FOR those of you awaiting, with bated breathe, the submission of proposed plans for The Swan School please exhale now.

All the time, work and resources spent so far are now on ice. It is now common knowledge, for those closely involved, that the completion date has been extended to 2021 – three years late!

There have been so many mistakes made by so-called experts in their headlong rush to build a school in the wrong place and at any cost and ordered by Whitehall, that their eyes have been taken off the ball.

The footprint of the school is half that recommended and access not thought through fully.

It was assumed that access was to be through Carters Estate and vehicles parked there all day. I along with others asked MP Andrew Smith to intervene which he did and plans were changed.

Someone then had the brilliant idea of providing a new road into school off Marston Ferry Road. This would then cross one of the most heavily-used cycle tracks, at school times, in the country.

No way can this be done with safety in mind. Has pollution levels entered into the equation? What are the levels around St Nicholas School now and if built what are the expected levels to be. Plus with all the extra housing planned what can Old Marston and surrounds expect? I will be asking this very question of Oxford City Council at a Parish Council Forum held in Town Hall within the next few weeks.

There is now a rumour that Oxford Harlequins Rugby Football Club may be moving from their ground adjacent to Cherwell School. If this in on the cards then The Swan School should be built there. If we are to have a 1,280-pupil school in Oxford City then this would alleviate a lot of problems with existing proposed site. Oxfordshire County Council sold the Harlow site for £1 – yes £1, for this school to be built. We must get this pound back to be put back in our coffers.

On top of the 890 properties under construction at Barton Park, Christ Church want to erect a further 750 units on Green Belt land just below Elsfield village (which Christ Church all but own). A total of 1,640 houses and flats. Hopefully our two councils are beginning to think outside the box and are aware of this addition to population growth and access to Old Marston and beyond. And a certain Aubrey-Fletcher is waiting in the wings to transform huge swathes of countryside to housing also. We, as residents are sleepwalking and being hoodwinked into a future of huge problems and we must now become more involved and not let authorities ruin all our lives.

A public meeting regarding the Christ Church and Dorchester Development has been arranged for March 12, 2018, at 7pm in Mortimer Hall, Old Marston, Oxford. Please come and vent your views. All interested parties are welcome.

TONY GREENFIELD

Raymund Road 

Old Marston