20/03172/FUL

Suite B 8 South Parade Oxford OX2 7JL

15 January 2021

Change of use from Offices (B1(a)) to provision of education (F1(a)).

This proposal to change of use from an office is well argued in the application.  However, the site, only really appreciated on a site visit, is unsuitable for educational use.  Suite B is in a large, rambling, informally-multiply-accessed service area for the buildings fronting the Banbury Road and South Parade, full of car parks, empty and sometimes ramshackle service buildings and offices and unused-looking garages. Security would be a challenge. The application does state that the plan would ‘enhance’ the site, but the site needs to be enhanced by others long before it is suitable for a tuition establishment. We consider that this application should be refused on the grounds of the unsuitability of the site for the proposed change of use. We also have reservations about the introduction of additional non-university educational activities, with potential adverse social consequences and effects on housing provision in the city.