Following repeated reports of anti-social behaviour, Hertford and Exeter colleges have submitted a planning proposal to Oxford City Council to revamp their sports grounds.
In the planning application to Oxford City Council the colleges propose to build, “new sports facilities including a light weight canopy and enclosure housing padel tennis courts, outdoor padel courts, cricket nets and the creation of a new basketball and netball hard surface court.”
The colleges plan to repurpose “Exeter squash courts for use as a golf simulator and the change of use of Hertford squash courts to café, changing facilities, sports hub reception area and community facilities.”
In their planning statement, the colleges described how, “the site has struggled over time with instances of anti-social behaviour and vandalism. This issue has been the main driver of these proposals.” The statement also detailed that, from November 2021 to November 2024, the most common crime reported on this site and in its immediate surroundings were violent or sexual offences, with 31 incidents. The second most reported was anti-social behaviour, with 26 incidents.
Local resident Elaine Welsh told Cherwell: “It’s not very nice to walk past badly damaged and treated pavilions. I think the local teenagers who I have seen hanging out there need something more constructive to do.
“I think they’ve got nowhere else to go where they can hang out with their friends and if we had more youth workers to work with them to create something that they wanted we might see a reduction in the anti-social behaviour. They need to be part of local facilities so that they feel that they have an investment in it rather than feeling so alienated from it that they actually destroy it.”
In Hertford and Exeter College’s planning statement, the colleges wrote that “the new sports pitches and sensitive lighting at the site will address historic issues of anti-social behaviour and vandalism which is known to the applicants and neighbours as a long-standing issue which has resulted in the underuse of this site.” They added that the project aimed to create “a vibrant, year-round sporting ‘hub’ for use by both residents and students.”
