GRASSY areas around Blackbird Leys are set to be paved over to make room for new parking spaces.

A total of 63 new parking bays are planned in areas along Field Avenue and Kent Close on the Blackbird Leys Estate.

Along Field Avenue, Strawberry Path and Butterwort Close located near the Leys Leisure Centre, there would be 49 car parking spaces as well as 3 disabled access spaces,

At Kent Close, near the Sandy Lane Sports ground, there would be a further 11 new parking spots.

The two linked schemes have been submitted to Oxford City Council for planning permission by Oxford Direct Services.

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ODS is a company which is wholly-owned by the city council and carries out work including bin collections, street cleaning and building maintenance.

In both applications, a design statement setting out the reason for why the car parks should be built said the two areas 'offer little in the way' of formal parking provision, and said ODS is trying to make up for it.

The design statement said both areas are often plagued by informal parking, with people leaving their cars on the edges along roads.

This can sometimes cause traffic queues and problems for the bus route which runs along Field Avenue as well.

Some of the green areas which could become car parks, are also currently used as informal parking areas, and the design statement said some of them have 'deteriorated' as a result of this.

ODS argued that the new parking bays could actually smarten up the grass areas which have become muddy due to parking.

The company also plans to work with the city council on its new Go Ultra Low scheme to encourage drivers to switch to electric-powered cars.

To do this, it plans to install a series of electric car chargers across the two new parking sites, to 'future proof' the plans as electric vehicle uptake increases in coming years.

There are plans to run underground ducts which could serve 28 electric vehicles along Fields Avenue, and a further 11 at Kent Close.

Oxford Mail:

The new parking spaces at Field Avenue, Strawberry Path and Butterwort Close. Picture: via Oxford City Council.

So far, public reaction to the new parking spaces has been positive, according to planning documents.

A public consultation has led to people living along roads near Fields Avenue and Kent Close being sent letters by the city council asking them their opinions on the plan.

Some of them have given their opinions on the schemes by email.

One resident of Strawberry Path, anonymised in the documents, wrote to the council in support of the application, but said more parking spaces than those planned should be built.

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They said: "We appreciate that you may want to keep the balance between providing parking and green spaces but every property has a garden of their own accept for the first floor maisonettes.

"As a suggestion to keep that balance for the residents living on the first floor the appropriate council team could put a plan in place to improve the communal area at the front of the maisonettes."

The two new parking plans form part of a large city-wide ambition the council has for a 'Great Estates car parking scheme'.

The Great Estates plans has been in the pipeline for several years and aims to make improvements to the city's different council estates.

This is not just limited to new parking bays, but also includes landscaping and better security on individual homes and flat blocks.

The locations of where future car parks might be added in is not specified in the plans.

The two planning applications can be found at the Oxford City Council planning webpage: oxford.gov.uk/planning

Search reference 20/00681/CT3 for Field Avenue and reference 20/00763/CT3 for Kent Close.