Plans for the large-scale redevelopment of Iffley Road Sports Centre have been unveiled by Oxford University this week.
The plans include a new integrated main centre, with a grandstand to house an indoor cricket school, spectator seating, changing rooms and meeting rooms.
The plans, designed by Faulkner Brown Architects, feature extensive re-structuring of the centre, except the swimming pool which will remain unaltered.
An official price tag for the redevelopment has yet to be announced, but it seems likely to exceed £19m, which will not come from central university funds.

Jon Roycroft, Director of Sport at Oxford, announced that the plans would provide “the highest quality indoor sports facilities for the 21st century and accommodate growth for the next fifty years.”

The University will apply for planning permission for the redevelopment in spring 2010.

The City Council has already approved plans for a new tennis centre adjacent to the Iffley Road site.

Plans to redevelop the existing sports centre aim to provide state of the art facilities for over 82 different indoor sports.

Rails will also be installed around the perimeter of the site, replacing the solid timber fence. This would make the historic running track, where Roger Bannister first broke the 4-minute mile barrier, visible to pedestrians on Iffley Road.

Further plans include a renovation of the central building to feature an extended cafe, meeting rooms and offices, fronting onto the running track. A double- and a single-sized hall and a two-storey gym will also be incorporated.
On 28th January, the second and final public consultation was held at the University Rugby Club Pavilion where finalised plans for the Sports Complex were revealed.

This follows the first public consultation held on 19th November of last year.
Most of the Iffley Road facilities date from between 1950 and 1972, and are becoming outdated and too small.

The Sports Centre is currently working at capacity and lacks sufficient access for disabled users.

An estimated 75% of Oxford students participate in sports and the plans intend to provide students with top class facilities.

Plans for the redevelopment had been discussed in 2006, where local residents raised concerns about Iffley’s light pollution and the threat of higher traffic levels if redevelopment occurred.

The University decided against the possibility of moving the Sports Complex away from Iffley. But it intends to engage in community-integrating schemes to benefit local residents.

The University plans to offer membership of the gym and membership of some large sports clubs, such as fencing and judo, to the local community, extending the Complex’s outreach.

Jon Roycroft, Director of Sport at Oxford, announced that the plans would provide “the highest quality indoor sports facilities for the 21st century and accommodate growth for the next fifty years.”

Student response to the plans has been positive. Izzy Westbury, England U21 Cricketer and Blues hockey player praised the plans, commenting that current Iffley facilities are currently “outdated and a little bit ramshackle” and not up to the standard of other universities’ sporting facilities.

Adam Halewood, Exeter College’s football captain summed up student reaction to the plans saying that, if everything goes to plan, “it’ll be a truly outstanding complex providing some world class facilities which is precisely what the University needs.”

The gap in higher education participation between students from the most privileged and the most deprived areas of England is closing, a new study shows.

The study comes as the popular Sunday newspaper News of the World announces a new scheme to help state-educated students win places at Oxford.

The national survey shows that thirty percent more students from disadvantaged backgrounds are going on to higher education than five years ago, in comparison to a five percent increase amongst students from the most privileged areas. The investigation was carried out by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

There was a 17% increase in state-school applications to Oxford this year, suggesting that the narrowing class gap may be also be reflected here, although the statistics have not yet been released showing how many succeeded in gaining a place.

But the News of the World still complained of a “gaping class divined that blights our education system” when they launched their project on Sunday.
The tabloid paper’s scheme will put 500 “hard-working state school students” through an intensive week-long course in the summer to help them prepare for Oxford and get an idea of the University admissions process.

The course itself is offered by the University, while the paper covers other costs and encourages its readers or their children to apply.

The programme is being funded by an anonymous “wealthy benefactor”.
Schools secretary Ed Balls praised the newspaper’s plans. “I believe no barrier should get in the way of young people making the most of their potential,” he said.

£2.8 million was spent last year on ‘outreach activities’ across the university and colleges.

On News of the World’s plans to help more state school students into Oxford, a University spokesperson said: “Oxford University is delighted to be working with the News of the World…We want to attract the most academically talented students to the university. The summer school will enable 500 students from state schools to get a really good idea of what life is like at Oxford.”

News of the World offered applicants “the education you deserve”. Daniel Webb, President of ‘Target Schools’, an organisation that recruits Oxford students to visit schools and advertise Oxford as a realistic choice, welcomed the news of a closing gap between private and state students, but said that there was still much to do.

“I think that the increased likelihood of a disadvantaged pupil entering higher education is very encouraging; however, it does not mean that the best candidates from such a background are always thinking about applying to Oxford,” he said.

“Oxford’s access schemes are showing signs of success: there was a significantly increased proportion of maintained sector applications to the university for the last admissions round” he claimed, but added, “this does not equate to places gained and does not mean that stereotypes about Oxford do not persist.”

A spokesperson for Oxford University said: “Oxford very much welcomes the results of the HEFCE study. The University has been undertaking outreach activities for a number of years – both encouraging students from all backgrounds to apply to Oxford, as well as helping many to enter higher education and raise their educational aspirations more generally.”

Asked whether the result of HEFCE’s study is mirrored at Oxford, she claimed, “Oxford does not classify students by economic or social demographics such as ‘deprived’ or ‘privileged’ in gathering information.”

However, there still appears to be a sense amongst those from disadvantaged areas that access to the best universities is beyond their reach, and a fear of being looked down upon by a middle-class majority.

Becky Edwards, a Magdalen student who works for ‘Target Schools’, speaking at schools with low numbers of higher education applicants, often in deprived areas, claimed “It’s mainly about debunking the stories and myths,” adding, “They all ask, ‘are they all posh?’ and ‘are they all rich?'”