Oxpens River Bridge: Campaigners seek judicial review

Campaigners suggest the existing Gasworks Bridge could be upgraded instead of building a new one

Campaigners say they will seek a judicial review after a new £10m bridge over the River Thames was approved for a second time.

Oxford City Council gave the go-ahead for the Oxpens River Bridge linking Oxpens Meadow to Grandpont Nature Park.

Friends of Grandpont Nature Park say it will destroy part of the park, and that another nearby bridge could be upgraded instead.

The authority said it was required due to redevelopments in the area.

Ed Turner, deputy leader (statutory) for finance and asset management for the council, said: "The idea that you could push either all of the people who want to walk or cycle onto the existing very small unsuitable bridges, or have them all trundle down to Folly Bridge... is a nonsense.

"We need the infrastructure."

The area is currently being regenerated with a revamped railway station, a new neighbourhood at the Oxpens site, and Oxford University plans for an innovation quarter at Osney Mead.

But campaigner Dan Glazebrook, who is confident his group will win a judicial review, called the bridge a "fancy part" of the new developments and not for existing residents.

The Oxpens site is being redeveloped by Oxford City Council and Nuffield College

He told the BBC: "It's being built entirely on adjacent public woodland and meadows.

"If I want an extension to my house I can't just build it in my neighbour's garden.

"Oxpens Meadow is supposed to be a Field in Trust. That is a green space protected against development in perpetuity."

He called the area the "closest thing to countryside for the many, many elderly residents" living nearby.

Mr Glazebrook also cited a feasibility report made by Oxfordshire County Council in 2016 which indicated the existing Gasworks Bridge could be upgraded at a reasonable cost.

However, Mr Turner said: "The idea that you would have it serving a development of this size seems really, really unlikely to me... we need something more than that bridge."

He also claimed the new bridge would only impact a "tiny proportion of the nature park… less than 1%".

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