16/03006/FUL

Templars Square Between Towns Road Oxford

4 June 2021

Mixed use phased development comprising residential (Use Class C3), hotel (Use Class C1), retail (Use Class A1/A3/A4) with associated car parking, demolition of car park, high level walkway and public house, public realm improvements, landscaping, highways and refurbishment of car parks and enhancement to shopping centre entrances. (amended information)(amended plans)

Oxford Civic Society welcomes improved facilities for bus passengers travelling to and from Templars Square. We approve in principle of measures to reduce car use and can understand why the council would wish to reduce car parking spaces. The success of this policy depends on an excellent bus service. Templars Square has good bus connections with the city centre and Blackbird Leys. The same is not true however for Littlemore which is served by only one bus every 30 minutes (60 minutes on Sundays). To walk from the southernmost point of the parish takes 30 minutes. Templars Square is Littlemore’s designated district hub but is not easily accessible particularly for people with mobility problems. It seems that Greater Leys suffers from the same problem. We hope that this issue can be addressed when considering this technical note and some means can be found to improve bus access from areas not served by the 1 and 5 services