Proposal:
Application reference 24/02635/FUL. Change of use of 2no. semi detached dwellinghouses (Use Class C3) to school boarding house accommodation (Use Class C2).
331-331A Banbury Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire
Our Response:
Oxford Preservation Trust (OPT) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the proposed change of use of two large self-contained 4-bed dwellinghouses to school boarding house accommodation at 331-331A Banbury Road.
OPT object to the above planning application on the grounds that the proposed development would constitute the loss of two self-contained dwellinghouses, amidst a city-wide housing crisis. The Trust would refer Officers to the adopted local plan Policy H5, which states that:
“planning permission will not be granted for any development that results in the net loss of one or more self-contained dwellings.”
Policy H5 then goes on to cite exempt circumstances, none of which are applicable to the above planning application.
Though OPT recognise that demand for 2- and 3-bed properties is greater than that for 4-bed properties, the claim that this justifies the loss of two self-contained dwellinghouses is inherently flawed. Though section 10, paragraph 10.2.9 of the Housing and Economic Needs Assessment (December 2022) identifies that 70-80% of new dwellings should be 2- and 3-bed properties and 15-20% should be 4-bed+ properties, the proposed scheme would not add any additional 2- or 3-bed properties to accommodate the deficit, and so the proposal would still fundamentally involve the loss of two dwellings. Similarly, the preference for 2- and 3-bed properties set out in the supporting Neighbourhood Plan policy HOC3 relates to preference for further additional development, and does not justify the loss of existing dwellings.
The applicants claim that the proposed development would free up accommodation elsewhere in the city is unsubstantiated, with there being no sufficient evidence that this application is not an expansion on the institutions existing resources. This should therefore not be considered as a means to justify the loss of two dwellinghouses, both with direct access to amenity space and compliant with national space standards and as such, constituting family homes regardless of their current vacancy.
OPT would strongly urge that appropriate weight be given to the loss of these dwellings, and the precedent which this would set should permission be granted.