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Further spanner in works for Port Meadow development

The Campaign to Protect Rural England has been granted a hearing to review the decision by Oxford City Council to allow Oxford University to build student accommodation near a Port Meadow beauty spot.

The hearing, set to take place on 23 October, may lead to a judicial review into the council’s decision to allow the Castle Mill development to be built.

This is due to the CPRE’s argument that the council failed to carry out an environmental impact assessment. The development, five-storey blocks that provide 439 accommodation units, is situated by the River Thames, near a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Helen Marshall, director of CPRE Oxfordshire, said, “We are not yet convinced that the planning condition on contamination has been met.

“The mitigation proposals currently suggested by the university are woefully inadequate to counteract the devastating impact of the buildings on Port Meadow and Oxford’s historic skyline.”

She added, “A few trees growing to approximately half the height of the buildings in 15 years’ time will not meet the brief of ‘hiding the buildings in summer and softening their impact in winter.’”

Oxford City Council have said that the CPRE’s challenge is late, however, due to the fact that the flats have already been built. It believes the group’s claims are unfounded.

Despite this, both the council and Oxford University have been under fire from campaign groups such as the CPRE since the start of its development, with an on-line petition against it attracting over 3,000 signatures.

However, a University spokesman has said that, “The University will be making representations at the interim hearing in October on the procedural issues raised by the challenge.

“In the meantime, we intend to finish and occupy the buildings by the start of the next academic year in October as planned.”

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