REASONS FOR OBJECTION

Whatever you write is best expressed in your own words, but some suggested objections are as follows:

  •  The proposal would occupy much of the remaining “Kidlington Gap”, the Green Belt separating Oxford and Kidlington.
  •  These Green Belt boundaries were confirmed in 2020 and are meant to last for decades
  •  Frieze Farm itself has already been allocated by Cherwell Council in its local plan as a site to replace the North Oxford Golf Course. The Council must ensure that sufficient golf facilities are provided.
  •  Exeter College disingenuously claims a new golf course is not needed. It clearly is as North Oxford was a thriving club with over 400 members which was forced to close by Exeter and the other site owners.
  •  The proposed development is huge and is stated to create 7,000 more new jobs, which are not needed in an area of almost full employment and will put yet more pressure on housing, transport and infrastructure. Other areas of the country do need these jobs.
  •  The amount of floorspace proposed could in fact result in many more workers depending on how it is used
  •  Many new jobs (probably over 10,000) will already arise from the Oxford North development (South of Pear Tree) and the large planned science park development at Begbroke, as well as those already being created on Langford Lane. Even more employment creation is not needed and would have damaging consequences for transport, infrastructure and the local environment.
  •  All of these new jobs would mean more traffic from employees trying to get to their work. This proposal includes 1800 parking spaces but these are based on aspirational assumptions about cycling, walking and public transport use. The parking provision is unlikely to be enough and the impact on the transport network would be severe. (Gridlock?).
  •  These new employees would need to live somewhere, increasing the pressure for yet more housing development elsewhere on Green Belt land. A further 7,000+ houses would require a very large amount of land!

 

  •  They would also generate a demand for even more service jobs (for example in shopping, leisure and public services), which would also add further pressure on transport and infrastructure and demand for even more housing and yet more Green Belt destruction.
  •  The new housing already planned and population growth will in fact result in the need for another golf course (and other leisure opportunities) in addition to NOGC
  •  The site borders the Stratfield Brake Woodland, part of a Woodland Trust Nature Reserve. The woodland on both sides of Frieze Way has been assessed as potentially ancient woodland by Natural England and this development would inevitably be damaging to this special habitat.
  •  It is far from ideal, but it would be much better if the housing planned for North Oxford Golf Course was located instead at Frieze Farm and the existing golf course with its multitude of mature trees and wildlife was restored to its former use.