2018 – November
As discussed at our AGM, CALA Homes has incorporated a second toilet into the community building. This has been submitted to Oxford City Council for approval.
The remediation work on site is now substantially complete. Works to begin the construction of the access in accordance with the Highways agreement are taking place and will be completed as quickly as possible.
The house build will start shortly
The CALA Homes web page about the Paper Mill Development is shows the current status.
2018 – October
CALA Homes announced at the Forum’s Annual General Meeting that they are currently in the process of clearing the site. They will start building in about 6 weeks time. The project will take 3 years. They will post information about the current state of the project on a board outside the site. They have a website which they will update every 2 months about the status of the project.
2018 – June
On Saturday afternoon 23rd June there will be an exhibition in Wolvercote Village Hall as part of the Midsummer Festival, where there will be contributions about the developments from CALA Homes on the Paper Mill site and Spacecraft Consulting on the Northern Gateway. The Forum’s comments to the City Council on CALA Homes’ recent Reserved Matters planning application will also be shown.
2018 – February
CALA Homes (Chiltern) are preparing a reserved matters planning application for a
development of 190 high quality homes, a community building, commercial premises, public open space and the renovation of the reservoir and mill stream, on the site of the former Wolvercote Paper Mill. The site received outline planning approval in September 2017.
Their proposals include a broad range of properties to meet local housing need, including a 50% allocation of affordable homes. There will also be financial contributions to enhance local facilities and services.
They held a community consultation event on the evening of 2 February 2018 in the Parish Room of St. Peter’s Church, First Turn, Wolvercote.
2016
In May 2016 Homes for Oxford bid for the Mill site on behalf of a number of constituent organisations with compatible but distinct agendas, incorporating co-housing, social housing, self-building, etc. It was their intention to provide for community engagement and for the site to have intrinsic diversity, both architectural and social in the people attracted to live there, facilitating greater integration between the development and the existing village community. They considered that they would have been able to address the key issues that local people have raised about the development of the site. They sought support from the community. This bid failed.
In February 2016 the Forum issued a statement on their concerns about building in this floodplain area: WNF statement on Flooding & Mill Site
2015
On 1st December 2015 the West Area Planning Committee of the Oxford City Council voted in favour of granting planning permission for the Wolvercote Paper Mill site:
Agenda and Minutes of the meeting
At this meeting the Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum and Wolvercote Commoners’ Committee issued a joint statement in favour of development on the Paper Mill site but stating their concerns about its size and the consequent traffic, parking and other issues.
Background
Oxford University’s outline application for development of the site as of 2 March 2015:
summary and plan.
There are still concerns about the proposed number of houses and worries about traffic and school places, given the proposals in the Area Action Plan for the Northern Gateway.
Oxford City Council’s Sites and Housing Plan 2011 – 2016, Policy SP63, page 116.
To find out the current status of this site in the planning process, go to http://www.oxford.gov.uk/planningapplications
Click “View and comment on Planning Applications”
In the box under “Enter a keyword…” type “Wolvercote Paper Mill” and click “Search”.