Green Spaces
The many and varied open spaces in Oxfordshire’s towns and in the city if Oxford make the county one of the most desirable places to live and work. Yet they are under constant threat from housing and commercial development. Local communities are increasingly fighting to protect their much-loved and often little-known open spaces by registering them as Town or Village Greens.
CPRE Oxfordshire is committed to protecting and promoting the county’s open spaces and the public’s right to enjoy them and we are supporting more and more local campaigns for Town Greens.
News - Oxford Draft Green Spaces Strategy deeply flawed
CPRE has criticised Oxford City Council’s draft Green Spaces Strategy for its failure to include key elements such as an up-to-date audit of current spaces.
In its response to the public consultation, CPRE Oxford District has pointed out that the document lacks background context, including basic information such as an up-to-date audit of the quantity and quality of existing green space. It does not include any maps identifying target areas for improvement or any detailed information on the resources required to meet the action plan. Finally, there is no detail included on how the Strategy will be monitored or reviewed.
We are therefore asking the City Council to re-draft the Green Spaces Strategy so that it reflects a firm commitment to protecting existing green space, and to opening up green space in those areas which are currently underprovided.
Read our press release (PDF).
Read our full response to the consultation (PDF).
Read Oxford City Council's Draft Green Spaces Strategy 2012-2026 (PDF).
Past & Ongoing Campaigns
CPRE worked closely with the Friends of Warneford Meadow who campaigned for Town Green status for Warneford Meadow in east Oxford; the meadow and orchard were finally registered as a Town Green in May 2010.
We also worked alongside the campaign group, Save Radley Lakes, who fought a long and bitter campaign to protect lakes near Abingdon from being filled with fly ash from nearby Didcot Power Station; while the lakes were not granted Town Green status, the site is now protected and managed by the Northmoor Trust.
Our West Oxfordshire District also supported campaign group, Witney First, in their effort to gain Town Green status for part of the Witney Country Park, in an endeavour to prevent the Cogges Link Road from being built; while Town Green status was not awarded, the campaign against the new Link Road continues.
We are currently working closely with the Friends of Oxpens Meadow in their campaign to get part of Oxpens Meadow, in west Oxford, registered as a Town Green.
Oxpens from Mill Stream: photo by Helena Whall
Town Greens
A Village or Town Green is to most of us the green spaces in the middle of our settlements. In law the term 'Town Green' (which means the same as 'Village Green') refers to common land. This land need not be green. According to the Commons Act to get an area of land declared a Town Green must have been used by local people in common, without permission or hindrance from the landowner, and without force for at least twenty years. If only it was that simple. It has taken long, trenchant campaigning and legal action that went all the way to the House of Lords to get the law clarified. That happened here in Oxfordshire - the county where Town Greens were reinvented!
Three cases in particular have clarified the law on Town Greens: Sunningwell and Trap Grounds, in north Oxford, and Warneford Meadow in east Oxford.
CPRE Oxfordshire has recently issued a guide on how to fight for Town Green status (PDF). More information about Town Greens can be found on the Open Spaces Society website.
See: Oxford Green Spaces Circular Walk (external website)
The Oxford Green Spaces Circular Walk was created in July 2010 by the Friends of Warneford Meadow, the Friends of the Trap Grounds, the Friends of Oxpens Meadow and CPRE Oxford City, with assistance from The Ramblers' Association, to increase awareness of Oxford's Green Spaces.
Oxford Green Belt Way
The CPRE Oxford Green Belt Way links Oxford's Park & Ride sites and is crossed by major bus routes, making it easy for city and village dwellers to access the route and to travel back to their starting point. The route provides excellent views of Oxford's Dreaming Spires, as well as of Otmoor, Foxcombe Hill and Wytham Woods. The walk uses existing footpaths and bridleways. The Oxford Green Belt Way has been created with the help of Oxfordshire County Council's Countryside Service and the Oxford Fieldpaths Society.
CPRE Oxfordshire created the 50 mile circular walk as part of its 75th birthday celebrations, and to highlight the importance of the Green Belt, which was created around Oxford now more than 50 years ago.
Oxford Green Spaces Campaign
In the summer of 2011, the Oxford District of CPRE launched the Oxford Green Spaces campaign, an initiative to promote and protect the city’s valued green spaces.
Research has already been undertaken by members of the Committee to map the green infrastructure of Oxford. The result is a user-friendly map showing all the green spaces within the city, as well as the Green Belt. The map is designed to inform and advise residents of their local green spaces – where they are, what their designation is and whether or not they are under threat from development. The map is based on the contours of the 16 ‘urban villages’ and detailed maps showing the green spaces within each of the urban villages have also been created.
The map has already proved invaluable to residential groups in formulating their responses to the City District’s Sites and Housing Development Plan Document (DPD), which has allocated 100 sites around the city for future development.
The District Committee is currently engaged with several residents' groups giving them advice on how they can promote and protect their threatened green spaces.
To get your copy of the Oxford Green Spaces map (A3) and the detailed Urban Village maps (A4) please email: Becky Crockett
Find Out More
Below are a list of links to further information regarding this campaign: