Be sure to have your say on Oxpens

“Please don’t miss the opportunity to have your say on Oxpens,” is the message from Kevin Minns, Managing Director at OxWED.

Anyone wanting to help shape the scheme and feed in their views has until 30 November to comment on the emerging plans for a 15-acre ‘new quarter’ for Oxford at Oxpens.

This latest phase of consultation started in early November, with public exhibitions held over 11, 12 and 13 November generating substantial interest.

OxWED, the City Council-Nuffield College joint venture formed to bring forward the regeneration plans, which are a key part of the City’s Local Plan and West End Strategy, wishes to thank everyone who has attended and shared their views so far – and to encourage anyone who has yet to do so to take the opportunity.

Informed by the results of the consultation and further technical discussions with statutory agencies, OxWED intends to progress design development, then submit a planning application on the masterplan early in 2022.

“If you would like to play a part in shaping Oxpens and creating an amazing new quarter for Oxford, now is the time to make your voice heard. This site has huge potential and we want it to bring about a sustainable, accessible, inclusive and distinctive scheme that delivers for Oxford. We’ve had some great conversations and input throughout the consultation so far, and I would encourage anyone who wants to share their ideas to get involved.”

Kevin Minns, Managing Director at OxWED

This second consultation phase is the last major opportunity for people to have their say before the plans are finalised and submitted.

To give your view and feedback on the emerging plans, please visit the Oxpens website.

Oxpens aims to be a thriving, sustainable mixed-use neighbourhood which will preserve and enhance the existing green space on the neighbouring Oxpens Meadow, while creating a high-quality new public space within the site. The development will contain a diverse mix of homes, workspace, hotels and restaurants, shops and cafes in a desirable riverside location. It will include 93 affordable and 93 market apartments, alongside sustainable high quality jobs – all easily accessible from the train station, city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Oxpens will be pedestrian and cycle-centric and has sustainability at its core. The designs promote biodiversity and the expansion of green space, as well as careful management of the Oxpens flood plain, with the new commercial buildings designed to a ‘BREEAM excellent’ sustainability standard.

Full details on the updated plans for the scheme, including the stunning new amphitheatre, are available on the Oxpens website.

The Oxpens scheme is being brought forward by OxWED, the joint venture between Oxford City Council and Nuffield College, and the site is a central part of the ambitions for wider-scale regeneration, investment and improvement across the West End of Oxford. OxWED is working with masterplan architects Hawkins Brown, landscape architects Gillespies and a team of urban design specialists including Gardiner & Theobald, Max Fordham, Prior + Partners, and Kevin Murray Associates.