Whatever you care about, it is almost certain that there are other people who feel the same way. Working together with like-minded people is the best way to have a voice on issues that affect your lives. Whether you want to save your local park or change national planning legislation, community action can be the best way to achieve your aims. The Planning Help website offers a range of resources to help your campaign group be effective. From planning to lobbying your MP, approaching local media and public speaking.

Visit the Planning Help Campaign Tips page here.

Please sign CPRE's national Charter to Save Our Countryside and show decision-makers how strongly people feel about our beautiful landscapes and rural communities.

Last week CPRE Oxfordshire's Michael Tyce met Nicola Blackwood MP and Nick Boles, the planning minister, to discuss the planning fiasco of the Castle Mill development at Port Meadow.

The Vale of the White Horse is threatened with monster housing developments within small rural communities which are completely inappropriate.

CPRE Oxfordshire has begun a legal challenge to the planning permission that allowed the construction of the University’s accommodation blocks on Roger Dudman Way, on the edge of Port Meadow.

Oxpens meadow is one of the last remaining vestiges of open green space in Oxford's West End area. It is a well-maintained field next to the ice rink used by walkers, residents and sportspeople. It is owned by the City Council and measures about 2 hectares (5 acres). It’s bounded to the south by the river Thames; to the east by the Castle Mill Stream and to the west by land owned by British Rail Board (Residuary) Ltd.

For decades the Meadow has been threatened. If the City's current plans for the redevelopment of the West End are realised, only about half of the Meadow would remain for public enjoyment. The site has been earmarked by the City Council as part of its West End rejuvenation scheme to include a conference centre, a police station, a relief road and riverside apartments.

These threats prompted SENDRA (St Ebbes New Development Residents’ Association) to apply to Oxfordshire County Council to register the Meadow as a Town Green under the Commons Act 2006. Town Green status would ensure the retention of Oxpens Meadow in perpetuity as a public open space. The Friends of Oxpens Meadow (FOM) was born. CPRE Oxfordshire strongly support FOM’s efforts.

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

Radley Lakes near the village of Radley, Abingdon in Oxfordshire, is a 30-acre lake, bristling with wildlife, surrounded by mature trees and studded with islands where birds nest. The lakes are exceptionally biodiverse with County Wildlife Status. It wasn’t always like this.

Thrupp Lake was the subject of a long and at times bitter battle between local residents and energy giant npower, who own the land. Npower planned to infill the largest surviving lake with fly ash from nearby Didcot power station and Oxfordshire County Council awarded planning permission for the tipping in breech of the local plan.

A group of local people formed Save Radley Lakes and applied to get Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes declared a Town Green. Alas in 2007 the application was rejected. After a long and active campaign, in May 2009, npower announced that the Earth Trust had been appointed to manage the lakes. Save Radley Lakes became the Friends of Radley Lakes and now work closely with Earth Trust to protect and nurture the Lakes.

CPRE Oxfordshire supported the campaigners in their fight to save Radley Lakes. We administered their funds, enabling them to collect Gift Aid and we helped with their media and publicity.