CPRE Oxfordshire is to take legal action against the Government to contest the Secretary of State’s decision to approve an urban extension south of the City in the Green Belt.

As part of the South East Plan approved in May 2009, the Secretary of State specifically proposes an extension to the City at Grenoble Road in Oxford’s Green Belt to accommodate a “mixed use” housing /commercial development including 4,000 houses. The South East Plan considers that “exceptional circumstances” exist that justify a “selective review” of the Green Belt south of Oxford which will establish the precise location of the development. 

CPRE Oxfordshire has decided that since there is so much at stake, in this instance, it is prepared to begin a legal action. It is understand that South Oxfordshire District Council are also taking legal advice on the same issue.

CPRE campaign manager Dr Helena Whall says: “We are asking the judge to quash the Secretary of State's decision that 4,000 houses must be built on Green Belt land South of Oxford. Convincing evidence should then be obtained to show why they cannot be built in the City, or outside the Green Belt, and, if the Green Belt is the only option, that the most sustainable location has been identified.

"There is plenty of time to conduct this appraisal without affecting the provision of necessary housing for Oxford. Oxford's housing allocation including the urban extension is for 12,000 houses by 2026. Of these just 4,000, or a third, were planned to be outside the City. To fit the South East plan's targets these would not need to be completed until 2019, whereas conducting a proper appraisal need not take more than a year or so from now.

“CPRE is also arguing that the Government is being completely inconsistent - since the Green Belt it supports was created specifically to contain Oxford’s expansion, and yet at the same time the Government is now proposing that Oxford’s wish to continue expanding is a reason to start dismantling it. It appears the Government also admits it has not looked thoroughly at alternatives, since it says that there may be ‘overwhelming evidence’ that the Grenoble Road site is unsuitable.

“The Green Belt is highly valued by the public – in a 2005 Mori poll 84% of us nationally believed that Green Belts should remain open and undeveloped. Of these 62% saw house-building plans as the greatest threat. In defending the Green Belt CPRE is echoing the national mood – in seeking to breach it, the Government is not.

"There are many reasons why the extension at Grenoble Road is a poor idea and an unsuitable site. Not only would important areas of Oxford’s Green Belt be lost forever, but the development could also harm the Leys, already a deprived area, by removing open spaces on its doorstep, and increasing the transport and highway difficulties the Leys face.

"Apart from that it would threaten local villages such as The Baldons to the south and Garsington and Horspath to the east, as well as placing further strain on the fragile infrastructure of the City itself. To put it in context, the 4,000 house extension would be as large as the town of Thame – and all on Green Belt land.

“CPRE has fought a long campaign to Save the Green Belt and the setting of the historic City. We have urged the Government to listen to strong local views and think again about its plan to breach the Green Belt - there seems no option left but to see them in Court.”