Anthony Hall has written a letter explaining his concerns about a county council survey for residents on Oxford United's new stadium.

Oxfordshire County Council has distributed a leaflet asking us to have our say on “how Oxford United’s stadium proposals impact the communities of Oxfordshire” by filling in a survey.

That survey, however, does not address the question at all. Its heading is the very different leading question “How do (the proposals) bring benefits to the communities of Oxfordshire”.

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And the actual questions aren’t even about that: they are solely about whether or not the proposals satisfy the “strategic priorities” of the council, which come nowhere near to covering all the impacts.

At no point does the survey even mention any possible adverse impact such as destruction of green belt, increased traffic, noise, pollution, parking demand and disruption to the area.

Oxford Mail:

As well as being incomplete the survey is organised to encourage a positive response and close off any dissent.

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Each question is preceded by an uncritical repetition of OUFC’s own case.

Even if you disagree that a priority is satisfied, you are not asked why, but another blatantly leading question “What else do you think is needed from the club to have fully addressed this priority?”

These defects render the survey so incomplete and one-sided as to be useless for its stated purpose. I hope that they are a mistake.

In that case Oxfordshire County Council should correct the survey as soon as possible so that it is fair way of gathering opinions on both sides.

If they do not, then we will have to conclude that that is not their intention at all.

Anthony Hall

Oxford 

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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