MAGDALEN College has hit back at critics who have accused it of planning "to dump" thousands of homes on the outskirts of Oxford.
And the college scheme to build a 3,500-home settlement has been boosted by news that Thames Water is looking into relocating a 50-year-old sewage works on the edge of the site to make way for the development.
Magdalen says that its proposals for a settlement stretching from Sandford-on-Thames to Greater Leys would bring major benefits to people living on the southern edge of the city.
As the water company confirmed that it is technically feasible to build a new multimillion sewage works on land east of Sandfordbrake Farm, Magdalen said it was winning the battle for public opinion.
Senior Bursar Charles Young said: "The people who are our close neighbours are not objecting. If you talk to local people, like Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, they actually want it. It is the people in the rest of the county, who don't live next door, who are making the noise. It is easy for those opposed to the scheme to caricature it as dumping lots of houses on the edge of Oxford. But we are not proposing to whack down new homes, without recognising that 7,000 or so people will need schools, shops and recreational facilities and roads. It has to be a desirable place for people to live, consistent with good design and planning."
"Happily a lot of the infrastructure in terms of roads is already there. It will make a positive contribution to the well-being of people on that side of the city. At this stage we are making provision for two schools with proper local shops. I have no doubt that we would be adding something to an area not over-supplied with community facilities. Magdalen intends to be fully involved in the proposed development."
Thames Water says the scheme could provide "the ideal opportunity" to replace Oxford's main sewage treatment works with a new multi-million pound facility. Spokesman Hilary Bennett said: "At present, the works, which is around 50 years old, is operating effectively. But it will require significant upgrading to provide additional capacity in line with predicted population and housing growth in the area and also to ensure we continue to meet stringent environmental requirements. "This development may provide the ideal opportunity to provide a new facility which will meet these requirements and Thames Water has already carried out a similar relocation in Reading which now has one of the most advanced works in the UK."
The Reading works, which opened this year, cost in the region of £80m. She said there were no plans for any relocation in the near future, but added: "The representations we are making to the South East Regional Plan must take a long term view. The relocation is being considered as part of our wider proposals."
The relocation would clear the way for Magdalen to expand Oxford Science Park by two-thirds, which the college says is a key part of the development. The existing park, says the college, is now approaching its capacity. Magdalen said it is now in the process of "refining its plans" to create a new community on a 320-acre site, off Grenoble Road, which it jointly owns with Thames Water.
The scheme has already won important backing at Oxford City Council, both Oxford universities and major local employers, including BMW, who see it as a way to tackle Oxford's chronic shortage of housing. It is being fought by South Oxfordshire District Council, the Vale of the White Horse District Council, Oxford Preservation Trust and Oxfordshire County Council, which had originally backed the proposal.
But Magdalen College believes the fate of the Grenoble Road scheme will be closely linked to final decisions on the South East Plan, which the regional assembly last month submitted to the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.
The plan proposes that central Oxfordshire should absorb an average of 1,700 homes a year, with the rest of the county will be expected to take 660 homes a year. Local councils will be consulted by the end of the year about where the houses will be built.
Elizabeth Gillespie, of the Baldons Parish Council, said: "It is a complete nonsense for Magdalen to say that people in the immediate area want this. "Perhaps a little bit of apathy has set in with people feeling the danger has passed. What makes me angry is that Magdalen is trying to make this politically acceptable."
This week, countryside campaigners expressed fears that Oxford could become a metropolis "like Los Angeles" if their battle to protect the Green Belt were lost. Adam Boddington, of the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "What we are trying to do is stop places like Oxford becoming like Los Angeles where you can drive for 30 miles before you see any greenery at all. Ultimately if building south of Oxford goes ahead then there is every chance the city will join Abingdon and become one large conurbation. We could see this urban sprawl within ten to 15 years."