Magdalen College’s proposal to redevelop its Waynflete site student accommodation, situated beside the Cowley roundabout on St Clement’s Street, has received complaints from local residents in a recent public consultation, despite initial changes to the proposal to appease residents.
The reconstruction would replace the current Waynflete building, constructed in the 1960s, and see 76 new student accommodation rooms being built. Magdalen describes the project as aiming to deliver a “high quality, truly sustainable student accommodation development.”
The college amended their original proposal to overcome initial objections from residents, shortly after planning was first submitted in June 2024. Since then, a letter submitted by the York Palace Residents Association as part of the consultation said that the building “would replace a poorly designed building with another which in no way respects the historic character of the locality” and that they are “deeply disappointed by the lack of contact from the applicant”.
The main concern of residents seems to be the potential impact on their ability to light their properties and gardens and the removal of a Beech tree. Their first objection was that the college provided the wrong ownership certificate (a technical mistake) and requested the planning office to invalidate the project and start again. The residents also state that “the existing building is a blight to the historical significance of the area.”
The Bursar at Magdalen College, told Cherwell that: “The College has undertaken an extensive engagement strategy from the beginning of the project, and we have consulted with neighbouring residents and community stakeholders in addition to local and national authorities and consultees. We are excited at the prospect of this development. The new building will develop a sense of community, greatly enhance the quality of student accommodation and deliver significant public benefits.”
Conservation groups have largely approved of the project. A letter from the Georgian Group, a charity promoting the maintenance of Georgian buildings in England and Wales, said that “the proposed new buildings respond to this sensitive site much more thoughtfully than the existing structures.” The proposal has also been supported by St Hilda’s College and Magdalen College School, a nearby private school.
Construction of the original Waynflete building coincided with Magdalen’s 400th anniversary in 1958, and was completed in 1963. From day one the accommodation block was considered a local eyesore, with Oxford alumni and renowned poet Sir John Betjeman reflecting that: “a block has arisen by my own old College, Magdalen. It is really terrible. I don’t know what it is; it is not quite modern, it is not quite old, and it is not in scale with anything … But there it is.”
