Author name: Paul Castell

Dear Member/ Resident

With the City Council elections coming up on Thursday 7 May, we asked candidates for a short statement relating to the City Council’s plans for developing Land at Meadow Lane in the Conservation Area. We have set out the party’s responses below, in the order set out on the Council’s website.

Kind regards
Martin Reed
Chair FOIV

Green Party

“Oxford Green Party and city councillors objected to the allocation of the Horse Fields for development in the City Council’s Local Plan during the first phase of consultation. The site provides a vital wildlife corridor, is rich in biodiversity itself, and pre-development activities have shown that works cannot take place without disruption to the natural environment, including legally protected species like badgers. We welcome the proposals for a Meadow School to be established here and would rather see sites such as the Cowley Marsh depot more densely developed to meet Oxford’s housing need.”

Liberal Democrat

“We are mindful of the great natural value of the meadows, woods and other green spaces along the city’s rivers, and so would be happy to explore amending the designation for this site. Potential options could include a Meadow School, as well as revised designs that better preserve the site’s natural value, which enhance public access to and enjoyment of the nearby riverside green space, or which incorporate Meadow School facilities alongside other uses. The City’s Local Plan as a whole must strike the right balance between providing social homes to help those in greatest need on the one hand, and preserving our beautiful and naturally valuable green spaces on the other.”

Reform UK

No statement received

Independent Oxford Alliance

“I am totally against Land at Meadow Lane being used for housing development, and entirely supportive of it being used instead for outdoor education – preserving the meadow for the benefit of all, while enhancing the wellbeing of children. Having been a Housing Service Manager in three local councils, I understand the need to address the acute housing shortage, but it must be delivered in appropriate locations that do not deprive the community of important amenities. If elected, I will argue this case using environmental and planning constraints that limit its realistic development potential, and support FOFI’s application for judicial review.”

Conservative Party

No statement received

Labour Party

“There are many important issues in Iffley, from traffic matters to river safety, and this is one of them.  The “horse field” site is in the proposed Local Plan adopted by Full Council, and a government inspector will take a final view. There is also a live planning application for affordable housing – I won’t be part of deciding this and neither will any candidate expressing a clear view now.  A “Meadow School” is a nice idea but until the planning process has concluded an alternative site would be more realistic.  I strongly support keeping the Memorial Field as green space.”

——————————————————————————————————————-

FOIV says:

The proposed Local Plan has not yet been adopted by Full Council, it was approved to go forward for further consultation and submission for Government examination. The approval is being challenged by Friends of the Fields Iffley around flaws in this process, in particular at the Full Council meeting in January. At that meeting, Rose Hill and Iffley’s Independent Councillor David Henwood proposed a motion to remove the Horse Fields from the Local Plan but that was defeated by Labour councillors.

The planning application by the City Council’s housing company remains open since 2022. In our view, this is because the Council is both land owner and planning authority; any other developer would have either been refused by now or told to withdraw.

The Council’s housing arm OxPlace have been unable to come forward with a suitable plan for sustainable development due to the sensitivity of this site. Indeed, the new Local Plan has an effectively zero [nil] housing allocation, which cannot promise any contribution to housing targets, and so the site should be urgently withdrawn so that Meadow School plans can be proceed in time for inclusion in a Heritage Lottery funding bid.

The Horse Fields is already a multifunctional space: a habitat for abundant biodiversity, carbon storage over centuries in the soil, flood protection, providing the essential setting for Iffley’s conservation area, and connection to Iffley’s heritage farming landscape. Surveys of the Principal Quiet Route for Active Travel that border the Horse Fields show how much the 1000s of people that use this route value the views, nature connection, tranquillity and sense of place as a resource for the whole city and its visitors. Any housing here would be harmful to these functions.

The Horse Fields are an ideal site for outdoor education (Meadow School) and are just large enough to take managed footfall and conserve biodiversity, whilst creating a safe enclosed space in a location that is accessible on foot to a range of schools. The neighbouring Memorial Field, currently not under threat of development, could provide wider community access, with the opportunity of replanting of the orchard at the lower end of the field.

Together these publicly owned meadows can provide an abundance of public benefit whilst conserving and enhancing the gifts they already bring.

Help to call time on 5 years of representations to the Council, including over 1000 objections to the planning application.

Ask all the parties to collaborate with local stakeholders to bring these positive alternatives to fruition on a timely basis.