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Bioabundance files appeal to have legal action proceed
Today Bioabundance lodged an appeal with the planning court for it to reconsider its decision (Monday 29 March) to refuse our application for statutory review of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan. This oral hearing will allow lawyers to assert that the claim is clearly arguable and should go ahead. Dr Sue Roberts, director of Bioabundance, […]
The Oxfordshire local connectivity and transport plan
In our submission to the consultation LCTP5 – vision, we highlight the need to prioritise net-zero carbon in transport by 2050 in order to tackle the climate change emergency. Over the next thirty years local authorities have to create a sustainable transport network with links between local e-bus, pedestrian and cycle routes to strategic rail […]
Oxford City Council shows support for our national park plan
In the meeting on Monday 22 March Green Councillor Dick Wolff introduced a motion for the city council to issue a statement of support for national park to the northeast of Oxford. Instead, Council unanimously adopted an amendment to ‘consider a statement of support’ on the grounds that it is a relatively new idea. The […]
More house building means more empty houses
Global law firm focuses on our case
The multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has written about our legal action against SODC in its daily briefing service (3 March) and highlighted particularly the legal significance of the climate change grounds. Planning law expert Nick McDonald notes that “the case is of interest to developers and local planning authorities alike, as it is the […]
Bioabundance backs CEE Bill
Bioabundance has joined the CEE Bill Alliance Oxfordshire, part of the growing grassroots support for the Climate and Ecology Bill introduced by Green MP Caroline Lucas ( Brighton, Pavilion) on 2 September 2020. The Alliance is asking stakeholders and businesses to sign a letter addressed to all Oxfordshire MPs urging them to join the 98 […]
Environmental case could stall ‘largest ever’ road programme
Last spring Transport Action Network (TAN) started legal proceedings against the government on the grounds that it should have properly assessed environmental impacts before launching the £27 billion Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) in March 2020. The Court agreed to hear the TAN claim last July. According to the Guardian, those grounds have been amended with […]
Calls to rethink housebuilding in the countryside
Sir Roger Gale Conservative MP for Thanet is calling on the Prime Minister to to stop ‘plans to smother acres of prime agricultural land in housing that is not needed for local people.’ Watch the full exchange with Boris Johnson at PMQ 10 February On the other side of the political spectrum, Ros Coward in […]
Oxford Mail: is SODC’s local plan good or bad for Wallingford?
On 10 February, The ex-Mayor of Wallingford Lee Upcraft took Sue Roberts to task for challenging the local plan. He makes the point that if the local plan were overturned, the neighbour plan for Wallingford would also be ‘scrapped’ and leave Wallingford vulnerable to speculative development. On 11 February, Sue responded that ‘Wallingford’s plan will […]