Plans for 12 one-bed flats to replace a bungalow on the outskirts of Oxford have been submitted, 20 years after a similar scheme in the same place was refused. 

Developer Admiral Homes wants to construct the three-storey building in Sandy Lane, next to the Halford Autocentre. 

According to the planning documents, a scheme for nine two-bed flats was lodged in 2003.

It was refused and dismissed at an appeal in 2004. 

The planning statement said: “That application is now almost 20 years ago of course and much has now changed in the locality, both in planning policy terms and on the ground.

“Moving forward to today, the local commercial area is much changed.

"The heavy industrial uses of 20 years that then prevailed are not in such evidence. In the immediate locality, there is now a supermarket, vehicle hire depots, assorted Class E (light industry) businesses etc.

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Plans for 12 flats (Image: Oxford City Council) “In short, the council accepted that a flatted redevelopment of the site would make a more efficient use of it in principle, and that a new three-storey building on the site would not have a detrimental impact of either the local street scene or on the amenity of any neighbours.”

The new proposal has been put forward with developers saying it is 100 per cent affordable housing. 

By Monday, September 16 no public comments had been submitted in support or objection. 

The planning statement added: “The proposed scheme makes an efficient re-use of an available, previously developed, windfall site, in a sustainable, accessible location and provides for a development of much needed, small one-bed flats.

“It is carefully planned, sensitive and appropriately designed to a very high quality, most mindful of its local context and is a scheme that a raft of up-to-date policy, at both national and local level, positively supports.

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The Bungalow, Sandy Lane (Image: Google Street View)

“Visually, the proposal would enhance significantly the appearance of the site within this part of the Sandy Lane street scene, both in built, architectural terms and with regards to the landscaped nature of the site and the positive biodiversity gain it would deliver.

“Overall, and in summary, the scheme delivers an entirely sustainable form of development, providing an efficient residential use out of an existing brownfield site, providing 100 per cent affordable housing units to meet a particular housing type demand, the like of which Government and local planning policy is specifically designed to permit for.

“In the clear circumstances and relevant planning history and context of the case, it is very much hoped that this proposal for the site can be straightforwardly granted planning permission as applied for.”

For more details about the plans online, search 24/01397/FUL on Oxford City Council's planning portal.