Warneford Park Pre-planning application consultation

Aerial image of the Warneford hospital

Thank you

We would like to thank everyone for your interest and involvement in the consultation activity on the plans for Warneford Park.

Please note this consultation activity is now CLOSED.

The final report on the stage two engagement is now available to download and read.

Further information regarding the planning application submission will be shared on the Warneford Park website as the plans progress.


Background

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is working in partnership with the University of Oxford and a partner on plans to develop a major brain health research and innovation campus at the Warneford Hospital site. This will include:

  • a new mental health hospital, offering the best treatment, care, and therapeutic environment.
  • a modern scientific facility for the world-leading brain research taking place at the University of Oxford, with additional space for biotech, pharmaceutical and start-up companies.
  • a new post-graduate college for the University of Oxford focused on medical sciences, bio-engineering and related disciplines.

Informing and involving the public about our plans is hugely important and since July 2024 we have carried out extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and conducted two pre-planning application public consultations.

In the spring of 2025 we will submit our formal planning application to Oxford City Council for consideration.


Public consultation activity

Group of people sharing feedback

First consultation

We held our first public consultation in September 2024 on our plans for Warneford Park. This included public drop-in exhibition events, a survey, question and answers, a webinar, stakeholder meetings and more. Your feedback gave us rich and helpful insights into how we move forward with our plans and designs. Following the consultation, we published an engagement report which summarises the key feedback, ideas and suggestions received from everyone who took part.


Second consultation

We continued to develop and revise our proposals taking into account your feedback from the first consultation and from 2 December 2024 to 10 January 2025 we held a second public consultation to present our revised plans in more detail and to once again hear your views.

Following the consultation, we published an engagement report which summarises the key feedback, ideas and suggestions received from everyone who took part.


Supporting resources

Supporting resources for our consultations, including proposed plans and diagrams, hard copies of surveys, online questions and answers and a series of videos across a variety of topics remain on this site for you to use.


Keeping up to date

Sign up to our newsletter to keep informed and updated on progress of the plans for Warneford Park.

Thank you

We would like to thank everyone for your interest and involvement in the consultation activity on the plans for Warneford Park.

Please note this consultation activity is now CLOSED.

The final report on the stage two engagement is now available to download and read.

Further information regarding the planning application submission will be shared on the Warneford Park website as the plans progress.


Background

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is working in partnership with the University of Oxford and a partner on plans to develop a major brain health research and innovation campus at the Warneford Hospital site. This will include:

  • a new mental health hospital, offering the best treatment, care, and therapeutic environment.
  • a modern scientific facility for the world-leading brain research taking place at the University of Oxford, with additional space for biotech, pharmaceutical and start-up companies.
  • a new post-graduate college for the University of Oxford focused on medical sciences, bio-engineering and related disciplines.

Informing and involving the public about our plans is hugely important and since July 2024 we have carried out extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and conducted two pre-planning application public consultations.

In the spring of 2025 we will submit our formal planning application to Oxford City Council for consideration.


Public consultation activity

Group of people sharing feedback

First consultation

We held our first public consultation in September 2024 on our plans for Warneford Park. This included public drop-in exhibition events, a survey, question and answers, a webinar, stakeholder meetings and more. Your feedback gave us rich and helpful insights into how we move forward with our plans and designs. Following the consultation, we published an engagement report which summarises the key feedback, ideas and suggestions received from everyone who took part.


Second consultation

We continued to develop and revise our proposals taking into account your feedback from the first consultation and from 2 December 2024 to 10 January 2025 we held a second public consultation to present our revised plans in more detail and to once again hear your views.

Following the consultation, we published an engagement report which summarises the key feedback, ideas and suggestions received from everyone who took part.


Supporting resources

Supporting resources for our consultations, including proposed plans and diagrams, hard copies of surveys, online questions and answers and a series of videos across a variety of topics remain on this site for you to use.


Keeping up to date

Sign up to our newsletter to keep informed and updated on progress of the plans for Warneford Park.

CLOSED: This section is now closed for new questions.

Questions and answers about the proposals for the development of the Warneford site are shown in this section. 

You can search the questions and answers using the search box or by clicking on the relevant category label below.

Please note: This section is now closed for new questions. Your questions from the second consultation will be answered shortly and added to this page.


  • Will the new hospital have the capacity to absorb the facilities and services at Littlemore thereby bringing efficiencies and economies of scale, and freeing up that site for disposal or alternative NHS use?

    Mike R asked 6 months ago

    The new hospital will have capacity for us to relocate the two adult wards from Littlemore. Options are currently being considered for what will happen to the vacated wards at Littlemore.

  • Will the new facilities offer therapy as well as intervention via medicines? Having had two members of my family in the Warneford, the lack of trauma therapy, psychology or psychotherapy and reliance on medicine worries me. It concerns me that the funding appears to focus on pharmaceutical interventions.

    CI asked 6 months ago

    Access to therapeutic activities will be available on all inpatient units.  This will include talking based interventions as well as pharmacology (medication-based treatments). Having available space to provide a range of therapeutic interventions will ensure that active care and treatment is available to all inpatients. The environment will afford the ability to provide different therapies and activities simultaneously.

    patient services
    patient services

  • What will be the impact of more people/families—competition for buses/ infrastructure on local neighbourhoods?

    4 months ago

    A detailed Transport Assessment will form part of the planning application responding to the challenges of the impact on the local infrastructure. This will include detail about how the local infrastructure will be improved as a result of the development.

    transport
    transport

  • Why isn't the value of releasing yet more land and buildings to Oxford University sufficient to fully fund the Oxford Health new Inpatient Hospital in entirety without having to also rely on funding from the taxpayer and the overstretched Health Budget? So often public bodies fail to secure the true value of their assets in the commercial marketplace.

    RJP asked 6 months ago

    The Trust will be ensuring that it gets best value from the land sale. To do this the land will be valued nearer to the time of sale to establish the current market price. At current market prices the proceeds from the land sale would be insufficient to fund the construction of the new hospital and so the Trust is seeking government funding as well.

  • What is your evidence to support the claim that more patients/visitors will use public transport to access the hospital than formerly?

    Made asked 3 months ago

    Answer to be confirmed 

  • Will there be any motorcycle/moped parking available? There are quite few staff that ride in, particularly in the warmer months.

    Biker asked 4 months ago

    Answer to be confirmed

    parking
    parking

  • Will the development to contribute to CIL in accordance with the relevant regulations and calculations?

    5 months ago
    Yes, the development will contribute to CIL in accordance with the relevant regulations.
    Further information on how the Headington Forum utilise CIL funding can be found here http://headingtonplan.org.uk/index.php/cil-funding/

  • Why have these plans not been put before the EDI network groups for input prior to this consultation process?

    4 months ago
    We have consulted with clinical groups and Experts by Experience (EBE) for each of the clinical areas. We have also visited other hospital builds with within the UK and internationally. 
    We have not engaged specifically with the EDI (equality, diversity, inclusion) network at this stage of design but if the project proceeds to the next level of detailed design we will be engaging with the EDI network and other users to take their views into account. 

  • Will research colleagues be in the same environment as patients?

    4 months ago
    Co-locating the research centre next to the hospital is at the heart of the Warneford vision. The Warneford Park development aims to create a fully integrated clinical and research facility, building on the existing track record of collaboration between the University of Oxford and the NHS. Co-locating hospital and university activities is crucial for establishing ‘Research Clinics’, a new model for patient care bringing significant benefits for patients, healthcare, and research.

    Examples of these clinics include the Oxford Brain Health Clinic, which offers earlier and more accurate diagnoses and facilitates treatment trials. This model has been successful and is being expanded beyond Oxford. Similarly, a new service for first episode psychosis patients is being developed. These successes were realised despite organizational boundaries, which makes collaboration clunky, inefficient and sometimes impossible. The aim is to transcend these boundaries entirely by embedding the University and NHS’ shared vision into the Warneford Research Clinic, ensuring rapid, high-quality patient assessments, better care, and accelerated research progress.

  • What are the benefits to the Local community?

    5 months ago
    The existing Warneford Hospital has served patients the local community well for 200 years but now needs replacing for future generations. This project will ensure the continued provision of excellent care for the local community and people of Oxfordshire.
     
    The development will also protect the heritage of the existing buildings, a historic part of the local area, giving them a new lease of life as an Oxford college. Furthermore, we intend to incorporate a facility within the college to benefit the local community, hosting recitals, talks and community events.
     
    The public will be able to enjoy a new café which will be located between the new research building and the new hospital.
     
    The new research building will contribute to the local economy and vitality of a thriving part of Oxford.
     
    We expect that as part of the travel strategy to support the development there will be better provision of local bus services and improvements to footpaths and cycleways.
     
    Furthermore, we anticipate that the development will generate a significant Community Infrastructure Levy payment, some of which will be available to be spent in support of local projects.

    public services
    public services
Page last updated: 07 Feb 2025, 10:45 AM