Plans to add 16 staff parking spaces at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital have been withdrawn
Plans to extend staff parking at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital have been withdrawn, as a dispute over the availability of spaces and access to the hospital continues.
The proposal, submitted to Oxford City Council, sought permission to formalise an area beside Ivy Lane that has been used informally by hospital staff for parking since 2024.
The site is on the former gardeners’ compound, where a greenhouse was demolished. The application said the area could provide 16 additional staff parking spaces.
But the plans have now been withdrawn. A notice dated 09 September from David Butler, Oxford City Council’s director of planning and regulation, confirmed that the application had been treated as withdrawn following recent communication between the council and applicant.
The proposal came against the backdrop of a significant reduction in staff parking at the hospital.
According to the planning documents, 136 staff parking spaces have been lost since January 2024. The reduction is linked to the construction of a new 24,740 sq ft surgical hub on land that was previously used as a staff car park.
The John Radcliffe currently has 1,543 staff parking spaces and 580 visitor spaces. The trust said the proposed extension would have provided additional capacity for staff who cannot use public transport to travel to and from work.
The planning statement described the scheme as a “modest” increase in parking, arguing that using otherwise under-utilised land would ease pressure elsewhere on the hospital campus and potentially leave other areas available for hospital development.
The parking shortage has already prompted the trust to explore other measures. These have included a trial arrangement under which it purchased 200 spaces at Thornhill Park and Ride, around two miles from the hospital.
The hospital continues to warn patients and visitors that parking space is limited and that there is no on-street parking nearby. It advises people to allow plenty of time to find a space and suggests considering Park & Ride services instead of driving to the hospital.
The issue has also become the subject of a political dispute.
Independent Oxford Alliance leader and city and county councillor David Henwood has called for a multi-storey car park at the hospital. A petition supporting a multi-storey facility has attracted more than 750 signatures in less than a week.
“Patients should not have to worry about whether they can find a parking space when they need to get to hospital,” Mr Henwood said.
But the proposal for more parking has faced opposition from some local councillors concerned about the effect on traffic.
Christopher Smowton, Liberal Democrat city councillor for Headington, said additional parking would bring more traffic onto roads that were already overloaded at peak times.
The withdrawal of the Ivy Lane application leaves the immediate proposal for 16 additional staff spaces unresolved, while the wider question of how parking should be managed at the John Radcliffe remains part of a broader debate about hospital expansion, transport and access in Headington.
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.
