Overview of Oxford's Northern Gateway Area Action Plan proceedings
Notes taken at the Northern Gateway hearings on Wednesday, 18 March 2015
'Matter 8: The Natural Environment' - AAP policies NG8 and NG9 Judy spoke during this session.
Scroll down for further information, including links to some documents not readily available elsewhere.
'Matter 8: The Natural Environment' - AAP policies NG8 and NG9 Judy spoke during this session.
Scroll down for further information, including links to some documents not readily available elsewhere.
Judy's presentation given on 4 Sept 2014 to the CPRE Oxfordshire branch on the detrimental effects that the Northern Gateway development would have on the Oxford Meadows Special Area of Conservation (SAC) 1. PowerPoint presentation 2. Text of talk Photos by Judy Webb Milkwort, Polygala vulgaris(left) and Green-winged Orchid, Anacamptis morio |
OXFORD'S NORTHERN GATEWAY AREA ACTION PLAN
Construction of a science and business park, 500 homes and a hotel on the land between Wolvercote and the A34. Maps showing the land affected by the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan can be found in Oxford City Council's document 'Northern Gateway Area Action Plan, July 2015', which is available, together with other related documents, here.
Concerns were raised about the effect of the proposed development on the Oxford Meadows Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
For photos taken in Yarnton Mead West - click here. All photos copyright Judy Webb. Oxford Meadows SAC comprises Port Meadow with Wolvercote Common SSSI (but not Wolvercote Green), Oxey Mead, Pixey & Yarnton Meads SSSI, Cassington Meadows SSSI and Wolvercote Meadows SSSI. Only the last three are the haymeadows, which are special for their Lowland Meadow MG4 vegetation (Meadow Foxtail Alopecurus pratensis – Great Burnet Sanguisorba officinalis association).
There are less than 1500 ha of this diverse floodplain meadow flora association left in the UK and a large proportion of that national resource is in Oxford Meadows.
Construction of a science and business park, 500 homes and a hotel on the land between Wolvercote and the A34. Maps showing the land affected by the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan can be found in Oxford City Council's document 'Northern Gateway Area Action Plan, July 2015', which is available, together with other related documents, here.
Concerns were raised about the effect of the proposed development on the Oxford Meadows Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
For photos taken in Yarnton Mead West - click here. All photos copyright Judy Webb. Oxford Meadows SAC comprises Port Meadow with Wolvercote Common SSSI (but not Wolvercote Green), Oxey Mead, Pixey & Yarnton Meads SSSI, Cassington Meadows SSSI and Wolvercote Meadows SSSI. Only the last three are the haymeadows, which are special for their Lowland Meadow MG4 vegetation (Meadow Foxtail Alopecurus pratensis – Great Burnet Sanguisorba officinalis association).
There are less than 1500 ha of this diverse floodplain meadow flora association left in the UK and a large proportion of that national resource is in Oxford Meadows.
Judy's submission to Oxford City Council's public consultation on the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan Options (28 March 2014)
Judy's submission to the public consultation on the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan Proposed Submission (closed 15 September 2014)
Oxford City Council - Northern Gateway Consultation results October 2014 - "A total of 564 people submitted written comments during the consultation period", "The majority of respondents did not want the Green Belt boundary to be moved, or even a Green Belt review to be carried out" - both comments taken from that document.
Botanical Survey Report on Joe White's Lane by Dr Judith Webb 8 March 2015, submitted to the Oxford Northern Gateway Area Action Plan hearings. Also two documents she submitted subsequently to the NG hearings Examination Library, one relating to the potential recreational impact on the Oxford Meadows and the other to evidence of the Brown Hairstreak Butterfly in the Green Belt meadows.
For other documents relating to the Examination, see bottom of page
Notes taken at the Northern Gateway hearings on Wednesday, 18 March 2015
'Matter 8: The Natural Environment' - AAP policies NG8 and NG9 Judy Webb spoke during this session.
OnThursday, 19 March 2015, the final day of these hearings, the Inspector, Ms Christine Newmarch, adjourned the conclusion of the examination of the AAP in order to first consider whether the 'Duty to Cooperate' requirements had been met. Oxford City Council subsequently stated: 'The Inspector has since considered the representations on this matter, and has notified the Council that she is satisfied that it has met the Duty to Cooperate. She is now continuing with her reporting programme with a view to reporting to the Council on the examination of the Area Action Plan during May 2015'. The Inspector's Final Report was received by Oxford City Council on 15 June 2015.
Subsequent articles in local press:
Oxfordshire Guardian, 23 July 2015
Oxford Times 10 September 2015 drew attention to the fact that CleanSpace, the company producing the iPhone App that enables people to carry out their own air pollution monitoring in UK cities (as featured on Radio 4's Inside Science programme, 3 Sept 2015) has at its head Lord Drayson, a keen promoter of an Oxford University report proposing the development of large swathes of land in Oxford and Oxfordshire for the knowledge-based industry. The letter was signed by Harriet Milles, Dr Katherine Kaye, Dr Sietske Boeles, Dr Sue Gerhardt, Michele Topham, Barbara Spencer, John Semple, John Handley, Rosemary Harris (Oxford residents and members of the Wolvercote Action Group).
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Documents relating to the Northern Gateway AAP hearings
Baseline assessment report on the Railway Track From Aristotle Lane Footbridge To Godstow Road Footbridge, Godstow Road, Oxford, OX1 1HW, produced by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) - 31 sections
Judy's submission to the public consultation on the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan Proposed Submission (closed 15 September 2014)
Oxford City Council - Northern Gateway Consultation results October 2014 - "A total of 564 people submitted written comments during the consultation period", "The majority of respondents did not want the Green Belt boundary to be moved, or even a Green Belt review to be carried out" - both comments taken from that document.
Botanical Survey Report on Joe White's Lane by Dr Judith Webb 8 March 2015, submitted to the Oxford Northern Gateway Area Action Plan hearings. Also two documents she submitted subsequently to the NG hearings Examination Library, one relating to the potential recreational impact on the Oxford Meadows and the other to evidence of the Brown Hairstreak Butterfly in the Green Belt meadows.
For other documents relating to the Examination, see bottom of page
Notes taken at the Northern Gateway hearings on Wednesday, 18 March 2015
'Matter 8: The Natural Environment' - AAP policies NG8 and NG9 Judy Webb spoke during this session.
OnThursday, 19 March 2015, the final day of these hearings, the Inspector, Ms Christine Newmarch, adjourned the conclusion of the examination of the AAP in order to first consider whether the 'Duty to Cooperate' requirements had been met. Oxford City Council subsequently stated: 'The Inspector has since considered the representations on this matter, and has notified the Council that she is satisfied that it has met the Duty to Cooperate. She is now continuing with her reporting programme with a view to reporting to the Council on the examination of the Area Action Plan during May 2015'. The Inspector's Final Report was received by Oxford City Council on 15 June 2015.
- Overall conclusion: 'In accordance with Section 20(7) I recommend that the submitted Plan is adopted on the basis that it meets in full the requirements of Section 20(5). My report covers the primary issues that have brought me to this conclusion. C A Newmarch INSPECTOR'
- Oxford City Council passed the plan at a full council meeting at Oxford Town Hall on Monday, 27 July 2015.
The Upper Wolvercote Action Group had attempted to delay the plans. At the meeting its representative, Mr John Semple, said the report by the Inspector, Ms Christine Newmarsh, had not given sufficient consideration to human health and ecological concerns and that Oxford City Council had failed to take proper measurements of air quality. In response, Oxford City Councillor Alex Hollingsworth (Executive member for Planning) said that the Inspector had explicitly considered the question of air quality both as regards the effects of the development on the natural environment and on human health. He said the modelling of future levels of pollutants indicated no breaches of limits for nitrous oxide or particulate matter.
Subsequent articles in local press:
Oxfordshire Guardian, 23 July 2015
Oxford Times 10 September 2015 drew attention to the fact that CleanSpace, the company producing the iPhone App that enables people to carry out their own air pollution monitoring in UK cities (as featured on Radio 4's Inside Science programme, 3 Sept 2015) has at its head Lord Drayson, a keen promoter of an Oxford University report proposing the development of large swathes of land in Oxford and Oxfordshire for the knowledge-based industry. The letter was signed by Harriet Milles, Dr Katherine Kaye, Dr Sietske Boeles, Dr Sue Gerhardt, Michele Topham, Barbara Spencer, John Semple, John Handley, Rosemary Harris (Oxford residents and members of the Wolvercote Action Group).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Documents relating to the Northern Gateway AAP hearings
Baseline assessment report on the Railway Track From Aristotle Lane Footbridge To Godstow Road Footbridge, Godstow Road, Oxford, OX1 1HW, produced by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) - 31 sections