Westgate
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Westgate call-in request
2 April 2014
Although Oxford Civic Society broadly welcomes the redevelopment of the Westgate shopping centre in the centre of Oxford the Society still has concerns about the shape and style of the development and its effect on the transport systems and traffic it will generate. The Society has therefore decided to ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to call in the outline planning application granted by Oxford City Council. The Society’s reasons are set out in the letter below. The principal reasons are the scale of the development, traffic issues and the need for re-assurance of objectivity in a situation where the City is a significant freeholder in the site.
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Westgate: comments on revised application
23 February 2014
In our comments of October 24th 2013 we supported the principle of the Westgate redevelopment as a component of the regeneration of the West End Area of Oxford. We also made clear our concerns about the proposed redevelopment. Following a review of the revised application we are disappointed to see that our concerns have not been addressed.
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Westgate Development
23 October 2013
(draft) Comments on Outline Planning Application 13/02557/OUT
Oxford Civic Society’s comments on the outline planning application for the redevelopment of the Westgate Centre (design issues).
Development design proposals
We have serious concerns that the design proposals continue to be inward-looking, with limited active frontages to the external elevations of large parts of Blocks B1, B2 and B3. We consider that this raises the risk of the Westgate centre being perceived as an island within the city, rather than as an integral and fully-connected element of the urban design. Coupled with the ‘traffic barrier’ effects of the large number of buses in Castle Street, and especially in Thames Street and Speedwell Street, the considerable lengths of inactive frontages will contribute to the severance of the adjacent areas of the city centre.
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Westgate Development
23 October 2013
(draft) Comments on Outline Planning Application 13/02557/OUT
Oxford Civic Society’s comments on the outline planning application for the redevelopment of the Westgate Centre (transport issues).
Transport issues
We note that the transport assessment analyses current visitors to the commercial centre of the city by number and by modal split for journey, and predicts a 24% or 30% increase as a consequence of the Westgate Centre redevelopment. We are concerned that the following conclusions are developed on the basis of the assumption that the modal split will remain the same as at present.
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