Pre-planning consultion, July 12 2019

6. Residential Buildings

Posted - Jul 23, 2019

The development incorporates a variety of housing styles to attract a diverse mix of residents and enhance the urban and social fabric of the area. The scheme comprises 14 townhouses, two apartments, a maisonette, a detached house and six affordable flats.

Townhouses

These comprise of three and four bed units across principally three floors. Each have private amenity space in the form of balconies and in most cases rear gardens, backing on to the existing residential St Barnabas Street. These can be accessed via a rear passageway which slopes up, enabling an accessible route to the dwellings which are raised to mitigate risk of flood damage.

The eave and ridge heights largely match those of the surroundings, emulating an existing typology on two floors with dormer windows in the roof level. The scheme makes use of the secluded location and exceptional views with large windows and glazed elements to let natural light in and allow views across the canal. On the lower levels timber louvres add an element of privacy while larger openings connect to the street and generate a sense of ownership and activity.

The apartments allow for two fully accessible living spaces. These are accessed via a central lift and stair lobby and open out into large three bedroom spaces with all requirements met internally for a wheelchair user. A predominant feature of the first floor flat is a large rear, south facing terrace which will provide high quality amenity space and potential for solar shading is added to make this usable year round. A two meter perimeter wall eliminates any prospect of overlooking neighbouring properties.

The detached house adopts an entirely different layout but ensures views and light for the existing buildings are maintained and roof hight is kept to a minimum. The layout internally places the bedrooms on the ground floor with the main living spaces on the first floor, maximising views and access to the terraced external space. This unit also houses a stand alone bedroom and bathroom which could be used as a guest bedroom, studio or sun room.

Affordable Provision

Affordable housing is key to the success of any residential scheme and, alongside the community centre provision, this development aims to encourage and cater for all demographics in the area. Six affordable flats will be provided within a redevelopment and refurbishment of the existing community centre. One of these ground floor flats will be fully accessible. Cycle store and a refuse area will be provided to the rear of the space as well as a winter garden for residents to use. The maisonette in the terrace offers potential accommodation for staff of the church.

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Can narrowboats be considered as affordable homes in Oxford?

While evidently narrowboats are not actually affordable houses, a case can be made for them being affordable homes. In fact very few ‘affordable homes’ are really affordable for the less well-off of Oxford at all. Boats and narrowboats in particular represent one of the few truly affordable home examples in there area, which is why they have become a more popular option.

Narrowboat dwellers tend to be among the less wealthy members of the Oxford community but nevertheless they are often people who provide essential services to it. A survey of boats and boaters taken in 2012 revealed that - among 400 boats in and around Oxford - more than 100 boats were moored within the City’s boundaries, housing around 180 people including teachers, social workers, gardeners and others from less well paid professions. These are people who are often unable to pay for professional rates fqr the upkeep of their boats, let alone take the time to spend hours and days taking their boat to the existing repair and maintenance locations. Since the sale of the boatyard in Jericho, the nearest boatyards are 5 miles up the Thames to Eynsham or 27 miles up the canal to Tooleys in Banbury. Furthermore during high water levels in winter months neither destination may be available.

There are two grave concerns relating to this:

1. When there is flooding it has been impossible for boaters to take their boats out of the water anywhere in an emergency (say they spring a leak because their boat rusts through due to poor maintenance). This is a danger to their homes and a number of boats sink every year.
2. Due to the distance to a yard and the lack of a working engine on many residential boats, many boaters don’t repair their boats properly and either do nothing or ‘bodge’ repairs that they hope will last.

It is now 13 years since the loss of the DIY boatyard in Jericho. Every year there are more boats that sink due to lack of essential maintenance and part of the reason for this is a lack of a local boatyard in which this maintenance work can be performed. It is essential that the Jericho Community Boatyard be built as soon as possible, and that it be DIY capable as an option for the poorer members of the community. The agreed design with a wet dock and two dry docks (one for commercial repairs, the other for DIY) plus a community workshop (where boaters can do necessary carpentry and other types of work) makes the maintenance of boats available and affordable for all. It enables the survival of narrowboats as affordable homes.

Bruce Heagerty - Jericho Community Boatyard Director, February 2019