TOWN GREEN APPLICATION

Initial steps 2008-2009

  • September 2008: SENDRA applied to Oxfordshire County Council (as the registering body) to have Oxpens Meadow registered as a Town Green under the Commons Act 2006.
  • January 2009: A leading QC (Mr Vivian Chapman) advised the County Council that the application should go forward as ‘duly made’.
  • March 2009: The City Council (owners of the Meadow) made a formal objection to the application.
  • July 2009: SENDRA responded to the City’s objection.
  • August 2009: Mr Chapman recommended to the County Council that the City Council should respond to the points raised by SENDRA.
  • November 2009: The City submitted its response.

Activities in 2010

  • January 2010: A Resolution was passed by Oxford City Council which invited the City Executive Board ‘to apply …to register the area shown in green on the Identified Sites Map … of the adopted West End Area Action Plan as a Town Green …as the best means of securing the long term protection of the Meadow from encroachment’. In effect, the area referred to excludes the piece of the Meadow behind the Ice Rink.
  • February 2010: SENDRA filed its reply to the City’s comments of November (see above) with the County Council. At this stage, because of the parallel activities outlined below, it was agreed by all parties that the SENDRA application should be suspended for the time being.
  • March 2010: A Report prepared by Council officers was tabled at the meeting of the City Executive Board which stated that flood compensation works which the City wished to carry out on the Meadow would be incompatible with town green status. [These works would be intended to enhance the development site beside the Meadow.]
  • The officers recommended that the Council should pursue an alternative option – a Community Land Trust – which would protect the integrity of Oxpens Meadow as a public open space, while allowing the flood remediation works to be carried out.
  • April 2010: At the last meeting of the Full Council before the local government election Councillor Nuala Young proposed a Resolution asking ‘the Executive to continue to pursue the option of recommending Oxpens Meadow to the County Council as a Town Green, whether by adding a codicil for counter flood measures or by removing the marshy Railtrack land to the west from the West End development plan’. This Resolution was defeated.
  • July 2010: The City Council legal department produced a Briefing Note setting out the various options available to maintain Oxpens Meadow as a public open space. The Community Land Trust – proposed earlier in the year – was rejected as it would not prevent either the Trust or another party applying for town green status. This would scupper the City’s wish to retain the ability to carry out flood compensation measures at some later date.
  • August 2010: The hunt to find some other mechanism to ensure the Meadow’s future began, which would still give the City the flexibility it seeks to retain. Two ideas were put forward: some form of Trust to oversee the management and use of the Meadow, and a registration of part of the Meadow as a town green. Both were rejected by the City Council.

  • December 2010:  On behalf of SENDRA, FOM had proposed the creation of a Memorandum of Understanding with the City Council to provide a framework for future exploration of ways to safeguard Oxpens Meadow. The details were agreed with the Leader of Oxford City Council, Cllr Bob Price, in time for the SENDRA AGM in early December. Click here for the text of the agreement.

    All members of SENDRA were subsequently given the opportunity to accept or reject the Memorandum and a majority voted to accept with no rejections.

    • Activities so far for 2011

  • January 2011: Councillor Bob Price was informed of the outcome of the SENDRA vote and he was asked to proceed with the ratification process through the City Council’s committee structure. So far this has not happened.

  • February 2011: The City Council’s legal department has produced a draft contract between the City and SENDRA on the future of Oxpens Meadow. This is currently under discussion in FOM.

  • April 2011: The Memorandum of Understanding was introduced by FOM to the Central, South and West Area Committee with a request that it be put on the Committee's agenda and forwarded to the next appropriate tier of the city's committee structure.