My name is Kaddy. For 5 years I have coordinated a campaign to save Bertie Park, a popular 0.67-hectare community recreation ground in South Oxford.

Oxford City Council's local plan says that planning permission can be granted for the construction of houses on our recreation ground only if the council move the recreation ground to an adjacent site. Our local police say the adjacent site is not safe for unaccompanied children. OCC are now proposing not to move our recreation ground, but shrink it to 1/5th of its current size. They want to offset our loss by building a 250m nature trail on the adjacent site; we already have a barely-used nature trail close-by. OCC say that with the social profile of this area, there is a greater for affordable housing than a recreation ground. Other existing plans to build nearby will only increase the need for a recreation ground like Bertie Park.

We have been told that Bertie Park will go before Planning Committee in autumn 2025. We are fundraising so that we are ready to make a legal challenge to an award of planning permission.

If they don’t give planning permission, any funds raised will be used to upgrade the park.