Birdlife in Oxpens

Several local residents are keen nature observers. Professor Nancy Brown has been systematically recording birds since she came to the area in 1986. Over that time she has recorded 51 different kinds of bird from her house. She explains that the field is a flight path for birds moving between North and South Hinksey, Grandpont and Port Meadow. 

In January flocks of siskins (from Scandinavia) mixed with goldfinch come to eat the seeds of alders on the stream bank - whilst mallards, coots and moorhens nest in the reed beds. 

Andrew Smith MP pledges full support

On 25th November Sendra's local MP, the Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP to Colin Bridger offering his full support for our town green application. He added he has taken up the matter with Oxfordshire County Council. 

Autumn rains

The last few days have had plenty of rain, and ground water levels have risen. The waters from Castle Mill Stream are running considerably higher than even a few days ago.

Its this time of year when local residents can be really pleased that the green is open space. The water can overspill onto the field, reducing the flow downstream in the river.  That's good news for a lot of residents in Oxford and beyond. 

Oxfordshire respond to application

Oxfordshire County Council have written to SENDRA confirming receipt of our application for a town green. In their letter of 3rd November the County Council confirmed they had received our application on the 29th September and the matter has now been referred to the council's legal department.

The letter explains the County Council will be referring the application to a barrister to check if it has been "duly made". This process should take some weeks.

If the application passes this hurdle then the County Council will publicise the application for a further six weeks, asking if anyone objects to the application. The County Council will also write to the landowner - who in this case are the city council. 

So progress, albeit a bit slower than we hoped, and its not quite clear what has happened over the last few weeks, but we have a timetable for the next steps.