November 2023

Oxford City Council (OCC)’s draft Local Plan 2040 (LP2040), is out for consultation; closing date 5 January 2024. Plans to build on the Horse Fields (HF) remain unchanged, despite the huge number of objections to OxPlace’s application last year. We urge you to write in again, because this is a chance to get the HF removed from allocation in the LP2040 altogether. You can respond
online here: https://consultation.oxford.gov.uk/planning-services/oxford-local-plan-2040-reg19-
consultation
For relevant documents visit
https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20067/planning_policy/1460/oxford_local_plan_2040
Click on ‘Downloads’ at foot of page, or click link below
https://www.oxford.gov.uk/downloads/download/1386/oxford_local_plan_2040_submission_draft_-_site_assessments >
SPS13 Site Assessment 389 Land at Meadow Lane 130923 PDF, 258.16 KB

Please mention SP13 ‘Land at Meadow Lane’ (changed from ‘SP42’ in the earlier Local Plan 2036)]
Feel free to draw on our main points of objection, summarised below:

1. Conservation Area status
   Any development of Land at Meadow Lane fails to conserve and protect the ‘strong rural characteristics’ identified as a key feature in the Iffley Conservation Area Appraisal (2009) and will deliver very substantial harm to these assets.
2. County Council Principal Quiet Route
   Church Way and Meadow Lane are part of the designated Principal Quiet Route OXR 18, heavily used for leisure and active travel by cyclists, joggers, walkers, families with prams, mobility scooters, and horse-riders. This fact seems to have been missing from the allocation as presented to the Inspector for LP2036. Any development of ‘Land at Meadow Lane’ fails to take into account the substantial harm that increased vehicular traffic will have on the Quiet Route at a time when OCC policy is to increase active travel and reduce congestion, air pollution and carbon emissions. Increased traffic around the village is a major concern.
3. Ecology
   The HF ‘easily meet the criteria to be classified as an Oxford City Wildlife Site’ (Bioscan). The fields were allocated in LP2036 on the basis of a cursory look over the gate with no proper ecological survey. The site includes a large, active badger sett and the fields are foraging grounds. This is a protected species and should have been mentioned in any ecological assessment prior to allocation. We are very
   concerned that OCC allows such inadequate assessment to form the basis of decision-making with an irreversible impact on our environment.
4. Flood Risk and Drainage
   In the light of climate change, OCC should not allow any development within Flood Zones 3a or 3b, except in wholly exceptional circumstances. FOIV remains deeply concerned about the proposal to build 30+ houses on the last remaining acres in the Iffley Conservation Area. It is felt that there was insufficient consultation about the original allocation plans, and that many local people including those on Meadow Lane, had no idea what was being proposed. We note that for the HF application there were over 1,000 formal responses on the City’s Planning portal – a huge number – with some 98% of those objecting to it, including from statutory
   consultees such as the Environment Agency; plus BBOWT; Buglife; Windrush Against Sewage Pollution; Cotswolds Rivers Trust; CPRE Oxfordshire; Cyclox; Oxford Badger Group; Iffley Fields Residents Association; Oxford Rivers Improvement Campaign; Oxford Civic Society; Oxford Pedestrians Association; Oxford Urban Wildlife Group; plus a Holding Objection from Thames Valley Police. We fundamentally oppose the principle of building on this site since it does not comply either with SP42 [now SP13] or the Council’s development plans as a whole. This site is not suitable for development. The draft LP 2040 is simply repeating the same policy, based on the same erroneous assessment. We expect OCC to take notice of the huge opposition to the HF proposal, and an alternative vision – such as a nature school – to be acted upon or at least taken into consideration. Since OCC owns this site, there is no excuse for not applying the core principles in LP2040 of addressing the climate emergency, promoting green transport/cycling infrastructure. The need for affordable, social rent housing can be met on nearby Iffley Mead, another publicly owned site, which is also allocated for development (SP14 in LP2040). In response to OxPlace’s December 2022 application, FOIV engaged experts in five key areas: Heritage/Conservation (Orion Heritage); Landscape/Environment (Alison Farmer Associates); Ecology/Biodiversity (Bioscan Ltd); Transport/Traffic (Velocity); Drainage/Flooding (Water Resource Associates); plus Mark Wood Associates, by crowdfunding, on Planning. The experts concluded that the application should be rejected, and the Planning office sent it back for thorough revisions. We await OxPlace’s revised application and have retained the experts to review the re-submitted documents. An independent Crowd Funder will be set up to invite donations to pay the experts.