Friends of Old Headington
People who care for the Old Headington Conservation Area in Oxford
Proposed Development of Ruskin Fields
Ruskin College proposes to make fields between the Stoke Place footpath and Foxwell Drive available for development. This means that almost 200 houses could be built on green space within the Conservation Area, affecting people who live in Northway and Old Headington.
Near neighbours, the Friends of Old Headington and many others are fiercely opposed to any development on this historic land, once known as Hengrove Common, and still thought of as a green area for blackberrying and dog-walking, as well as one that plays a vital part in preserving the open and rural feel of the whole Conservation Area.
The fields are to the east of Foxwell Drive, beside the bypass, opposite the proposed Barton West site:
You can use Google maps to view this image (enter the postcode OX3 9BZ or OX3 9BU).
The Friends of Old Headington are co-ordinating local efforts to prevent development and are appealing to you to consider whether you could spare some time or expertise to assist the new Ruskin Fields Group in its aim to keep these fields as fields not just for the local community but for the wider cause of conservation of Oxford’s green spaces and its wildlife corridors.
Could you offer help with
- planning research
- local history research
- legal expertise relating to property and land use
- fundraising
- designing campaign literature
- using IT effectively
- printing or publicity
- ideas for lobbying
or any other task that might be needed?
The conservation area benefits a much wider community than those living within it, and the proposed housing development is a serious challenge to one of its significant green spaces. It would also impose an intolerable increase in traffic on the local area. We have to make every effort to save these fields from being built over and vanishing forever.
Please email ruskinfieldsgroup@gmail.com if you can offer us your support. Thank you.
The Ruskin Fields Group
Help Save Ruskin Fields
Thank you to all those who continue to support our efforts to prevent this development. The Council’s Planning Policy Team is preparing its recommendations for consideration by the Full Council, and the meeting to decide on the next stage of the Barton Area Action Plan (and whether Ruskin’s proposal should go forward with that) is now scheduled for December 19th, though it seems likely that it may be delayed further. We will keep you informed.
Meanwhile, please note that Ruskin College have submitted a modified proposal for an estate of 150 houses on the two fields nearest Northway (more details in the October issue of the Newsletter), and you can view the outline plans set out in the latest proposal for the Headington Meads development here.
What you can do to help...
Write a letter to the Oxford Times
Write to your local Councillor and other Councillors whose wards will be affected. You can find their contact details here.
Send a photo to ruskinfieldsgroup@gmail.com, pictures of the fields, and of the padlocks, fences, and other measures which now keep everybody out of them, and/or of gridlock in the narrow roads in the area as it is at present would be very useful to help illustrate our case.
Ruskin's middle meadow taken from the cycle track in June 2011
