Our young people need a safe place to play
Councillor Linda Smith replied on behalf of the council. You can read her reply here. There’s a lot that we would question. We have asked her to explain the last 2 paragraphs.
We think that the proposals will go before planning committee on 15th August. Watch this space!
Roughly 260 people objected to the Council’s proposals. 2 people supported. Here is the Save Bertie Park Campaign objection to the proposals: objection
Counting the number of people is not a good way to work out if something is needed.
Oxford City Council policy is that everyone should be 400m away from a small park, and 750m away from a medium size park like Bertie.
Many local children go to Lake Street school. It has no grass. After school, many kids come to Bertie Park to run around and let off steam. One 19-year-old met his best friend playing football on Bertie Park at the age of 9. Bertie Park is a life-line to many: the mum whose son has ADHD, and the grandmother acting as a foster parent for her grandson.
How to find out if Bertie Park is underused: Come along. Sit down for a while. Enjoy the peace and quiet until the next group of young people arrives.
The Bertie Park Planning application includes a Noise Assessment Report. The new development will include 31 homes, a small play area for kids up to the age of 5, and a Multi Use Games area (MUGA)
The current MUGA is 40m away from all houses. The new houses will be 12m away. Measurements show that there could be problems.
OX place hope that the MUGA will be only used during the daytime; that noise from the MUGA won’t go on too long, or be too loud.
If things go wrong, they suggest:
We have a recreation ground where young people of all ages can gather. They can shout, and scream, and let off steam. How long will it be long before the new residents are driven to put out the “no ball game” signs.
The investigation work started today. It turns out to be really quite invasive. They have brought along gravel and concrete and are inserting pipes to measure the ground water. You can see all the kit, including a large skip to remove waste.
The plans have been submitted. There are already pages and pages of test results. But they are not waiting until August to find out if they are going to get planning permission. They are spending even more rate payers’ money on even more ground investigations.
OCC’s Senior Development officer told one of the campaign members that “they have no idea what is under there”.
If you want comment on the planning application, this link will take you straight there. We have until June 19th.
Below is a summary of a letter written to the Oxford Times by Councillor Smowton:
Click here for the full version. There are 4 problems with Councillor Smowton’s letter.
Bertie Park is often busy on a Friday afternoon. This video shows the role that Bertie Park plays in our community. If they build on Bertie, many of our young people will have to find somewhere else to play.
The council always says that they want to build on Bertie Park because it has been on the local plan for 20 years. A planning application notice is fixed to a lamp post in the park. This is what it says:
Please click here to comment on the planning application. Click ‘view and comment on applications’. Then search “Bertie” in the keyword search box. Planning consultants CERDA have agreed to help us prepare our objection to the planning application. Click here to help us raise £580 cost for this. £5.00 could make all the difference.
If you have any questions, or know of somebody wants to comment on the planning application on paper, rather than online, please contact savebertie@gmail.com
The planning application is out! The council are asking for comments.
Click here to see the whole site layout, click here for the play area and click here for the nature trail. There are many more documents on the council site.
You will need to give your name, address and email. They will ask you to tick reasons for your comment. Then there is lots of space for a written comment.
To comment, click here.
The council said they will install this sort of MUGA, but this is an error. It will be a metal fence. There will be no goal areas
The plans say the children’s play garden will be a little smaller than the current one. But much of the space is taken up by a slope, a communal seating area, disabled access and a hedge. There will be a 70% reduction in the area for children’s play.
It is still marked as an LAP (Local Area for Play). This means it’s for children aged 0-6 within a 1 minutes’ walk. Instead of 13 items of equipment, a puzzle and a hop scotch for children of all ages, the plans show 4 items plus a set of 7 stepping logs. All for young children.
The total area of grass around the MUGA and play area is tiny. Most of the grassy area is right next to Hinksey stream. There is no fence.
On the land behind Wytham Street, there will be not a wildflower meadow, but a 250m long nature trail. The three seats which would have looked over the meadow will now allow people to sit and look at the housing development.
The council will make a separate planning application for a new bridge.
The council say that they are right now “verifying” the planning application for building on Bertie Park. The final plans will be ready for us to comment on very, very soon. Here’s some of our young people ready for a rough ride!
So, it is a really good time to get together on Bertie Park. Friday 26th May after school. Bring and share if you can. We will be putting on activities. Chat with other members of the Save Bertie campaign. It’s what Bertie Park is all about.
Our last Labour leaflet said that the planning application for Bertie Park would be submitted at the end of March. According to the latest Oxford Mail article, it would be submitted at the end of April. Read the Oxford Mail article here. It is now the start of May.
In the article Alex Hollingsworth says that the new play area will be 7.7% smaller. Have a look at why this is misleading. The plans show the play area to be the same length as at present, but the same width as the Multi Use Games Area i.e. 15m wide.
We measured the existing play area as just over 20m wide. It will lose 5m, making it at least 25% smaller. The plans show a slope down into the playground all along one side, and even more space being taken up by disabled access for the MUGA. At the consultation in November, campaign members were assured it would be exactly the same size.
The recreation ground itself will be about 80% smaller.
When talking about Bertie Park, Oxford City Council emphasise the desperate plight of people on the waiting list for social housing. Across the rest of Oxford, they are creating far more jobs than housing, which will only exacerbate the housing crisis.
There is a new approach to safeguarding that does not blame parents for the behaviour of their children. It looks at the places where problems can happen: The school corridors, the shops, the stairwells where things can happen out of sight. Oxford County Council recommended watching this video of Carlene Firmen giving a TED talk:
She says that the window between 3.30 and 7.00 is the most vulnerable time for a teenager in this country. We need to make sure that we have safe places for children to play. The parents with young children, the people cycling through and walking their dogs make Bertie Park Recreation Ground a safe place for kids to play.
The new plans show a wildflower meadow has one entrance and will not be seen from the new recreation area. How safe will it be? They show a Local Area for Play designed for 0-6 year olds. Where will the other children play?
Save Bertie Park Oxford