An eight-storey lab and four-storey car park were unanimously approved by Oxford planning chiefs this week. 

Oxford City Council's planning committee approved the application from Advanced Research Clusters GP (ARC) for plot 2000 of Oxford Business Park in John Smith Drive. 

The lab was one of two permitted by Oxford City Council's planning committee on Tuesday, September 17.

The car park has space for 302 cars, 18 motorbikes and 213 cycle space. The lab also includes facilities such as showers, changing and drying rooms. It will have a maximum height of 34m.

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CGI of new lab (Image: Oxford City Council) Alex Hollingsworth, Labour councillor for Carfax and Jericho, commended the scheme.

He said: “It's a site that has been waiting for a building for 32 years so you could say it's somewhat overdue.

"It's a really important site. I hope that the applicant, in the end, doesn't feel the need to build the multi-storey car park, but in the absence of any objection from the highways authority.

"I understand why it's included. I think it's really impressive.”

The business park, now known as ARC, includes more than 35 science and innovation businesses, covers 88 acres and has more than 3,500 members on campus.

Oxford is expected to have its stock of office and laboratory buildings soar over the next few years as developers work to complete more than 700,000 sq ft of new space. 

The planning committee unanimously approved the scheme.