Join us in telling
Oxford City Council:
Don't destroy our City!

Oxford’s City Council is:

Pitting the need for affordable homes against the need for green spaces

There is room for both homes AND green spaces.. All over the city, meadows and woodland, sports pitches and playgrounds are being sacrificed for housing. This is regardless of the needs of local people or the role of these spaces for nature, flood protection, biodiversity and wildlife corridors. This is an unnecessary and catastrophic sacrifice, as there is plenty of room in Oxford for the truly and permanently affordable housing residents need.

Driving up demand by making Oxford a ‘Fast Growth City’

Oxford is an ideal size for a sense of wellbeing and identity. However, the Future Oxfordshire Partnership (formerly the Oxfordshire Growth Board) is driving unsustainable increases in business and population for Oxford, in line with Swindon, Milton Keynes and Cambridge. The plan is to increase Oxford's population by 30% and use land in the city for thousands of tech jobs.  Further development on this scale worsens Oxford's housing crisis, current infrastructure and ecological problems and reduces our resilience to the nature and climate emergencies. 

Holding back 430 acres of land reserved exclusively for business

There are high vacancy rates in Oxford’s business parks (Cowley and Botley Roads, Oxford Business Park, Unipart and Mini plant) and redundant retail and office space in the city. These sites would be ideal for regeneration for affordable homes and new green spaces. But the Council and University want to use this space for new hotels and new business/tech spin out companies when Oxford already has 99% full employment. Creating many more jobs drives up demand for housing and increases house prices even further making it one of the least affordable cities in the UK.