Here is a copy of a letter that has been sent to residents in Old Road by the University of Oxford explaining its reasons for asking to retain temporary consent till 2018 or later
Dear Neighbour,
You may be aware that the University has previously obtained temporary planning permission for a number of buildings on the north eastern part of the Old Road Campus site, including a pre-fabricated building, a 3 storey research building, catering building, security hut and ancillary development which includes an electricity substation, footpaths, bicycle parking, CCTV poles/cameras and lighting.
This development was approved under planning consent 14/01494/FUL and was required as enabling work to allow the implementation of the first phases of development for the wider Old Road Campus site as approved under outline planning consent 12/02072/OUT.
The development was required to provide temporary accommodation for staff and services which had to vacate buildings that were demolished to allow construction of the Big Data Institute (BDI) Building. The existing permission granted temporary planning permission for these buildings for a period of 3 years from the date of the permission or until occupation of the BDI Building at which point the buildings should be removed. The BDI Building is due to be occupied in January 2017, however, the temporary buildings currently contain uses that will be relocated into the approved Amenities and Bioescalator Building (approved under reference 15/00996/RES) and not the BDI Building.
The University is therefore submitting an application for the retention of the previously consented temporary works for further periods of time while the Amenities and Bioescalator Building is being constructed which is due to be completed in July 2018. This will not involve any changes to the buildings already on site.
The application will seek consent that the temporary buildings and ancillary works including substation and switch gear will be retained for a temporary period of three years or occupation of the Amenities and Bioescalator Building, whichever is the sooner.
There is also a temporary footpath to the north of the site, which provides safe access to and from the car park for the nursery which operates within the adjacent ‘Triangle Building’ on the Campus. The nursery use has a temporary consent (reference:14/03540/FUL) for a period up to 21 May 2020 and as such, the application will also seek to retain the footpath connecting the nursery and car park until 21 May 2020 to tie in with the temporary nursery consent, beyond the occupation of the Amenities Building.
At the end of the relevant periods the buildings, ancillary development and path will be removed within a period of three months of the uses having relocated. The land will be grassed over once the buildings are taken down.
This letter has been sent to inform you that an application for the temporary retention of the buildings is due to be submitted to Oxford City Council in the near future. There will be an opportunity for you to submit feedback on the planning application via Oxford City Council’s website at http://public.oxford.gov.uk/online-applications/ upon submission of the application. If you have any queries regarding this proposal in the meantime please contact public.consultation@admin.ox.ac.uk.