Ruskin College granted permission

From the archive, first published Friday 6th Sep 2002.

Ruskin College's controversial multi-million pound move to a Berkeley Homes site in north Oxford has been given the go-ahead by city planners.

Oxford City Council's north area committee approved the college's outline proposal to move to a purpose-built, three-storey building on the old Unipart factory site, in Woodstock Road, last night.

The application had been made despite fierce objections from the college's teaching staff, and warnings from a former principal that the planned sell-off of its historic sites in Walton Street and Old Headington would be "a death blow" to the college.

At a meeting in Summertown church hall, attended by about 60 members of the public, councillors also approved in principle a detailed proposal for Phase 3 of Berkeley Homes' development of 71 houses and 102 flats on the 10-acre site between the Oxford Canal and Woodstock Road.

But they deferred the application for a legal agreement to be drawn up to secure a long list of almost 30 conditions attached to the proposal, including protection of existing trees, landscaping and provision of a wildlife corridor, details of a play area, and vehicle access to the site from Woodstock Road only. There had been concern about the expected volume of traffic leaving and entering the college's new site, but Ruskin said it did not allow students to own private cars and promised to encourage the use of bicycles and public transport. Another significant issue in swaying the committee was Berkeley Homes' commitment to providing 40 per cent of the homes as affordable housing.

The planners' acceptance in principle of both proposals is bound to anger Ruskin lecturers, who recently condemned the move as a betrayal of the college's inheritance, and expressed grave concerns about siting the college in the middle of a housing development.

Murray Hancock, the city's planning control manager, told the area committee that in his view, Ruskin seemed "keen to open their doors" to the community.

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