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Council listens to local residents over Sermon Close

Released on 24 Jul 2008

Sermon Close play area has been saved from a housing redevelopment following a decision by the Council's City Executive Board last night.

The play area stands on land that had been earmarked for potential redevelopment but the decision was made to drop these plans and refurbish the existing play area instead.

The refurbishment will take place as part of the Council's planned £2.5 million play area maintenance and refurbishment programme, announced earlier this week.

Councillor Bob Price, Leader of Oxford City Council, says: "We carried out extensive local consultation on the plans to redevelop the land at Sermon Close and the overwhelming message was that the play area should be kept open and houses should not be built.

"We regret the loss of some additional much needed housing but we take our commitment to consultation seriously and we could not ignore the very clear message from local residents in this case.

"It is vital that children should be encouraged to play outside and have good facilities for local play. The Council is committed to providing high quality play areas and equipment across the city to achieve this.

"We also remain committed to building as much affordable housing in the city as we can, but the plans for this particular project were not suitable for the location."

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