Bicester Village has now submitted its planning application for the new St. Edburg’s community park, travel hub and guest services facilities.

Following two rounds of public consultation, Bicester Village has now submitted a planning application to Cherwell District Council for the new 1.8-hectare St’ Edburg’s community park, together with a new car and cycle hub and improvements to guest services at Bicester Village.

The new park has been redesigned after public consultations to provide more open, versatile and flexible space, allowing space for informal sports games as well as other recreational activities such as picnics and events.

Read more: Figures show knife and gun crime has decreased in Oxfordshire

The proposals will enhance and create new connections for pedestrians and cyclists through St. Edburg’s Park and between different parts of Bicester.

Bicester Village will make a material contribution to sports facilities within Bicester, which is in addition to the investment it has made in enhanced sports facilities at the new Bicester Sports Association relocation in Chesterton.

The new car and cycle hub will replace more than 2,000 offsite parking spaces and will have the capacity to deliver up to 1,246 EV spaces in total, with 10 per cent active EV charging on day one.

Bicester Village is showcasing its submitted plans at a drop-in event on Thursday, December 1 from 4pm to 8pm at the John Paul II Centre, Bicester.

A Bicester Village spokesperson said: “We are delighted to have submitted our plans for the new 1.8-hectare St. Edburg’s community park, travel hub and guest service facilities, which will boost the local economy and deliver significant funding for local sports facilities in Bicester.

“Bicester Village would like to thank everyone who took part in the public consultation on the plans over the last six months.

“We would like to encourage everyone to join us at our upcoming drop-in event to find out more about the submitted plans and we remain committed to working closely with the local community going forward.”

Some members of the public in Bicester are opposed to the plans.

For the last 10 years, Roger Wise, from Bicester, has been part of the campaign for the Oxford Road Sports Ground to remain as an ‘open green space’.

He said: “The proposal of a new multi-storey car park gives the distinct indication of 1500 additional vehicle movements on any given day.

“The volume of vehicular traffic has been shown to have severe consequence on the passage of local residents, and many have encountered long delays when attempting to cross the town for basic requirements such as weekly shopping, or social engagements.

“The additional traffic will also increase the likelihood of potential pollution in an area already overused, and in consideration appears a great sacrifice for the local community, and environment to suffer, so the temporary visitor can be accommodated.

“The local community have clearly given their support through online and paper petition for this area to remain as open space for the benefit and possible opportunity of sport and recreation, which should never be lost.”

Mr Wise has organised a meeting for Wednesday, December 7, where he has invited the public to voice their opinions, views, and ask questions in an open format.

Officers have been invited to join the meeting from Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell District Council and Bicester Town Council.

He has also asked if Value Retail (Bicester Village) would send representation.

 

Read more from this author

This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.