The Bodleian Library's controversial plan for a book depository on the edge of the city will be re-examined.
Just days after the £29m scheme - on the Osney Mead industrial estate - was given the go-ahead by the city council, 14 Oxford city councillors have signed a petition to have that decision 'called in'. The plans will now be decided by a meeting of the full council, scheduled for November 19. Last Thursday, the council's strategic development control committee voted in favour of the depository - capable of holding nearly eight million books - by six votes to five.
Councillor Paul Sargent, who orchestrated the call-in, said the major issues were flooding and the visual impact of the 20m-high building. He said also claimed the university had not fully explored alternative locations. Mr Sargent said: "If the university can convince me they have done everything they can to find an alternative site I would be more amenable to supporting them." Mr Sargent has also called for major interested organisations - such as English Heritage and the Environment Agency - to attend the meeting to make their views clear.
An Oxford University spokesman said: "The university respects the decision to give further scrutiny to a major development such as the depository."
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