Barton Park homes in Oxford set to become council housing

Oxford City Council is expected to approve the £33.4 million sale of 168 completed OX Place homes to the housing revenue account, a ring-fenced account which can only be spent on council housing, on Wednesday, October 16.

It is also set to budget £39.7 million from 2024/25 to 2027/28 to purchase an additional 184 affordable homes from developers to let as council housing.

The decision of the cabinet will need to be ratified at the full council meeting on Monday, November 25.

The existing tenancies will be converted into council tenancies on December 2.

The remaining 184 affordable homes will be let to people on the housing register once they are ready for occupation.

Councillor Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing and communities, said: "This is a good thing for everyone.

Linda Smith (Image: Oxford Mail) "Tenants will still be paying social rent and get more rights. OX Place will be free to focus on building high-quality affordable homes.

"The HRA will gain more than 350 new homes, and the rent their tenants pay will make a valuable contribution to our plans for delivering more council homes and improving our existing properties."

The council already manages the day-to-day running of OX Place tenancies. Therefore, tenants are unlikely to notice any changes in the management of their tenancies, the council said.

The OX Place homes were already let at social rent, and this will remain unchanged.

Upon becoming council tenants, the existing residents will gain new rights to arrange a mutual exchange of their home or exercise the right to buy.

Spouses, partners, or close family members living with a tenant at the time of their death will also gain the right to inherit their tenancy.

OX Place will gift any furniture or appliances rented through the furnished tenancy scheme, so tenants own them outright.

Councillor Susan Brown, leader of Oxford City Council and shareholder of OX Place, said: “We welcome the transfer of tenancies at Barton Park to the HRA.

"This will allow OX Place to focus on the development of new homes across Oxford."

When work to build the first homes at Barton Park started in 2015, government finance restrictions meant councils could not use the HRA to fund the building of affordable council homes.

Instead, the council used low-cost borrowing to finance Barton Park’s affordable homes from its general fund. This meant they could not be council housing.

However, the lifting of borrowing restrictions in 2018 removed this need.