The new Blackbird Leys Community Centre will:
- Be a hub for social sustainability, community aspiration, and civic pride
- Improve access to community activities, outreach services, socialising, learning and self-improvement
- Be extremely environmentally efficient and sustainable
- Has been realised through an exemplar process of community empowerment and co-design
Since summer 2023, we have been working with the local community to understand your views about the new Blackbird Leys Community Centre and the public space surrounding it.
We held more than 40 public events over 12 months, engaging over 1,000 people – or one in 12 Leys residents.
We also set up the Leys Community Review Panel made up of local residents, who worked with the project team to communicate the community’s interests to the design team.
Our designs
Your feedback helped to shape the final designs.
Our plans include:
- A range of community hall sizes, a shared hub, a community kitchen, bookable spaces, lettable offices, and a community garden
- Plenty of open space, landscaped public squares, a central lawn, and new tree planting
- Play areas for children of a range of ages
- Links to the church and Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground
- A sustainable approach – the Community Centre is fossil fuel free, featuring solar panels and Passive House design principles, and is targeting BREEAM “Excellent”.
Next steps
We submitted a detailed planning application to Oxford City Council in October. We expect the council’s planning committee to consider this application in early 2025. We will share updates here as the application progresses.
You can view and comment on the application on Oxford City Council’s planning portal using the link below:
Oxford City Council planning portal
Find out more about our plans:
View the Design and Access Statement – which explains the designs in more detail and how it ensures equal access for all users.
View the Statement of Community Involvement – which outlines how we’ve engaged with the local community in developing the plans.
You can also view CGIs of the proposed Community Centre designs in the gallery at the bottom of this page.
Thank you for everyone’s support and input in developing the designs.
