments; St Clements Pullens Lane Allotments - and the Morrell Trust (owners of the Pullens Lane allotments). Local interest groups (10): Oxford Preservation Trust; Oxford Civic Society; Headington Action; Headington and Marston Community Forum; Friends of Headington Hill Park; Cyclox (Oxford’s cycling interest group); Greening Lamborn Trust; Oxfordshire Futures; Oxford Safer Communities Partnership; Oxfordshire Community Land Trust. Natural environment and wildlife organisations (8): Campaign for the Protection of Rural England - Oxfordshire; Wild Oxfordshire; Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust; Oxford Conservation Volunteers; Oxfordshire Mammal Group; Oxfordshire Woodland Group; Oxfordshire Trees for the Future; Trust for Oxfordshire Environment. Statutory and formal bodies (5): Oxfordshire County Council; Thames Water; Environment Agency; Natural England; Historic England; Thames Valley Police. Policy-makers and officers (43): Two local MPs (the Member for Oxford East and the Member for Oxford West); Local ward councillors for the Headington Hill and Northway ward of Oxford City Council; OxLEP (the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership); various executives, officers and 4 members with relevant policy and local interests

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