A NEW visitor centre could be built beside Oxford’s Christ Church Meadow.
Christ Church has proposed building the centre, which would provide tourists with information about the college and the meadow.
It would be built on the western side of New Walk, the tree-lined avenue leading to the Thames.
An estimated one million people every year visit the meadow, bordered by buildings in St Aldate’s, the Thames and Cherwell, Christ Church and remains of the old city wall.
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If the college’s plans are approved by Oxford City Council, the centre would house a shop, cafe, toilets and new information points.
College dean the Very Rev Professor Martyn Percy said it would also free up space in the 13th-century Chapter House, where there is currently a small tourist shop.
He said: “The centre will significantly improve the overall experience of visitors to the meadow and Christ Church.
“It has been sensitively designed to harmonise with its rural setting and will provide facilities which will be welcomed and enjoyed by residents of Oxford, as well as people from further afield.
“I particularly rejoice in the liberation of our magnificent Chapter House, which will now become available for concerts, meetings and other events.”
An existing thatched barn already at the site will be refurbished, the college said, and new buildings were designed in a “barnyard style” by architect firm Purcell.
These will replace metal containers to provide staff changing and dining facilities.
The meadow is Grade I listed, so the college has also had to consult the city council and English Heritage on the changes because they will alter the landscape.
It has also consulted Oxford Preservation Trust.
Debbie Dance.
Director Debbie Dance said: “Christ Church Meadow is one of Oxford’s key green spaces and while it belongs to the college it is also something many residents and visitors in Oxford enjoy regularly.
“Preserving its character and feeling is hugely important and we look forward to see how the plans have progressed. Purcell is an architects’ firm we know well and so we are hopeful that we will like the scheme when we see it.”
The 46-acre meadow is one of the oldest maintained public parks in the country and has been continuously managed since the 16th century. It passed into the college’s ownership during the reign of Henry VIII and public access is allowed 364 days of the year.
It was saved from plans to drive a relief road across it in the 1960s.
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