Oxford University has been accused of "colonising" the city with housebuilding as critics say they are turning it into a "campus".
Independent MP candidate for Oxford East Jabu Nala-Hartley is raising concerns around what she describes as the city council "dancing to the university's agenda".
This comes as planned development including the multi-million pound Oxpens site off Oxpens Road have been earmarked by the university for student accommodation and "private commercial developments".
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Ms Nala-Hartley said: "Oxford City Council appears to believe that its job is to facilitate the university’s agenda of turning the city into its campus, whilst forcing all the surrounding towns and villages to concrete the green belt and become a commuter belt to service them.
“Every housing developer in Oxford has to ensure that 50 per cent of their developments comprise affordable housing - except one: Oxford University, who do not have to meet any quota at all.
"The richest institution in the city, the one that is the primary cause of its affordability crisis, is the only one exempt from helping to resolve it. It really is one rule for us and another for them.
“I grew up in apartheid South Africa where black workers were stripped of their rights and banned from living in the cities they had to serve.
"But today I see Oxford too being turned into a city from which the working class are barred, as the university colonises more and more of the city, forcing up rents and pushing working class families out of their own town to surrounding towns and villages from where they have to commute every day, stripping these areas of a sense of community."
Responding to the concern, city council cabinet member for planning Louise Upton insisted the council already imposes strong limits on university development.
Ms Upton said: "We do have very robust planning policies.
"The way we do that is by limiting the number of students who can live out.
"Those limits we put on were strongly opposed by the universities but we stood up for them.
"They can’t buy up random bits of land and build student housing on it.
"The university clearly historically owns a lot of land – no planning authority can force a private owner to do anything on their land.
"It’s a difficult balance getting employment space in the right place and having enough housing.
"To suggest the city council is allowing the university to stamp all over it is daft."
Ms Upton added she thought "we do need to recognise that the university makes a huge contribution to the city and to the UK".
The University of Oxford did not respond to a request for comment.
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About the author
Noor is the Local Democracy Reporter for Oxfordshire who covers political stories from across the county.
She began working as a journalist in Oxford in September 2023 having graduated from the University of Oxford.
Noor was trained at the News Associates journalism school and can be found on X through the handle @NoorJQurashi
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