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The Trap Grounds (six acres of reedbed, ponds, and woodland in suburban north Oxford) were successfully registered as a Town Green after a four-year legal campaign by the local community, ending in the House of Lords in 2006.

Despite its origins as a rubbish tip, over the past 50 years the Trap Grounds have become a rich wildlife haven in the midst of the city. It would have been sacrificed for housing were it not for a determined campaign by local residents, the Friends of the Trap Grounds. Their long, trenchant and expensive campaign ended in the House of Lords. The decision of the Law Lords in favour of the campaigners not only saved Trap Grounds but clarified the law, thereby allowing many other campaigns, including those to save Warneford Meadow in Oxfordshire, to proceed.

After a public inquiry held in Oxford in 2002 the Inspector, Vivian Chapman QC, accepted the evidence of the Friends of the Trap Grounds that the western half of the site (the scrubland) had been used by the local community for lawful pastimes as of right for at least twenty years, and that it should therefore be registered as a Town Green.

Oxford City Council, which owned the site and wanted to develop it, took the case to the High Court, where Mr Justice Lightman ruled in favour of the Friends. The City Council then appealed to the Court of Appeal, which found against the Friends on a technicality which would have made it virtually impossible for any piece of land to be registered as a Town Green in future. So the Friends appealed to the House of Lords in 2006, and won! The Trap Grounds is now safe from development and thanks to the determination of the Friends, the law relating to Town Greens was clarified and strengthened.

The future of this wildlife haven is now assured – not only for the resident glow worms and water voles, but for walkers and bird-watchers in search of peace and quiet. The Friends of the Trap Grounds exists to preserve the Grounds for present and future recreation and to promote its biodiversity.

In June 2007, CPRE Oxfordshire awarded the CPRE Mark to the Friends of the Trap Grounds in recognition of their outstanding and successful campaign to save the site.

The Friends of the Trap Grounds collaborated with the CPRE City District Committee in organising the Oxford Green Spaces Circular Walk in 2010, designed to raise awareness about the city’s open spaces and to assist local communities in protecting them.

images on this page courtesy of Alan Allport