Oxford could be ‘reshaped’ by lab and tech developments as plans for a major extension to a science park have been proposed.

Phase two of the Oxford Technology Park, a major ‘science and innovation’ campus in Kidlington, has been proposed to Cherwell District Council in a new planning application.

The plans, submitted by Bloombridge LLP and key landowner the Blenheim Estate, propose a 93,000sqm addition to the technology park.

Oxford Technology Park 2 CGI (Image: Cherwell District Council)

This would be principally including employment space for early-stage companies like start-ups and university spin-outs, as well as growing businesses in the science, technology, quantum and life sciences sector.

The developer has also proposed an education facility, sport and recreation facilities, new public open space and associated car parking.

This would extend the current 400,000sqm park of Woodstock Road, where construction on the released green belt land was completed last year, by nearly a third.

The current Oxford Technology Park, where phase one is complete (Image: Oxford Technology Park)

Independent Oxford Alliance councillor David Henwood, who represents Rose Hill and Littlemore on Oxfordshire County Council, said the intense pace of growth in science and innovation risks become ‘unsustainable’.

He said the scale, rate and concentration of development risks exacerbating ‘already critical’ pressures on transport, housing and public services.

“This proposal cannot be considered in isolation,” he said.

“It forms part of a wider trend that is reshaping Oxford’s economy in a way that is too narrow, too intense, and increasingly unsustainable.

David Henwood, Oxfordshire county and Oxford city councillor (Image: Ed Nix)

“A development model that overwhelmingly prioritises laboratory space risks locking Oxford into a one-dimensional economy.

“That is not what national policy supports, and it is not what a sustainable city looks like.”

The plans would see 26.5ha of land in the village of Begbroke transformed into a high-tech business hub, part of the ‘Science North cluster’ centred on the University of Oxford’s Begbroke Science Campus and London Oxford Airport.

Bloombridge said a ‘central ambition’ of phase two of the technology park is to foster partnerships between academic and business communities, introducing a collaborative hub for learning.

Illustrative images of Oxford Technology Park Phase 2 proposal (Image: Bloombridge LLP)

And the University of Oxford is already planning its own expansion of its science campus with the Begbroke Innovation District, to bring ‘new research and community facilities’ to the area.

The Oxford Technology Park plans have likewise placed emphasis providing community facilities to the surrounding villages and Kidlington, with a new park and recreational facilities.

But Mr Henwood expressed concern this may not be enough to support an estimated 15,000 more workers and said residential properties are being threatened by research and development sector expansion.

Oxford Technology Park 2 masterplan (Image: Cherwell District Council)

He said: “This is not a theoretical concern—we are already seeing housing stock being absorbed to support this sector.

“That places additional strain on families trying to access homes, school places, and GP appointments.

“We cannot build a balanced city by putting all our economic eggs in one basket.

“Each application may appear acceptable on its own, but collectively they are pushing the city beyond what its infrastructure can sustain. That is a failure of planning balance.”

Kidlington is now flanked by two applications for major tech park developments, as Exeter College submitted plans for quantum tech hub EXOq on land near Oxford Parkway railway station earlier this month.

Plans for the new tech hub district from Exeter College, EXOq (Image: Supplied)

Oxford thinktank POETS (Planning Oxfordshire’s Environment & Transport Sustainably) echoed the councillor’s concerns on housing and infrastructure.

Helen Marshall, speaking on behalf of the thinktank, said: “It’s important for the national interest that we support our science and technology sectors.

“But if this trumps all other considerations, we don’t get sustainable development but simply a rush for growth at any cost.

“The proliferation of such large-scale employment sites being crammed into this area is making local housing problems much worse.

“It takes up land that could be used for housing and at the same time draws yet more people into Oxfordshire.

Helen Marshall of POETS (Image: NQ)

“Unemployment in Oxfordshire remains below the national average, and the priority should be providing genuinely affordable and sustainable housing for existing local residents.

“Meanwhile, it is not clear how the increased commuting from this development will be managed. The strategic road network is already under huge pressure, with the Oxford North development still to come fully onstream, plus the proposed Oxford United stadium.

“As POETS have said before, Oxford is in danger of strangling itself.”

Across the county, an intense focus on single-sector development in science and innovation has seen schemes unveiled for research and development (R&D) centres, lab space and tech hubs on a huge scale.

Oxford Technology Park 2 CGI (Image: Cherwell District Council)

This includes those within the city, like the Ellison Institute’s Oxford Science Park in Littlemore or the Oxford North Innovation District by St John’s College, as well as single-building developments like Fabrica in Botley Road or the former Debenhams building on the corner of George Street being turned into a 100,000sqft lab space by the Crown Estate, both for life sciences.

Oxford Technology Park phase two is positioning itself as a natural expansion of the sector in the northern reach of the ‘Oxfordshire Knowledge Spine’, a series of locations running from the Science Vale between Didcot and Abingdon, through the city and to Bicester, earmarked for its ‘growth potential’.

Susanna Pressel (Image: Photo: Oxford Mail)

Another county councillor, Labour’s Susanna Pressel, encouraged people to embrace the changes.

She said: “I know it can be hard for people whose lives are disrupted by lots of changes around them, but at the same time it’s really exciting that Oxford is in the forefront of so much innovative research in science and technology.

“If this development gets planning permission from Cherwell District Council, I hope these new discoveries will make the world a better place, as well as helping the country to become more prosperous.”