Save Grandpont Nature Park: Stop the Oxpens River Bridge!

by Friends of Grandpont Nature Park

Save Grandpont Nature Park: Stop the Oxpens River Bridge!

by Friends of Grandpont Nature Park
Friends of Grandpont Nature Park
Case Owner
We are dedicated to preserving the peaceful habitat and character of the much-loved Grandpont Nature Park. The proposed new bridge is unnecessary and has no mandate to be built here.
12
days to go
£12,647
pledged of £35,000 stretch target from 111 pledges
Pledge now
Friends of Grandpont Nature Park
Case Owner
We are dedicated to preserving the peaceful habitat and character of the much-loved Grandpont Nature Park. The proposed new bridge is unnecessary and has no mandate to be built here.
Pledge now

This case is raising funds for its stretch target. Your pledge will be collected within the next 24-48 hours (and it only takes two minutes to pledge!)

Latest: Oct. 7, 2024

Our request for Judicial Review has been granted! Thank you everyone!

On Thursday 3rd October we received notification from our solicitors that our JR will be going ahead!

All five of our 'Grounds for requesting JR' were accepted by the court and they are alloca…

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Oxford City Council want to spend over £10m of public money to build an unnecessary new bridge just two minutes' walk from the existing Gasworks bridge, which would destroy the peaceful, biodiverse haven in Grandpont Nature Park.  

The only reason for the Oxpens River Bridge in the Local Plan is to link up two new private commercial developments of Oxford University, neither of which yet have planning permission. Nowhere in the plan does it say the bridge should land in the Nature Park.

There has been no Environmental Impact Assessment, nor consideration of unresolved flooding issues in the area, and no lifelong carbon assessment of the construction.  

Refurbishing the existing Gasworks bridge as an alternative, would be viable and achievable at around 1/15th the cost of the new bridge according to a County Council report. Yet this report was never presented to the Planning Committees!

 Why it’s important? 

There have been numerous flaws in the process of bringing this both to Planning Committee and Planning Review. The City Council should be held to account and not allowed to ride roughshod over the law and democratic process.  

 What’s at stake? 

  • The project will destroy most of a richly biodiverse woodland which forms the only wooded section of the main path through Grandpont Nature Park. 
  • It will convert the current footpath into a 4.5 -metre-wide "shared use" cycle super-highway, changing forever the present rural character of the Nature Park.
  • Precious public land and public funds are being used to facilitate private commercial developments.
  • The project is an abuse of Housing and Growth Deal funding, public money intended to facilitate affordable housing. This bridge will in fact enable new employment sites which would worsen the housing crisis. 

 How much we want to raise and why?  

  • We have a strong case, with several grounds on which to take this to Judicial Review (JR).
  • We are initially seeking to raise £10,000 by the end of September to cover legal costs incurred up to and in the preparation of our JR claim.
  • If JR is granted, we will be raising a further £35,000 to finance this, including £10,000 court costs. 
  • should we win, any unused funds will be processed as per Crowdjustice's unused funds policy. 
  • The law firm we are using has an excellent track record on these issues and concerns, and last year won a similar case against Tewkesbury Borough Council.
  • Help us hold the Council to account, save the Nature Park and stop this undemocratic, unnecessary and unwise plan.  

 What can you do? 

Donate to our campaign to support and oppose this unnecessary and undemocratic project, to help us raise the funds we need to stop it. Be part of our David v Goliath story! 

Thank you so much for your contribution.

Update 4

Friends of Grandpont Nature Park

Oct. 7, 2024

Our request for Judicial Review has been granted! Thank you everyone!

On Thursday 3rd October we received notification from our solicitors that our JR will be going ahead!

All five of our 'Grounds for requesting JR' were accepted by the court and they are allocating one and a half days (as opposed to the usual one) to the hearing, sometime in the next few months, soon to be determined.

So our determination that genuine democratic process by Oxford City Council be adhered to has been vindicated and our campaign continues.

Please help us to raise the funds we need to succeed in our quest!

Thank you!

Update 3

Friends of Grandpont Nature Park

Sept. 27, 2024

What happens next!

Thanks to you, we have now covered the fees necessary to submit our judicial review claim! 

The next stage is called the permission stage, where the Court will decide whether there is enough of a case to warrant the judicial review actually going forward to a hearing. If not, we will appeal this decision. Either way, further funds will be needed to fund the necessary legal fees for what follows. Our £35,000 stretch target is, we believe, the maximum needed to cover all possible eventualities. 

We thank you for your ongoing support! 

Update 2

Friends of Grandpont Nature Park

Sept. 25, 2024

Thank you! for your support. We've reached our first target.

We'll be in touch again if the JR gets the go-ahead.

Update 1

Friends of Grandpont Nature Park

Sept. 23, 2024

Five days to go! Can you share this crowdfund with a friend?

Thank you all for donating - we are now two-thirds of the way to our target, but with only five days to go, we need a big push! 

If we don't reach the £10,000 target by 10am on the morning of Saturday 28th September, we don't get any of it. We think we have a really good case to challenge the legality of the project (details at savegnp.org) but we do need to raise the legal fees to take it forward. 

It is known that personal communication makes all the difference - that's we are asking those who have donated already to contact three (or more!) people (friends, family members, colleagues) who might be willing to donate. 

We have made a video specifically showing the woodland that will be destroyed by the bridge and  the new path (above). The extent of damage is so large because the plan is to create a completely new, 4.5 metre wide, path (more like a road really) through what is currently the top of the south side of the woodland, meaning that whole section of woodland would be lost. This is the only wooded section of the main path through the Nature Park, and is a staple of the daily walk/ commute of hundreds of people as well as being a haven for all kinds of birds and wildlife. 

Please do let your friends and family know what is at stake :-) 

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