PROTESTORS are campaigning to stop the council from building new homes on a popular playground in Oxford.

Plans to build at least 30 new homes, including social housing, on the New Hinksey Playground on Bertie Place, known to locals as 'Bertie Park', was drafted by Oxford City Council in 2019 in the hope to ease the city's ongoing housing crisis.

Last weekend, parents and children from the ‘Save Bertie Park’ campaign met outside the Town Hall on St Aldates to continue to plea to the council to reconsider the development's location.

Kaddy Beck, who is the campaign’s coordinator said: “What this development shows is a complete lack of understanding for the site.

“The park is geographically central to the area and it is central to our community, so we want to raise the profile and encourage the council to realise this is not a good idea.

“It is a central part of kids and their family's lives, and there are really a lot of upset kids.”

The area was earmarked by the council in 2013 as an ‘allocated site’ to develop in its 2036 policy plan – under the plan, which was approved in May 2020, another play area would replace the current space.

Ten-year-old Annie Jones, who has been playing in the park since she was little, is also trying to save the park – creating a petition for those under 18s to sign, so far, she has received 61 signatures.

Annie said: “Lots of children play there and it’s really fun – there’s loads of green space around it as well as a basketball and football court we play on.

“There’s no other good playground nearby so we couldn’t really go play somewhere else, and the others are far away, so we can’t go there on our own.”

Ms Beck added: “In other protests, there are highly educated professional people, that’s not who we are, we are ordinary working people who value their playground, whose kids have grown up in the playground – that is who we are.”

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, cabinet member for planning and housing delivery, said: “ Both the current and previous Local Plans were adopted after extensive public consultation and rigorous examination at a public inquiry.

“The Local Plan policy for the site requires a development of at least 30 new homes in a mix of affordable tenures – including council homes, sub-market affordable rent, and shared ownership homes – as well as providing a modern play area and a MUGA (multi-use games area).”

Mr Hollingsworth also stressed the need for new affordable homes in Oxford.

Helen Horne, managing director of Oxford City Housing Ltd (OCHL), added: “OCHL is a social impact developer focusing on providing design-led affordable homes that are comfortable, sustainable, and that aim to add value to the local community.

“We are currently consulting with stakeholders and refining our plans before public consultation, which we expect to launch soon."

The location of the new play area is currently being reviewed by developers.