Educational Development in Bloxham
About This Project
Client:
Site:
Dewey Sports Centre, Bloxham
Introduction:
Bloxham School has recently been granted permission to extend and redevelop its sports facilities at Dewey Sports Centre. Tree Frontiers were instrumental in aiding the design process for the site by outlining constraints imposed by the existing trees to the architectural and landscaping teams. An initial tree survey in 2020 was followed by an updated survey in 2021 and a revalidation in 2023. Reports were provided at each stage and plans were subsequently reviewed and submitted in 2024.
The Client:
Bloxham School is a co-educational day and boarding school for pupils aged 11-18. Its main sports facility is currently housed at Dewey Sports Centre. The school plans to extend the existing building and to improve the outdoor facilities by adding five new netball/tennis courts, additional parking spaces and floodlighting.
The Opportunity:
Tree Frontiers were approached by Bloxham School in 2020 and asked to undertake an initial tree survey in order to provide guidance for proposed plans. Following this initial survey we drew up an arboricultural feasibility assessment and tree constraints plan which were submitted to the school. In this report we were able to identify trees and hedgerows which would need due consideration in any planned development work.
In 2022 we were contacted by Edgars, who had been appointed as planning consultants for the Dewey Sports Centre redevelopment plan. Edgars required us to provide further arboricultural input to the detailed planning of the extension and new facilities at Dewey, which we did by means of an updated tree survey and Arboricultural Impact Assessment. The AIA identified nine trees and one group of trees which would require removal in the proposed plans, as well as the partial removal of four groups of trees and one hedgerow. Working with the landscape architects we were able to establish a replacement planting schedule to include 36 new specimens, approximately 2ha of woodland and extensive shrubs and understorey planting. This would provide long-term enhancements to the overall site.
Trees to be removed to allow further parking space
The Results:
In 2022 pre-application discussions were entered into with Cherwell District Council as the local planning authority. Feedback following a review of the submitted information included comments from the tree officer about the potentially harmful impacts which would result in the loss of trees the council would rather see retained. As a result of this, we were instructed to determine what changes would be required to the proposed layout to allow those trees to be retained. This required close collaboration with the project architect (Thinking Buildings), landscape team (DSA Environment & Design), and engineers (Cole Easdon).
Once the scheme had been revised to allow the most significant trees to be retained, the planning application was submitted in the summer of 2024 and planning consent granted in early 2025.
This project emphasises the importance of collaboration between all members of the project team, the result of which has been a detailed and considered plan for the extension of the existing building, the addition of new netball/tennis courts, additional parking spaces, and floodlighting. This project not only addresses the immediate needs of the school and ensures long-term enhancements to the overall site through the replacement planting schedule, but also helps to meet the expectations of the wider community by limiting potentially harmful impacts and by retaining and protecting key elements of green infrastructure. If you encounter similar challenges and aim to achieve comparable results in your development projects, please contact Tree Frontiers Ltd.