The government says you shouldn’t build on recreation grounds unless you don’t need them, or you replace them with equal or better. It’s also council policy.
Oxford has a list of parks. Back in 2024 the Parks Department reviewed the bye-laws. They removed Bertie from the list because of plans to build on it. At the planning committee in June, the council said they didn’t need to replace Bertie with equal or better because it wasn’t on the list. So they agreed to shrink Bertie Park to one tenth of it’s size: No grass, a bit of equipment for children up to12, and a much smaller Multi Use Games Area, to be locked from dusk till dawn.
Last year the council published this policy: If a park is not on the list, there must be “strong evidence” that it isn’t needed: “long-term lack of public access and/or use.” Well, that’s not true. Government policy says recreation grounds should be replaced by equal or better whether they’re on a list or not! On 9th September, Bertie Park is going back to planning committee again. Watch this space!
