All posts in the topic St Aldate's/Queen Street development (Short link)

From: Stephanie Jenkins Date: Jul 14 10:08 UTC Short link

This is just to make sure everyone knows about the proposals for the new
shopping mall from St Aldate's to Queen Street.  They are still at the
consultation stage, so now is the time to study them in detail.

Exhibition at New Road Baptist Church in Bonn Square:
Saturday 19 July 11am-2.30pm in main church
Thursday 24 July 11am-7.30pm in the Tidmarsh Room
Consultants and representatives from The Carlyle Group will be on hand to
answer questions

I can't find anything on the web yet, but the Oxford Times outlined the scheme
last October:
http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.1737253.0.st_aldates_set_for_new_shops.php

It might not be too bad: no one will mourn the demolition of St Aldate's
Chambers, will they?  The turning of the basement of St Aldate's post office is
another matter, but permission was granted for that some time ago: see
http://archive.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/2007/10/5/191607.html
    

From: Chris Brewer Date: Jul 29 19:48 UTC Short link

A visit to the exhibition on Thursday proved to be an interesting cameo of the
consultation industry. I was greeted by a small crowd of suited people eager to
counsel my opinion, and to enquire as to my role in civic life. ‘Idle
curiosity’ was the main reason I ventured in, but I’m pleased I did, if only
for the questionnaire I was invited to fill in. Seven questions, to be answered
Yes, No or Don’t Know. It was stated on the accompanying leaflet that the
scheme would provide student accommodation for up to one hundred
undergraduates. I was asked to state at question five if I was in favour of
more city centre student accommodation (I said ‘No’), and at question six ‘Do
you consider that this will free-up existing housing (currently occupied by
students) for families?’ At the bottom of the form it was stated my comments
would be passed to ‘the council’.

So, consider for a moment. I also answered ‘No’ to question six. But how will
this response affect the way the world runs? Would it have made the slightest
difference if I had answered ‘Yes’ or ‘Don’t know’? Would it have made the
slightest difference if one thousand people had all said ‘No’? I’d suggest not.
I’d suggest that this was in fact the purest of box-ticking exercises. But I’d
like to be proved wrong – so can I ask for the City Council, or the consultants
Tristan Fitzgerald Associates, to publish the classified results from this
questionnaire in full? And can I ask them how the responses made to this
questionnaire will be used to amend the planning application when it comes to
be submitted?

For ‘Any further comments’ I said the accommodation provided by the scheme
should be for local people and not students. I don’t think it healthy that
Brookes University dominates parts of Headington and Cowley, and Oxford
University dominates the city centre, in the way that they do, while local
people get dumped in overflow estates beyond the ring road. But I won’t be
holding my breath waiting for the Carlyle Group to act on my suggestion.
    

From: Kaihsu Tai Date: Aug 06 16:22 UTC Short link

Request sent:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/st_aldatesqueen_street_developme