159 houses set for approval at old farm near the edge of Oxford

The new homes planned for Hill View Farm, north of Marston, are set for approval.

If they go ahead, an area of land the size of six football fields (3.67 hectares) would be transformed into the 159-home estate, 79 of which would be affordable homes.

Oxford City Council's planning committee is due to consider the plans when it meets on Wednesday night.

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The commitee has been recommended to grant permission for the homes to be built.

The new estate would sit at the end of Mill Lane, a road stretching out of Old Marston, just alongside the Northern Bypass.

Concept images of the estate at Hill View Farm released at the end of last year show a mixed estate including different kinds of family homes and blocks of apartments.

The plans also make room for car parking and new access roads off Mill Lane onto the site.

The site has been removed from the special protection of Green Belt land to allow building work to take place.

There is still one area which is still under Green Belt designation, but a council planning report said this would not be developed in a way which would cause harm.

Houses planned for Hill View Farm.

The report, by planning officer Michael Kemp, adds that the new homes would sit within an area known as the Elsfield 'viewing cone'.

This is a view of the historic city centre of Oxford and is protected under the city council's planning rules.

However, the report said the view would not be directly obscured by the new homes.

It added: "From this perspective attention is also drawn towards more prominent, large buildings within the foreground of this view including those on the John Radcliffe Hospital site and the urban edge at Barton Park."

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Local heritage groups have also written to the council about plans to demolish a stone barn at Hill View Farm.

This building is believed to have been built at some point during the 19th century.

But city council planners do not think it is worthy of being designated as local heritage asset, and describe it as 'utilitarian' and 'vernacular' in appearance.

Though the council's planners say the new estate should go ahead, they are asking the landowner and developer, Mazhar Doghar, to fund new roads, bus services and cycle paths to the site, as well as provide open public space at the site.

The total financial contribution the council requests adds up to more than £520,000.

Oxford City Council also has plans for its own housing estate which will sit just south of the Hill View Farm proposals.

It wants to build 79 homes at this site, so far just known as Land at Mill Lane.

The council and its wholly-owned housing company, Oxford City Housing Limited, held a public consultation on the plans throughout November 2020.