Landowner’s bid to bypass community centre and boatyard requirements with a student flats development

Newly uncovered documents obtained by the Save Jericho Wharf campaign reveal that Hong Kong-based landowner Cheer Team is attempting to sell the Jericho Wharf site with plans for up to 230 student flats—a move that would allow them to avoid planning obligations for affordable housing, a new community centre, and a boatyard.

Posted June 08 2025

Sources indicate that the landowner has already engaged with City Council planners and Worcester College regarding the proposal.

Last December, the Jericho Wharf Trust urged the City Council to intervene by compulsorily purchasing the site—with funding from a development partner—to deliver a mixed-use scheme for housing, a new community centre, and a repair boatyard, all of which already have planning permission. The site has lain derelict for over two decades, passing between investors and developers since its sale by the British Waterways Board.

Cheer Team claims their student housing plan would more than double their development’s value, increasing their site’s worth by two to three times. The Save Jericho Wharf campaign is now calling on the Council to take decisive action to uphold local planning policies and its commitments to the community.

Council commitments for the site include housing, affordable housing, a new community centre, and a boatyard. The Council reported that the existing community centre was unfit for purpose as far back as 2005 when it withdrew funding. Meanwhile, Oxford’s 400 residential boats have lack proper dock repair facilities for over twenty years, a pressing issue highlighted by four boats sinking last winter.

The campaign will be highlighting the lack of progress by the Council with banners on the canal frontage and the community centre to coincide with the Jericho Street Festival. Without intervention, the landowner’s latest proposal will sideline vital community needs in favour of profit-driven development, and risks repeating the Castle Mill student flats planning failures.

Click here to read the SIAHAF marketing document

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Oxford Mail coverage of this story

Jericho Wharf: 'Plans for 230 student flats' in Oxford

City boaters want change after two more deaths