Barton Area Action Plan

The City Council wants to provide more housing in Oxford so it has produced a Core Strategy to help determine where and when this can be built. A key site for new housing is located in the north east of the city between Barton and Northway.

As well as helping to address the city's housing needs by providing around 1,000 new homes, the development provides an opportunity to bring benefits to neighbouring communities. New transport links will better integrate housing on the northern side of the A40 with the rest of the city and new community facilities will benefit new and existing residents. With more people living in the area there are improved prospects for more viable services and businesses. There are also opportunities to deliver regeneration benefits to existing neighbouring communities.

The City Council is producing an Area Action Plan (AAP) to set the planning policy framework for the site and the surrounding area. The AAP will form part of the Local Development Framework.

Barton AAP Proposed Submission

We are now at the third formal stage in producing the Area Action Plan. This is known as the Proposed Submission. The Proposed Submission AAP is the City Council's final draft of the document. It sets out the planning policies that the City Council would like to adopt as part of the Local Development Framework. From the point when it is approved by the Council, the Proposed Submission Barton AAP is a material consideration in determining planning applications.

The Council considered the draft Barton AAP Proposed Submission document on 19 December 2011.

Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission as considered by Council on 19 Dec 2011 (351kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission wording changes agreed by Council on 19 Dec 2011 (32kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Illustrations (524kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 1 (286kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 2 (637kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 3 (624kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 4 (317kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 5 (260kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 6 (382kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 7 (303kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 8 (431kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 9 (187kB PDF)
Barton AAP Draft Proposed Submission Map 10 (411kB PDF)
DRAFT Barton AAP Sustainability Appraisal (Updated 2011 draft) (1.6MB PDF)
DRAFT Habitats Regulation Assessment (December 2011 draft) (172kB PDF)
Equalities Impact Assessment (December 2011) (160kB PDF)

The document and accompanying Sustainability Appraisal will be published for a six week period of consultation early in 2012.

Following this, the Council will make any changes to the document it feels necessary having taken account of written representations made during the consultation period. We expect to submit the AAP to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in Spring 2012. A public examination will then take place, led by a planning inspector, later in 2012.

Barton AAP Preferred Options

The earlier Preferred Options document was published for consultation in May 2011.

AAP Preferred Options Document (14.3 MB PDF)
Barton Sustainability Appraisal Preferred Options (895 KB PDF)

Please note that the consultation on these documents has now closed.

We received the following responses to the Preferred Options consultation:

• 400 completed questionnaires
• over 50 letters and other written submissions, some from stakeholders but also from local residents and residents' groups
• a petition with 400 plus signatures from the Ruskin Fields Group
• a petition with 300 plus signatures requesting that the Barton Nature Park be saved (outside of the consultation period)
• a petition with 14 signatures in favour of housing on Ruskin Fields (outside of the consultation period)
• a petition with 293 signatures against the 'linking' of the Northway and Barton housing estates (outside of the consultation period)
• around 250 people at four drop-in sessions held in Old Marston, Northway, Barton and Old Headington
• a stakeholder briefing attended by 27 participants
• 780 followers on Facebook and 222 on Twitter.

Of those responding to the questionnaire, the highest percentage of respondents (24%) came from Barton. Together with Old Headington (23%), these two areas accounted for nearly half of all the questionnaire responses we received. 13% of the questionnaire responses came from addresses in Northway.

The results of the Preferred Options consultation are set out in the following report:

Preferred Options – Public Consultation report (2.9MB PDF)

Issues Consultation

Our first consultation exercise was carried out during June and July 2010. The views expressed in response to the Issues document are set out in this report:

Issues Document - Public Consultation Report (2.7MB PDF)
Issues Document (6.93MB PDF) (please note that this consultation has now closed)

A summary of the comments received on the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping report is also available:

Responses to Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (55kB PDF)

Consultation

If you would like to be kept informed of progress on the AAP you can register for updates by joining our consultation database: just tick that you are interested in 'Planning & Regeneration'. This will also enable you to complete consultation questionnaires online.

As well as updates on this web site you will also find news and information in the City Council's Your Oxford magazine and the local press, in the Barton community newsletter, and on notice boards located at Barton and Northway Community Centres. The italicised stages are provisional; as such they are subject to change.

Timetable

Supporting Documents

To inform the work on the Area Action Plan we have started to compile an evidence base. The following technical studies are currently available to download:

Published May 2011

Barton Fields Further Biodiversity Surveys Oct 2010 (0.97 MB PDF)
Barton Pavilion Bat inspection Dec 2010 (280 KB PDF)
Land at Barton Viability Study (1.12 MB PDF)
Preliminary Transport Technical Appraisal Report and Figures (5.54 MB PDF)
Preliminary Transport Technical Appraisal Report - Appendices (5.44 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 1 (2.90 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 1 - Figure 1 (1.17 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 1 - Figure 2 (944 KB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 1 - Figure 3 (0.99 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 2 (1.98 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 3 (800 KB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 4 (44.9 KB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 5 (2.70 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 6 (208 KB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 6 - Appendices 1 - 4 (3.63 MB PDF)
Transport Technical Note 6 - Appendix 5 (6.42 MB PDF)
West Waddy ADP Ruskin Fields Development Promotion (6.10 MB PDF)

Earlier Documents

Biodiversity Assessment (5.45MB PDF)
Badger Survey (7.8MB PDF)
Bat Survey (1.0MB PDF)
Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (5.7MB PDF)*
Archaeology Assessment (6.33MB PDF)

* Please note that the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment was re-issued in November 2010 to correct an error in the original document. The area of Flood Zone 3A and Flood Zone 2 within the site have been corrected, along with the percentages of the site that these make up. These changes affect the text in Section 3.3 on Page 16, and Section 6.1 on Page 22. This has no effect on the rest of the document as the correct figures were used for the original flood-risk modelling.

This evidence base will be expanded, updated and added to as the process continues.

Page last reviewed 9 January 2012