PROPOSALS to redevelop Oxford’s West End into a new quarter of the city have been unveiled.

In a “breakthrough” development, Nuffield College has confirmed it will step in to help buy land in the Oxpens area and form a partnership with Oxford City Council.

This would see them deliver offices, academic buildings, hundreds of homes and a hotel proposed for the site.

Nuffield College bursar Gwilym Hughes said: “We have made a real breakthrough and are very excited about these plans.

“The regeneration of the West End will be of huge benefit to everyone and I cannot think of a groundbreaking approach like this that has been taken in Oxford before.

“Everyone realises you cannot do these schemes in isolation and we have now got to see how these sites could fit together.”

The college and city council would also agree to jointly create a wider ‘masterplan’ for Oxpens, Frideswide Square, the so-called island between Hythe Bridge Street and Park End Street, the Worcester Street car park and the area around the Westgate Shopping Centre.

Together they would form “a mixed-use social science and business quarter that connects individual sites across the city centre West End”, a report to senior city councillors said.

It is understood the partnership deal will be considered by both the council’s executive board and the college’s governing body on Thursday.

Mr Hughes said it was hoped academic buildings for the college and Oxford University could be intermingled with commercial and leisure buildings, in a bid to create a “cluster” for the social sciences and vibrant public spaces.

The college earlier this year revealed it had acquired the leasehold for the Jam Factory site and other buildings on the south side of Frideswide Square, as well as the so-called island site that includes the Royal Oxford Hotel.

The public would get its first chance to hear about the vision in March, he said, when the college is planning to sponsor a forum event organised by Oxford Civic Society to discuss the future of the West End. He added: “It is clearly still very early days and we will be carrying out public consultations.”

City council leader Bob Price said there were also plans to increase the proposed density of development at the Oxpens, to boost both the amount of potential office space and homes – which would include social housing and key worker housing.

Previously up to 400 homes were proposed and about 14,000 sq m of commercial space, but Mr Price said it was now expected the number of homes could be up to 500.

He added: “Our aim is to use the land as efficiently as possible.”

If the partnership proposals are approved, work to overhaul infrastructure at the site would be expected to begin in 2017.