City college loses appeal over public car park use

Activate Learning said public use of the car park generated revenue for City of Oxford College

A city college has lost an appeal to the government for its car park to be used part-time by the public.

City of Oxford College, on Oxpens Road, wanted to certify that its car park could be used by the public at the weekends and outside of term-time to generate additional revenue.

But the Planning Inspectorate upheld an initial refusal by Oxford City Council, calling the council's reasons for doing so "well-founded".

Activate Learning, which runs City of Oxford College, has been approached for comment.

Activate Learning had initially applied for the part-time paid-for public car park off Oxpens Road to be a lawful development.

However, this was refused by the council in March 2024, which said that this would contravene a previous planning application from 2019 that allowed only staff and students to use the car park.

In its appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, Activate Learning argued the car park had been used by the public at weekends for more than 10 years.

It added that the 2019 application's parking rules did not apply to its whole campus.

But a government inspector ruled Activate Learning had not proved that the car park had been continuously used by the public throughout a 10-year period.

He added that the council's initial refusal was "well-founded".

Oxford City Council said it was "pleased" the Planning Inspectorate upheld its decision.