Context 166 - November 2020

C O N T E X T 1 6 6 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 0 33 Oxford Bordered by the Cherwell on one side, it hosts a splendid collection of mature trees planted from 1865 as an arboretum. It hosts the university cricket ground in its centre and ‘parsons pleas- ure’, where dons used to sunbathe naked. It is a private space, closed at night and closed to cycles, whose main route it straddles. Much more open are the city’s main parks of South Park and Headingtonhill Park. South Park is mostly 50 acres of open space with great views of the city. It is much used by the city as the location of the annual fireworks display and for concerts. It now has Oxford’s own distillery at its north end, making gin using botanicals from the Botanic Garden. Adjacent to South Park on the other side of the London road is a small park connected to South Park by a high-level pedestrian bridge. It surrounds Headington Hill Hall, once home of the Morel family and more famously of Robert Maxwell. A part of the land is left as a public park, well planted with all manner of unusual trees. The park is now owned by the city. Other smaller parks, council owned and sup- ported by friends groups, include Sunnymead Park, running along the Cherwell and containing playgrounds, and much recent tree planting; Bury Knowle Park, seven hectares running alongside the London road and with a full suite of plantings, sculptures and activities; and Florence Park in east Oxford, again very busy, whose 10 hectares include a repurposed children’s centre. In 2016 the council undertook a survey of green spaces. Although the precise method is not clear, it identified 67 spaces across Oxford, of which half lay within the ring road, and the rest nearby. Oxford is surrounded by green belt to limit development. This has succeeded to a point. Large areas beyond the ring road were developed in the 1970s to the south and east. Now Oxford faces government demands to build an additional 10,800 homes over the 20-year plan period. The plan talks of higher densities and heights, and new locations. For the most part these involve using existing sites better. Although they should not impinge on the defined open spaces, inevitably there will be a sense that there is more building and less space surrounding existing buildings. Large areas of land immediately adjacent to the ring road but outside it are being developed or proposed for development.These will particularly affect the connection with Kidlington in the north, drawn by the recent railway station lying between Oxford and Kidlington. A number of campaigns over the years have defended open spaces. Residents’ groups, eas- ily able to draw in both planning skills and resources, have had successes in defending local sites. In the case of the Castle Mill development by the university, campaign groups caused the university to take major mitigating steps to reduce the development’s impact. The case of the flood relief channel is supported by the flood relief alliance, made up of those living especially in the Botley Road area, liable to flooding, and harried by landowners on the route, including the Oxford Preservation Trust. The green belt has been prized open for house building. The local plan protects most open spaces, but flooding is probably the most effective means of protection.The pressures on the council to build new houses, the further relaxation of planning restrictions and the possibility of flood control all pose threats to Oxford’s fabulous open spaces. The university and its colleges constitute a further threat.They own large tracts of land and are determined to expand to ensure that Oxford remains one of the world’s leading universities. University College is seeking to create a new campus in the middle of the Victorian suburb conservation area; St John’s College is turning green fields into a large business and residential area on the edges of Oxford (called Oxford North), which will create huge pressures of traffic, which happens to converge close to the site. And the golf course, beloved of some, looks to be being prepared for housing, which will effectively link Oxford and Kidlington, something the green belt was attempting to stop. With friends like these, Oxford needs all the flooding it can manage. Driven by a determination to expand the two universities in Oxford, the city is becoming like a pressure cooker. With jobs located mostly in the centre, the radial routes into Oxford are increasingly unable to cope with the volume of transport. New housing on the periphery will only increase this pressure until new forms of rapid transit are available. Sam Clarke, a semi- retired Oxford resident of 40 years and recently chair of a suburban neighbourhood plan, is an enthusiastic environmentalist and tree planter.