Civic chiefs have triggered more than £70m to unlock 350 homes to be owned by the city council. 

Oxford City Council's cabinet made the decision, to transfer 354 homes at Barton Park, at its meeting on Wednesday, October 16. 

This means more houses will become available for people on waiting lists. 

A total of £73,092,761 has been triggered for this.

The council can now take a transfer of the 168 residential units from Oxford City Housing (Investment) Limited to the Housing Revenue Account. 

They will also acquire the remaining 184 units directly from the developer Barton (Oxford) LLP. 

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Linda Smith (Image: Contributed) Louise Upton, cabinet member for planning, praised the decision.

She said: “This is fantastic news. Another 350 homes for people on the waiting list. We've managed to make it work so well. This is what really good house building councils do.”

Before the meeting Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing and communities, said: "This is a good thing for everyone.

"Tenants will still be paying social rent and get more rights. OX Place will be free to focus on building high-quality affordable homes.

"The HRA will gain more than 350 new homes, and the rent their tenants pay will make a valuable contribution to our plans for delivering more council homes and improving our existing properties."

Susan Brown, leader of the council, added: “We welcome the transfer of tenancies at Barton Park to the HRA.

"This will allow OX Place to focus on the development of new homes across Oxford."

The council already manages the day-to-day running of OX Place tenancies.

Therefore, tenants are unlikely to notice any changes in the management of their tenancies, the council said.

The OX Place homes were already let at social rent, and this will remain unchanged.

Upon becoming council tenants, the existing residents will gain new rights to arrange a mutual exchange of their home or exercise the right to buy.

Spouses, partners, or close family members living with a tenant at the time of their death will also gain the right to inherit their tenancy.

Barton Park Barton Park (Image: Contributed) OX Place will gift any furniture or appliances rented through the furnished tenancy scheme, so tenants own them outright.

When work to build the first homes at Barton Park started in 2015, government finance restrictions meant councils could not use the HRA to fund the building of affordable council homes.

Instead, the council used low-cost borrowing to finance Barton Park’s affordable homes from its general fund. This meant they could not be council housing.

However, the lifting of borrowing restrictions in 2018 removed this need.

The decision of the cabinet will need to be rubber-stamped at the full council meeting on Monday, November 25.