CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans to build new houses on green fields have said the city council needs to ‘find a balance’ between the need for housing and the environment.
Oxford City Council announced last week that it would be buying land off Meadow Lane in Iffley to build 29 new homes.
It said that 12 of the new homes would be available for affordable, social rent rates.
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Friends of the Fields of Iffley, who are campaigning against the building on the ‘conservation area of Iffley village’, have now responded.
The campaigners said: “Iffley is a historic village visited by thousands of people from Oxford and beyond.
“These fields are all that remain of the once rural character of this village.
“They are many times richer in biodiversity than agricultural greenbelt land and form part of the Thames wildlife corridor.
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“Meadow Lane shows daily usage for pedestrians, joggers and cyclists, of between 600-900 people daily during two weeks in November.
“The environment in Iffley provided a crucial resource for mental health and wellbeing and community cohesion.”
The campaign group is urging the council to ‘find a balance’ between ‘housing and the needs of the communities and the environment;’.
The campaigners added: “We support affordable homes in Oxford and on other sites in Iffley Village.
“We are asking the council to review the significance of these green spaces to people and to nature, and prioritise building homes on brownfield sites before losing forever the natural environment that so many people have petitioned to save.”
Read more here: Oxford City Council buys land on Iffley Fields for new houses
The petition to stop ‘the development for housing on the last green fields’ has more than 5,000 signatures.
Katrina Robinson signed the petition because she thinks the ‘ancient meadows and their ecosystem cannot be replaced’.
Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, cabinet member for housing, said: “Oxford needs homes and the acquisition of land in Iffley will mean we can build at least 29 new homes in Meadow Lane.
“Too many people – including nurses, teachers, bus drivers and shop workers – are priced out of the city they would like to call home."
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