News Update:

• 4 March. Southfields Golf Course saved from development.
• The City Council is preparing the final version of the Core Strategy for submission to government in 2008
• 31 May. Deadline for written submissions about the Core Strategy and the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment.
• 21 May. 177 acres of Oxford's green fields will be lost by 2026
• 11 May. CPRE response to the Core Strategy Preferred Options
• 30 March. Oxford City Council launches its consultation on the Core Strategy. The deadline for comments is 11 May. These proposals have significant implications for the green spaces within Oxford City.

4 March 2008: Southfield Golf Course has been saved from being turned into a massive housing development - for the time being.

Oxford City Council has decided not to include the Southfield Gold Course in a list of sites for possible housing developments. The land was identified in the Core Strategy as one of four areas that could accommodate as many as 3,000 new homes after 2016. Concern about environmental factors played a large part in the decision, including the number of badger setts around the course. But the other sites - at Barton, Summertown and Pear Tree - are all still seen as having potential for housing.

• See: Oxford Times 4 March: http://tinyurl.com/ynovy

Core Strategy

The Core Strategy, as its name suggests, is intended to guide the development of Oxford over the next twenty years. It is the central document in the Local Development Framework. Oxford City Council is currently consulting on the Strategy and the Framework. CPRE says:

"Unrelenting expansion of the City of Oxford is not environmentally sustainable."

Future planning for Oxford must address four principles:

• Uniqueness. Oxford is a unique City on the world stage and planning strategies must nurture this uniqueness, which is founded on the quality of its historical, natural and intellectual environments.
• Sustainability. Oxford is close to reaching its environmental and economic limits, and cannot sustain substantial expansion in housing, employment or the retail sector.
• Green spaces. The City is intertwined and bounded by green spaces, which must be preserved to retain its character.
• Affordability. Affordable housing for Oxford's workers must continue to be a priority, where landscape constraints permit.

The Core Strategy singles out four sites for development:

• Pear Tree. CPRE welcomes appropriate development at this site.
• Summertown. Development of this site is unacceptable.
• Barton. Environmentally sensitive development might be appropriate.
• Southfield Golf Course. Development is unacceptable.

Details of these and several other greenfield sites that may be developed are in the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment.

Further information

• 177 acres of Oxford's green fields will be lost by 2026
• CPRE response to the Core Strategy Preferred Options (including the four specific sites)
• Oxford City Council Core Strategy to 2026
• Oxford City Council launches its consultation on the Core Strategy
• CPRE submission to Oxford 2026 Core Strategy: Issues and Options paper
• Kelly bypasses South East Plan and gives Oxford Growth Point Status: 24 October 2006
• CPRE policy on brownfield land