Yesterday was an eventful day. One of the last remaining “green spaces” in Oxford city centre is Bonn Square. Unfortunately it has been neglected by the council and is currently in quite a state. So instead of making improvements, like, ooh I dunno, having someone maintain the place, the council have invested £1.5 million in “redevelopment”.
The redevelopment involves cutting down four mature trees (estimated over 100 years old) and slapping sandstone over the archaeological remains of a Georgian church and cemetery. There will be seven younger trees planted instead but it baffles me why the architects could not have designed around the existing trees (they had to design around a memorial which would obviously have more been difficult to get away with removing.)
The key point though is not simply about saving a few trees from being chopped down. The Bonn Square redevelopment is part of a much bigger plan for the “regeneration” of the west end of Oxford. Most worryingly this involves huge expansion of the Westgate Shopping Centre. The current plans necessitate the felling of many more trees, and the compulsory purchase of 18 houses for elderly and disabled people, plus a part of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College.
There is an ongoing public inquiry into the compulsory purchase order, so it is not guaranteed the development according to current plans will even happen. Despite this, the council have been felling trees for the Westgate expansion at the same time as felling the Bonn Square trees. There has been no public consultation on the expansion (please see comments below) and it fails to meet the council’s own environmental standards.
The felling of these trees has been met with fierce opposition by environmental activists, which in turn has raised the profile of the Westgate development in the public knowledge (the council hasn’t exactly been shouting from the rooftops as it tries to force people from their homes.) As the council’s intentions became clear, an initially small group of activists formed a protest, climbing trees to prevent them from being felled. Gabriel Chamberlain occupied the last remaining tree in Bonn Square on the 4th of January, and has now been living in the tree house for 10 days. Tomorrow, the 14th, a court will decide whether to grant Oxford City Council an eviction order, which may spell the end of the protest.
Yesterday a number of activists gathered at Bonn Square in solidarity with Gabriel. Nobody thought it would be a particularly big event but the protest struck a chord with the people of Oxford and generated considerable interest. At one point there were apparently as many as 100 people there, including many younger people who felt strongly about what the council is trying to do to their city.
After placing solid metal fencing right around the tree, the workmen tried to extend it to surround Bonn Square entirely. In response to this protesters forced their way in and the council apparently held an emergency meeting about health and safety concerns, resulting in the fencing being removed.
One of the biggest problems for Gabriel is that he has been effectively cut off, making it very hard to get food and most importantly water to him. This is presumably to encourage him to come down from the tree and face arrest. At about 2AM this morning a friend and I decided to try to get some supplies to Gabriel in the quiet of the night. There were still a pair of security people at Bonn Square and a pair of policemen in a car. We decided the best plan was for my friend to try to distract the security whilst I threw a bottle of water to Gabriel.
My throw was frankly abysmal and the water bottle fell on the ground inside the fenced off area. Perhaps Gabriel or somebody else was able to get it from the ground but I don’t know because I was very quickly arrested “on suspicion of littering”. For real. After roughly 2 hours in a cell I was released without charge; apparently something to do with the area being private property and fenced off made it an un-prosecutable offence.
As I understand it, this effectively made the arrest unlawful, but a solicitor advised me pursuing that avenue may just see me charged for something else (like public disorder). In any case I am not significantly worse off from the situation, but I do feel very angry over the principle of “arrest first, ask questions later”, where the arresting officer clearly felt the need to assert control. I may make an IPPC complaint. Update: People have noted that the solicitor’s advice was dodgy. I am currently seeking legal advice from another solicitor and may take it to court. If not I will make an IPPC complaint.
Overall, I think the recent action has been extremely successful and generated significant public interest. I think we can be sure this won’t be the last protest over the council’s desire to turn Oxford into a more characterless, consumerist city.
Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008.
"There has been no public consultation on the expansion"
What a load of absolute rubbish.
http://www.oxford.gov.uk/files/seealsodocs/69991/CPO%203.pdf
March 04 : Consultation with stakeholders AND LOCAL RESIDENTS
Sept 04 : PUBLIC EXHIBITION of proposals
Nov 04 - Aug 05 : Working with LOCAL SCHOOLCHILDREN
Oct 05 : PUBLIC EXHIBITION, workshops for LOCAL RESIDENTS, independent survey to gauge PUBLIC OPINION
Nov 05 - Feb 06 : Meetings with LOCAL RESIDENT groups
80,000 copies of a brochure explaining ideas and a QUESTIONNAIRE ASKING FOR VIEWS were distributed with the Oxford Mail.
There's a website at westgateoxford dot co dot uk where you can submit comments and suggestions. Not to mention that:
Oxford City Council is now undertaking its statutory consultation on the proposals. Full copies of the planning application can be viewed at the planning office and comments can be made in writing to the Head of Planning, Oxford City Council, Ramsay House, 10 St Ebbes St, Oxford, OX1 1BX.
Nonsense
Tuesday 15 January
10:05 AM
Hi "Nonsense",
Your comment is duly noted and it appears I am mistaken about the fact that there has been no consultation at all. Perhaps this is in part to do with the fact that _any information about what the council's involvement in these plans is very hard to find_. Case in point: I don't know where you found the document you have linked in your comment, "searching Google":http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.oxford.gov.uk%2Ffiles%2Fseealsodocs%2F69991%2FCPO%25203.pdf&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a for websites which link to it brings up _no results_.
The document you linked also does not appear to contain the actual results of the consultation, just the methodology used. I "cannot find":http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=westgate+redevelopment+public+consultation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a the actual consultation results on the web. The "Planning" section of the council's website contains reams of information about the "West End Area Action Plan":http://www.oxford.gov.uk/planning/west-end-aap.cfm but not a single mention on that page of the Westgate development, which is a significant aspect of that. Whilst they provide information of the "Westgate Compulsory Purchase Order":http://www.oxford.gov.uk/planning/west-end-compulsory-purchase-order.cfm, a single aspect of the Westgate development, they don't have a section of the development itself.
I find it _extremely hard to believe_ all of this missing information is merely a coincidence, but I do acknowledge your evidence that they was, at least, some form of consultation.
Jon
Jon Leighton
Tuesday 15 January
11:50 AM
Just because there was a consultation, doesn't automatically mean that everyone knows about it - or, indeed knows how to get involved/what their rights are.
I consider myself pretty engaged in these things, but have to really root out information to participate. I have lived here for nearly four years now, and the only time I found out about it was a Green Party leaflet asking people to get in touch with Yvette Cooper MP, Minister for Planning at the end of 2006. Ms Cooper, then informed me, by email in early 2007, that it was a done deal, and that the decision had already been made with no recourse for review.
I'd also like to point out, that as a council document - and as the council are pretty biased on the outcome they wanted - to take it with a massive shovel of salt.
I for one, do not want to see Oxford turn into a facsimile bland concrete corporate monstrosity like my original home town of Manchester now is.
B
Friday 18 January
03:00 PM
This is such nonsense. Go on, keep opposing any sort of progress without even considering the facts of the matter - that there has been an extensive consultation, that the council approved the regeneration (with Green Party support), and that Gabriel Chamberlain is not a hero but a junkie and convicted criminal with no history in the environmental movement.
TD
Thursday 13 March
10:31 PM