Proposals to dispose of land at an Oxford College have been called in for scrutiny due to planning and environmental concerns.

Ruskin College in Headington wanted to dispose of the land known as Ruskin Field on Foxwell Drive for residential development, to fund the redevelopment of its existing educational facilities.

It approached Oxford City Council in 2023 to gain right of way over the council-owned land.  

Civic leaders at city council made the unanimous decision to dispose of the land at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, October 16.

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The council will sell the land on a freehold basis to the college in the event that any planning applications go ahead on the site.

Councillor Roz Smith called in the item for scrutiny after the decision was made.

Councillors will discuss the item at an extraordinary meeting of the Scrutiny Committee today (Monday, November 18).

The report for the extraordinary scrutiny meeting states that the item was called in due to concerns that the decision could lead to a loss of open space, that the option agreement needed to go on long enough to allow sufficient time for a planning application, and that there could be conflicts of interest due to the council acting as the landowner.

The land to college wants to develop for residential use extends to 8.7 acres, while the land intended for educational use extends to 3.5 acres.

According to the report, a five-year option agreement would be a “significant risk” to any projects that went ahead there.

The monitoring officer for the city council stated that there was no cause for concern over the transaction.

There is no legal obligation for a consultation to take place, because the land is not currently held as open space.