Oxford United: About 2,900 comments taken off stadium application

9 May 2024

By Nathan Briant, BBC South

OUFC CGI Oxford Stadium — Oxford United Football Club revealed images of the proposed complex last October

The League One club submitted plans for the 16,000-capacity stadium in Kidlington to Cherwell District Council in February.

The authority will redact respondents’ names and addresses because of the application’s “sensitive nature”.

Oxfordshire County Council announced last month that the heads of terms for the use of the five-hectare (12.3 acre) site known as the Triangle were agreed.

The planned capacity for the stadium at the Triangle is 16,000 – but parts of it would allow for safe standing

OUFC CGI Oxford Stadium pitchside — The planned capacity for the stadium at the Triangle is 16,000 – but parts of it would allow for safe standing

The U’s will play for a place in the Championship next season against Bolton Wanderers on 18 May after they beat Peterborough United in the League One play-offs on Wednesday.

About 700 of the submissions to Cherwell Council have been made from Kidlington and hundreds more from Oxford.

All views will be accepted until the application is decided at the authority’s planning committee, with a target decision date of 21 June.

Other submissions came from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

A spokesperson for Cherwell District Council said: “Due to the sensitive nature of this application the council is taking additional steps to protect the privacy of people submitting representations on it.

“Therefore we are temporarily removing the public comments that have been submitted on this application from the website in order to redact respondents’ names and addresses. This will take some time to carry out due to the high number of comments received.

“Any comments received so far will be taken into account and will reappear on the website for this application once redacted. Any new comments submitted will also appear on the website in a redacted format.”

Oxfordshire County Council owns the land earmarked for the new stadium

Google New Oxford United stadium location — Oxfordshire County Council owns the land earmarked for the new stadium

The club has proposed that part of Oxford Road, between Kidlington and North Oxford, is closed for a time before and after matches to allow fans to get to and from the ground safely.

But the county council’s cabinet member for transport management previously told the district council he felt that plan is “unacceptable”.

Andrew Gant said the potential impact on residents in his Wolvercote and Summertown division getting to Kidlington meant the potential closure should be changed.