Wednesday 6 February 2008

Oxford Environmental Vandalism

We are all interested in maintaining green spaces, and some cities have reputations for historic buildings and sensitivity to human scale. Oxford is such a place. Iffley Road in particular is part of a conservation area, and yet there is a proposal to build a huge indoor tennis centre. The area can be appreciated by looking at a map in hybrid fashion, as on Multimap.com. The plans themselves are, of course, copyright, but the scale is indicated in the lines drawn here.

I have been to Oxford on a number of occasions, once even for a couple of Unitarian ministry interviews in the late 1980s. It was the centre of Anglo-Catholicism, seems to be a centre of fundamentalist schism for Anglicanism now, and there is the Affirming Liberalism Conference being held in Oxford. Here can also be found the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Director the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, and some may note my ongoing interest in Ulric Vernon Herford, a founder of Free Catholicism who made his base in Oxford and was also particularly interested in animal welfare as part of his ministry.

The planning application can be seen here but due to difficulties connecting there is a stage by stage method of looking and then objecting.

How to view the application including plans:

First of all the URL is required - you may need to highlight this, copy and place in the URL space near the top of browsers:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/planning/planning-applications-search.cfm

If you cannot connect, just type in Oxford City Council planning applications - then:

1. Click on 'I Accept'
2. At the next page click on Applications Search on left side of screen
3. At the Application Case Reference page type in the application number 07/02871/FUL
4. Then click on 'View' on right END of line
5. Then click on Associated Documents
6. Then click on North and West Elevation for a picture of the building

Objections can go to Michael Crofton Briggs by email at mcrofton-briggs@oxford.gov.uk. This must contain the number 07/02871/FUL of the Planning Application.

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