Construction is underway on the third phase of Barton Park, which is now set to deliver more than 50% affordable housing across the development.
Barton Park is a partnership between Oxford City Council and Grosvenor Developments, who created the joint venture company Barton Oxford LLP to deliver up to 885 new homes, including 354 homes (40%) for social rent.
More than half of Barton Park affordable
The first phase of Barton Park, Mosaics, was completed by Hill in 2020, with 95 of its 237 homes let at social rent by the council’s housing company, OX Place.
Redrow is currently building 207 new homes on the second phase of Barton Park, known as The Steeples. So far, Redrow has completed 120 homes, including 48 of the 83 OX Place homes for social rent.
The next handover of affordable homes at The Steeples is due in February next year, with completion of this part of the development expected in early 2025.
Vistry Group has started building the first of 434 homes under its Countryside brands on the last main phase of the development, Beckley Place, which will also include 589m2 of new shops.
When complete, 174 of these will be let at social rent by OX Place.
On top of the 174 OX Place homes, Vistry has also agreed to sell 96 homes to Places for People - a housing group that owns and manages more than 240,000 affordable homes across the UK.
Places for People’s affordable homes will include nine homes for social rent paid for by the council from s106 developer contributions, as well as 56 shared ownership homes.
Shared ownership helps people like key workers, first-time buyers and under-40s onto the property ladder in a city they would otherwise be priced out of.
With full planning permission now given for 878 homes, this means 448 will be affordable – 51% of all homes – with all rented homes let to people on the council’s housing register. Four-fifths (361) are or will be let at social rent.
Completion of Beckley Place is expected in 2027.
About Barton Park
Built in line with a site-wide design code emphasising a distinct identity, continuity, quality design and sustainability, Barton Park is ‘tenure blind’. This means all homes, whether for rent or sale, meet the same quality standard and can’t be told apart by their external appearance.
The design code also means all affordable homes must be adaptable to meet people’s changing needs throughout their lives.
With 357 homes completed since its first residents moved in during 2019, Barton Park’s new community is thriving. The development also includes a community sports pavilion, sports pitches and a 10-acre linear park.
Barton Park Primary School opened in September 2020 for families on the development and in neighbouring Barton and has 150 pupils, with nursery and early years classes now full.
Barton Park has been shaped to encourage active lifestyles and address longstanding health inequalities in this part of Oxford. It was one of 10 demonstrator sites for the NHS Healthy New Towns programme, which was set up to show how better places can support healthier living.
Comment
"It’s great news that work has now started on the last main phase at Barton Park, and even better news that more than half of the development will now be affordable.
“As well as 354 OX Place homes let at social rent, Places for People will now provide another 96 affordable homes - including 56 shared ownership homes helping people onto the housing ladder. This is particularly pleasing as we had a lot of feedback from local people, who felt that shared ownership opportunities were really missed at Barton Park.
“With our partners Grosvenor, Hill, Redrow and Vistry, each new affordable home we deliver at Barton Park makes a life-changing difference in one of the UK’s least affordable places to live.”
Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing
“The country’s housing shortage is threatening our ability to provide not only affordable homes but places that support better health outcomes and genuine opportunity. This was always the ambition for Barton Park and it’s testament to the work of all involved that the scheme has not only been able to deliver 361 social rent homes but also achieve more than 50% affordable homes in total. Sitting alongside a new primary school and sports pavilion, allotments and a ten-acre public park, Barton Park shows how the public and private sectors can work together effectively and positively.”
Rupert Biggin, Project Director at Grosvenor Developments Ltd
“Beckley Place will deliver just under half of the properties being built at Barton Park and we proud to be making such a significant contribution to the development of this already thriving neighbourhood. As well as the 270 homes we are providing for affordable housing, there will be a mix of apartments and houses for the private market. The provision of 589m2 of retail space at Beckley Place will complement the new homes and support the growth of this new community while also creating opportunities for local businesses.”
Alix Laflin, Marketing Manager at Vistry Thames Valley
Oxford needs homes
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in September 2022 the median house price in Oxford was £445,775 – 12.15 times median gross household earnings (£36,692) in the city. For England as a whole, the median house price is 8.28 times median earnings.
The 2021 census showed that 32.2% of homes in Oxford are now in the private rented sector, where the ONS reports a median private rent of £1,500 a month for a three-bedroom home. The equivalent amount for England is £895.
Meanwhile, there are more than 3,000 households on the council’s housing register.
Unaffordable housing puts people at greater risk of homelessness and pushes them into hardship, overcrowded and unfit conditions or out Oxford altogether.
Even before the cost of living crisis, unaffordable housing meant nearly a third of Oxford’s children lived below the poverty line. Bad housing has a devastating impact on children’s health and wellbeing and casts a long shadow over their future life chances.
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