Oxfordshire County Council has dismissed an alternative proposal for the land where Oxford United wants to build its new stadium.
Oxfordshire Projects, a charity commonly known as TRAX, submitted an alternative land use proposal for ‘The Triangle’ in Kidlington where it wanted to build Swedish-style cabins.
The proposal was made to the council's cabinet last Monday (September 11).
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But council leader Liz Leffman told the charity’s trustees that the council was not seeking alternative bids for the site, which is east of Frieze Way and south of Kidlington Roundabout.
A council spokesperson said: "The county council’s cabinet was sent an alternative proposal on September 11 for the use of the Triangle.
"The Leader of the council has responded to confirm that we are not seeking alternative bids for the site.
“Under normal circumstances the council would retain the land as part of the green belt.
“However, we are considering the club’s proposal as an exceptional matter because of the importance of OUFC to the county and the difficulty of finding a site to accommodate it.”
The cabinet is due to decide today (Tuesday, September 19) whether to sell the land to United as the club looks to leave the Kassam Stadium before its lease expires in 2026.
Council officers recommended in a report last week that the sale should be approved.
The council spokesperson said the proposal from TRAX will be “referenced verbally” but not “discussed in detail” at the meeting.
TRAX, which runs its services out of large wooden Swedish-style cabins in Wolvercote, said it wanted to move as it faces pressure to expand.
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The charity has supported young people in the community for more than 30 years but said its current site was “tough to work in and limiting.”
Its student headcount is 73 and it wants to increase that number to at least 110.
Following the council’s dismissal of the plans, the charity's trustees said they had "moved on" and were looking for other options.
But a campaign group that is opposed to the new stadium plans has called for today's vote to be delayed so the alternative proposal can be given “due consideration”.
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A statement from the Friends of Stratfield Brake said: “We have never understood why alternative uses for the Triangle were not considered alongside Oxford United's speculative proposal, particularly given that the local community has made it clear that it doesn't want a stadium in Kidlington
“We are very interested to see that another proposal has been made by a highly regarded local charity which does a lot of good work in conjunction with the Oxfordshire councils…
“It is of course reasonable to expect that any alternative proposal should be given due consideration in line with the work that Oxfordshire County Council has done with Oxford United, and Cabinet's decision should be delayed to allow this to take place.”
The council spokesperson confirmed the meeting would not be delayed.
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