Plans to build more than 230 affordable new homes at Redbridge Paddock are set to be approved by Cabinet next week (Wednesday 18 March).
The proposed development would deliver 237 homes on the council-owned former landfill brownfield site located opposite the Redbridge Park and Ride. Half of the homes (118 homes) would be affordable, with 93 being offered at Social Rent, the other 25 as shared ownership.
The development would be brought forward by OX Place, the council’s wholly owned housing company, with the council purchasing the affordable homes once construction is complete. The site is allocated for housing in both the current Local Plan 2036 and the emerging Local Plan 2045.
What will be built?
The scheme aims to deliver:
- 237 homes in total
- 118 affordable homes (50%)
- 93 homes for Social Rent (approx 80% of affordable homes)
- 25 homes for Shared Ownership
- 119 homes for market sale
The development will include a mix of one-bedroom flats through to five-bedroom houses, helping meet a wide range of local housing needs.
At least 5% of the affordable homes (roughly five) will be built to full wheelchair accessibility standards, helping meet the needs of residents with disabilities or reduced mobility.
More than 860 people are expected to have their housing improved through the scheme, with over 700 people living in the new homes themselves and others benefiting as existing council homes become available through transfers and relets.
From a landfill to a new riverside neighbourhood
Redbridge Paddock is an 8.99-acre site of brownfield land that sits across from the Redbridge Park and Ride between Abingdon Road and Weirs Mill Stream and was previously used as landfill until the early 1970s.
Significant remediation work will be required to make the site suitable for housing, and the council is preparing a bid to Homes England to help fund this work.
Plans aim to create a high-quality new neighbourhood that makes the most of the site’s riverside setting, with more than 10% of the development set aside as public open space suitable for safe cycling, exercising and walking.
The development will include new landscaped areas, communal spaces and informal recreation areas to help foster a strong sense of community. A ‘safe streets’ approach will underpin a strategy for safe play across the scheme, important as the scheme is expected to be home to over 300 children.
A new linked cycle route will run through the site, and proposals are also being explored for potential riverside moorings.
Sustainability and design
All homes will be all-electric, with air-source heat pumps and solar panels installed to reduce carbon emissions and keep energy bills down.
The development is expected to achieve at least a 40% reduction in regulated carbon emissions compared with 2022 building standards, with all homes targeting an EPC rating of B or above.
The site will also be designed with connectivity in mind, as a low-car development, taking advantage of its proximity to the Redbridge Park and Ride and bus routes. Secure cycle storage, electric vehicle charging points and car-share spaces will be included.
Biodiversity across the site will be enhanced, with tree and hedge cover retained and additional wildlife features such as bat boxes installed.
What happens next?
If Cabinet approves the proposals, work will continue on developing the scheme design and preparing planning applications.
The current programme anticipates:
- Outline planning application submission in Autumn 2026
- Planning determination expected in 2027
- Construction beginning in 2029
- Homes delivered in phases between 2030 and 2033
Comment
“These plans are an important opportunity for the council to deliver more genuinely affordable homes for Oxford residents at Redbridge.
“This well connected development would provide over 90 new council homes at Social Rent, alongside shared ownership and market homes, helping meet the wide range of housing needs we see across the city.
“By bringing forward council-owned land like this we can directly support local people in housing need, while creating a beautiful, sustainable new neighbourhood.
“Schemes like this, making use of a brownfield former industrial site to build homes for the future, are essential if we are to tackle Oxford’s housing crisis.”
- Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing, Oxford City Council
Rate this page
