New homes approved on recreation ground

The new homes made up of houses and flats will be built on a recreation ground known locally as Bertie Park

Councillors have voted unanimously in favour of proposals to build 31 new homes on a recreation ground in Oxford.

Oxford City Council's cabinet approved the proposal for OX Place to build the affordable homes on Bertie Place off Abingdon Road at a meeting on Wednesday.

Campaign group Save Bertie Park had been fighting to save the recreation ground saying building new homes would "increase the need for the amenity they are destroying".

But council leader Susan Brown said: "I know it is not what you wanted to hear but it is the decision of this cabinet."

The plans are for nine, two-bedroom homes sold for shared ownership, the remaining 22 will be council homes - 10 houses and 12 flats.

Ms Brown said the cabinet had "to keep in mind that we have a severe housing shortage in our city".

She said 3,500 applicants are on the council housing waiting list and the proposed new homes would "tackle inequality in the city".

"I think this is a balanced decision," she concluded.

Councillor Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing and communities, said she thought the plans did get the balance right "between addressing Oxford's really acute housing need" and preserving "access to facilities for local people".

Members of Save Bertie Park had been campaigning against the site being developed for more than five years.

The campaign group made a speech at the meeting questioning whether the council had met the requirements of the 1972 Local Government Act.

It said conditions of the act required the council to show the recreation ground was "no longer needed" and that it "properly and conscientiously" considered the community's response to the consultation.

A spokesperson for the group said: "The council didn't discuss or consider this, but argued that the need for social housing outweighed all other considerations - we are now looking into a judicial review."