Vision

Barton Park is more than a housing development. It's an evolutionary step forward for an existing community. The vision for this exciting project is underpinned by core values of viability and sustainability and driven by the following key objectives:

Create an exemplary, residential-led development, including complementary facilities to serve the new and existing communities, such as a primary school, community facilities and a food store.
Ensure the development integrates with and helps regenerate the surrounding neighbourhoods of Barton, Headington and Northway, establishing social and physical connections and promoting social inclusion.
Deliver a range of high-quality, well designed homes for sale in Oxford to meet the needs of local people, including family, detached, semi-detached and terraced houses, as well as apartments.
Ensure that at least 40% (354) of properties built on the site are affordable housing.
Specify and enforce a strict design code to ensure all properties are built to high standards.
Provide improved transport and pedestrian links across the A40 at Barton.
Promote sustainable modes of transport.
Establish and strengthen pedestrian and cycle links to the centre of Oxford.
Establish a network of green routes, enhance the Bayswater Brook and create a new brook-side park.
Encourage a low-carbon lifestyle.

Opportunities to create new communities and provide much-needed new homes are rare in Oxford: Barton Park is just such an opportunity. Oxford City Council has high aspirations for Barton Park and the surrounding areas and has been working for several years to deliver on these ambitions. In 2011 the Council formed an innovative joint venture partnership with Grosvenor Developments Ltd. The partnership combined the council's land and vision for the new neighbourhood with Grosvenor's expertise and funding capacity to deliver an exemplary scheme with regeneration benefits for surrounding areas.

The Barton Park development will reflect Oxford's status as a world-class city and its drive to become a more integrated and sustainable place. High-quality and inclusive design will ensure that the development is attractive, practical, durable and adaptable – a place where people are proud to live. Mainly residential, and with efficient use of land providing over 800 new homes of mixed tenure, size and type, it will include the range of land uses that form a complete neighbourhood. The development will be a new piece of the city, distinct from other areas but wholly integrated in the fabric of Oxford. It will have its own identity, with a neighbourhood core and open spaces that link the site together, drawing on the adjoining countryside, Bayswater Brook and the Old Headington Conservation Area to help create its own character.

Barton Park will be integrated with neighbouring communities, bringing regeneration benefits to Barton, Northway and Oxford as a whole. New development fronting the ring road, Barton Village Road, key open spaces and the countryside will help define and promote a sense of place. Two-sided streets, with new homes facing existing homes, will help integrate the old and new. A new linear park along Bayswater Brook, linking to Play Barton in Barton, will include public open space and habitats to enhance local biodiversity. The new development will help people lead healthy lifestyles by encouraging activity and promoting safety.

There will be strong connections between the new neighbourhood and Barton, Northway, Old Headington and the adjoining countryside. Existing footpaths will be enhanced and re-connected and there will be new ring road crossings for pedestrians and cyclists. A network of pedestrian and cycle connections will link the new community with existing facilities, adjacent areas and other destinations across Oxford. The network will improve access from Barton to Headington and beyond. Access to schools, community facilities and open space will be improved by ensuring that the facilities in the new neighbourhood are accessible to existing communities.