Campaigners confident of saving Oxford park from development

Oxford City Council's cabinet will decide, on Wednesday, October 16, if New Hinksey Playground in Bertie Place, known locally as Bertie Park, can be appropriated. 

This means its use will be officially changed from recreation to housing. 

Campaign group Save Bertie Park has been fighting the plans.

Ahead of the meeting Kaddy Beck, from the group, said: “Everyone agrees that social housing is urgently needed in Oxford.

"But it is difficult to understand why this should out-weigh all other considerations when deciding whether to build on Bertie Park, but not when it comes to building on other sites across the city.

"If the council continues to stoke the housing crisis by creating far more employment opportunities than homes across the city, then the homes they want to build on Bertie will be just a tiny drop in an ocean of need. 

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Save Bertie Park campaign outside the Town Hall. Picture: Ed Nix“And we will have nowhere safe for our kids to play. We think we have a good chance of saving the park.”

The site is subject to a planning application for 31 affordable homes, with associated public open space, multi-use games area, children's play area, access and landscaping.

It is yet to be decided, but the council predicts it will be before the end of the year. 

In the meeting's papers, it explained what the appropriation process means. It said: “Appropriation allows a council to change the purpose for which it holds the land. 

“Generally, councils must only use land for the statutory purposes for which it was acquired or following acquisition, appropriated. Appropriation is the process by which land held by a council pursuant to one statutory function is transferred to another statutory function.

CGI of plans for new homes (Image: Oxford City Council) “A council may appropriate land held from one purpose to another only if the land in question is no longer required to be held for the purpose for which it is held before the appropriation.”

It added: “The land allocated for the new MUGA and playground will not be appropriated to a planning purpose and will remain held for use as a recreation ground.

“Generally speaking, a council must hold land for the purpose for which it was acquired. However, under certain circumstances councils have the power to appropriate land from one purpose to another by following a statutory process. 

“In making the decision cabinet should strike a balance between different land uses in the light of wider community interests, taking a broad view of local needs.”