HOUSEHOLDERS on an Oxford estate are calling on councillors to think again before giving permission to knock down an office block.

Oxford City Council’s executive board agreed last month to demolish its Northway Centre, in Dora Carr Close, on the Northway estate, with the intention of selling off the site.

But people living in the area say the building, which adjoins the Northway Community Centre and a small sports hall, could be brought back into community use.

The decision has now been called in and will be considered by the council’s scrutiny committee on June 18.

Betty Fletcher, chairman of the Northway Residents’ Association, said: “People feel pretty strongly about this.

“We seem to be having all our facilities taken away.”

She claimed that if the site was redeveloped as housing, it would put increasing pressure on already stretched facilities on the small estate.

She added: “They need to look at it again. We understand the need for housing but there are other, better places for it. What I would like to see is a state-of-the-art leisure centre for everybody’s use because we have nothing like that for kids or older people in Northway and Marston.”

The city council has set aside £442,000 to demolish the building, and estimates it will save £73,000 a year in running costs.

A report to the executive board said that there were only about 25 people currently based in the office block, 10 of whom were from the Oxford Sports Partnership and the rest council employees.

The report stressed that the community centre, sports hall and workshops would be unaffected by the proposals.

Carl Hibbins, 23, from Northway, said he wanted to see the Northway centre kept.

He said: “I think it could be used for community things and the council have used it themselves for their offices.

“They own it outright but now they rent offices elsewhere, it seems crazy paying all that money out when they have got offices out there which they have used for so many years.”

He added: “If they did decide to knock the building down, maybe the land could be better used to build a state of the art sports centre for the local residents to use.”

In a council planning report recommending demolition, Steve Sprason said: “The property is of poor quality, is remote and does not fit with the emerging office strategy proposals.”

If the scrutiny committee decides to uphold the executive board’s decision, demolition work could start as early as August.

The council’s preferred option for the site would be to use it for affordable housing.

fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk