A CAMPAIGN to save Oxford’s green spaces was launched this week as a list of playing fields and other open land earmarked for development was revealed.

Sports pitches and allotments are among sites that have been identified for development by Oxford City Council in a major new planning document.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says the council’s list of preferred sites confirms its worst fears, that the Town Hall is ready to sacrifice green spaces, large and small, to meet its housebuilding targets.

The local branch of the CPRE launched a campaign at Warneford Meadow on Sunday to rally support against greenfield sites disappearing under concrete.

Dr Helena Whall, campaign manager of CPRE Oxfordshire, said: “The campaign has been launched to inform Oxford residents about the threats to Oxford’s green spaces due to the planned development of 8,000 houses, and university and commercial expansion.”

Sites that will be looked at for development include allotments in Abingdon Road, East Minchery Farm and Binsey Lane.

Sports grounds on the list include the 25-acre Rover Cowley sports fields on Horspath Road, the Five Mile Drive ground, in North Oxford, the East Oxford Bowls club and the former Barton Road cricket ground in Headington.

The list also includes Lincoln College’s six-acre ground, off the Cowley Road, some of the adjacent Jesus College playing fields and the Oxford University Press sports ground next to North Oxford Golf Club.

Lincoln College is ready to follow the lead of Corpus Christi College, which earlier parted with its ground off the Abingdon Road, by sharing sports pitches.

Corpus Christi now shares with University College. Lincoln is expected to use what remains of the adjacent Jesus College facilities.

Dr Whall added: “There is already a shortage of green spaces in densely populated areas of the city.

“As the population continues to grow, this shortage will inevitably increase, and the existence of the green spaces will become increasingly threatened. We need to protect them now, before it is too late.”

Chairman of the Oxford city branch of CPRE Sietske Boeles added: “We have mapped where the green spaces are and in the near future we will produce more information about each area that is under threat.”

The campaign coincides with the publication of a new council document identifying 75 sites for possible development in the city.

Fifty of the sites have housing as a requirement, which would provide more than 2,200 homes for the city.

Eleven sites have been identified for employment uses.