The multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has written about our legal action against SODC in its daily briefing service (3 March) and highlighted particularly the legal significance of the climate change grounds. Planning law expert Nick McDonald notes that “the case is of interest to developers and local planning authorities alike, as it is the […]
Lisa
Bioabundance backs CEE Bill
Bioabundance has joined the CEE Bill Alliance Oxfordshire, part of the growing grassroots support for the Climate and Ecology Bill introduced by Green MP Caroline Lucas ( Brighton, Pavilion) on 2 September 2020. The Alliance is asking stakeholders and businesses to sign a letter addressed to all Oxfordshire MPs urging them to join the 98 […]
Environmental case could stall ‘largest ever’ road programme
Last spring Transport Action Network (TAN) started legal proceedings against the government on the grounds that it should have properly assessed environmental impacts before launching the £27 billion Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) in March 2020. The Court agreed to hear the TAN claim last July. According to the Guardian, those grounds have been amended with […]
Calls to rethink housebuilding in the countryside
Sir Roger Gale Conservative MP for Thanet is calling on the Prime Minister to to stop ‘plans to smother acres of prime agricultural land in housing that is not needed for local people.’ Watch the full exchange with Boris Johnson at PMQ 10 February On the other side of the political spectrum, Ros Coward in […]
Oxford Mail on our National Park proposal
Oliver de Soissons explains how to join up high quality countryside and wildlife reserves such as the RSPB site at Otmoor to create a new national park to the north east of the Oxford Ring Road, between the A40 to the south, the A34 to the west, and the M40 to the north and east. […]
Press release: Bioabundance calls for new National Park north of Oxford
Bioabundance has put together a plan for a 36 sq mile National Park to the northeast of Oxford. It would create economic, social, mental, and physical benefits for residents, close to where they live. The Government has called for new National Parks, in its Environment Bill and in its 10-point plan: the Green Industrial Revolution. […]
POETS highlight Bioabundance case in critique of Oxfordshire’s Democratic Deficit
The planning and environmental group, POETS is raising serious concerns about the erosion of local democracy in Oxfordshire where central government and bodies that are remote, unelected and unaccountable to local people are taking control of the planning process. The critique cites the legal challenge of Bioabundance against SODC. In DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT 2021 Who decides Oxfordshire’s […]
Sue Roberts Interviewed about flooding
Land earmarked for thousands of new homes in south Oxfordshire remains waterlogged, with more flood warnings in place across the county. The proposal to build up to 3,000 homes near Grenoble Road was approved in December after years of debate. However, flooding at the weekend has led to concerns over whether the site is suitable. […]
Guardian interview with Sue Roberts
“UK plan to build 24,000 homes faces legal challenge” “Robert Jenrick accused of ‘massive intervention’ on scheme incompatible with commitment to climate crisis Campaigners are challenging the Oxfordshire plan on the grounds that Jenrick’s intervention was inappropriate and that the proposed number of houses breaches the government’s legally binding commitment to hit net zero by […]
BBC South Today: Bioabundance legal action
Bioabundance is taking action against South Oxfordshire District Council because central government put pressure on councillors to adopt a controversial local plan for 13,500 new homes that doesn’t do enough to tackle climate change. Sue Roberts comments, that a local plan can only reduce climate change by reducing the amount of greenhouse gase in the […]