UK Property Forums consultant Hugh Blaza took to the skies to get a genuine bird’s eye view of Heyford Park, Oxfordshire’s own new town. And it prompted optimistic thoughts of where development in the county is heading.

Things look different from the air; there’s a lot more to see from up there than meets the eye on the ground.

I had my first trip in a chopper last Tuesday. Hardly the fastest or most lethal aircraft ever to take off from the 3-km runway at Heyford Park, but we aren’t going to war (yet) and if we do it won’t be from there. This is a new town, being developed by Dorchester Regeneration, led by the indefatigably enthusiastic Paul Silver (see bottom image).

Its recent new town designation reflects the significance of one of the biggest residential developments in Oxfordshire.

Already recognised at the 2023 OxProp Awards as ‘best large residential development’, the work to create this new town is now firmly on the Government’s radar and its ambitions can expect to receive a major consequential boost.

We’re talking about an ex-military site which, when completed will embrace:

  • A 3km nature park, created along that runway, designed by top landscape gardener Kim Wilkie
  • 9,000 new homes
  • 5,000 new jobs
  • 65,000 new trees
  • Two railway stations, one of which is already up and running, with a 13-minute journey time to Oxford
  • House prices £350-400 psf (Oxford equivalent £800 psf)
  • Energy positive, from renewable sources
  • A proposed Peace Studies Centre, in partnership with the University of Oxford: a poignant paradox to the site’s original use

With echoes of what has been happening at Bicester Heritage, the ambition is as impressive as the site, and there’s a heck of a lot to play with. As Paul says: “Regeneration isn’t just about developing spaces, it’s about building communities that residents are proud to live in, and this is what drives every decision we make at Heyford Park.”

A bus tour preceded our flight. Some will recall the USAF airbase station from the 1960s and 70s, when arriving at the base was like arriving in an American town. F1-11s were stationed here, and their nuclear payload was stored on site.

The bunkers are now a listed monument and so won’t be demolished (which would be a task in itself given their construction) but around them a town and business community is in the making.

Work on providing new houses began some years ago and the focus on providing all the facilities citizens of a new town can legitimately expect will now be turned even more ambitiously to employment creation, low carbon tech, community facilities and commercial buildings. Completion of the project will take until 2042.

I look at the CGI published by the planning team (Pegasus Group) and think ‘Milton Keynes, but a 21st century version, with nicer houses. And without the roundabouts.’ And the retail and distribution which are such fundamental features of MK won’t be there to distort the scale; nearby Bicester is already providing these in abundance.

The development will make a significant contribution to the UK’s housing demands, in particular help the chronic housing needs of Oxford. It will convert a brownfield site to a generous and energetic set of uses and will spare encroachments on to the Green Belt and surrounding ancient villages which might otherwise find themselves in the developers’ sights, as is the case in other parts of the county.

The website is informative but you really have to go there to see for yourselves the scale of it. You might not get a ride in a chopper, but it will be worth the trip.

So, Oxford North last week, Heyford Park, this week. Can we expand our preconceptions of what Oxford is to accommodate these brave new developments? Here’s Paul again: “I’m proud of what we’ve built so far; not just the homes, but the schools, the spaces, the jobs, and the chance for people to put down roots. This next chapter allows us to go further, creating a place where families can grow, businesses can thrive, and future generations can live well.”

I’d love to be around in 50 years’ time to see how they will have fared. (Reader, I regret to inform you I shan’t be!) Meanwhile, many will take the plunge; I hope the courage they show in doing so will be rewarded.

© Thames Tap (powered by ukpropertyforums.com).

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