AN INTERNATIONAL school based in Oxford has been given an appeal hearing date after the city council refused its request to convert a former Thai restaurant into a school cafeteria.

The Oxford International School hoped to transform the former Thai Orchid restaurant, on St Clements, into a canteen to be used by higher education students.

The council has now announced that a digital hearing will be held on May 19 at 10am to discuss the school’s appeal.

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The planning application to change the restaurant layout into a cafeteria for a temporary period of three years was initially submitted in January 2020.

Oxford City Council, however, rejected this bid on the basis that using such a ‘prominent corner plot’ of land on St Clements would significantly reduce the activity and footfall along the street.

The council added that building a school cafeteria would ‘harm the vitality and viability of the district centre’.

Read more here: International school fights to have cafeteria built in former Thai Orchid

The school appealed against this decision in February, stating that St Clements is a 15 minute walk away from Oxford city centre’s primary shopping area, where the Westgate Centre is located.

For more information about the appeal visit oxford.gov.uk/info/planning_applications