Oxford City Council plans to sell 11 New Road to St Peter’s College, which wants to quadruple student accommodation from six to 24 rooms.
Oxford City Council is preparing to sell a city-centre building to St Peter’s College, which wants to quadruple the number of student bedrooms at the property and replace an existing commercial unit with accommodation.
The council’s cabinet is due to consider the proposed disposal of 11 New Road on Wednesday 16 September. The authority has received an offer for the property, subject to planning permission for the college’s proposed redevelopment.
The building stands close to the Westgate shopping centre and County Hall and is currently occupied by a number of businesses. Castle News and Classy Barbers operate from the ground floor, while American Nails occupies the first floor.
St Peter’s College already leases the second floor, where there is a six-bedroom house in multiple occupation for students. Under planning application 26/01994/FUL, the college proposes to increase the number of student bedrooms at the property from six to 24.
The plans would provide eight bedrooms on each floor, with shared bathrooms and kitchens and communal amenity space in the basement. The first-floor nail salon would be removed and converted into permanent student accommodation.
The proposal would also extend the front of the building by 1.06 metres into land belonging to St Peter’s College behind New Road. The college says the redesigned building would adopt a 1930s arts-and-crafts style intended to complement the adjacent Stokes’ pastry school building and other parts of the college.
In its planning submission, St Peter’s College said it was seeking to address a shortfall in student accommodation. It said 44 undergraduate and graduate bedrooms were required to meet its needs during the current academic year.
The planning application remains under consideration by Oxford City Council, which is also the planning authority responsible for determining the application. The target date for a decision is 12 October.
The proposed sale would end the council’s ownership of the property, which currently generates annual rental income of £110,280.
The council report recommending the disposal says the sale would provide capital funding that could be used to reduce borrowing. Financial details of the proposed transaction will remain confidential until the sale has been completed.
The council is therefore being asked to approve the disposal while a planning application relating to the same property remains under consideration by the authority.
The proposed transaction follows other disposals of council-owned property in recent years. In 2025, the council sold the Grade II-listed North Gate Hall, opposite the Oxford Union, to its tenant, the Oxford Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
For 11 New Road, the outcome of both the proposed sale and the redevelopment will depend on decisions still to be made. Cabinet is due to consider the property disposal on 16 September, while the planning application is expected to be determined in October.
Reporting contribution by Isabella Harris, Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Oxfordshire, covering local politics, council meetings and planning decisions across six councils in the county.
