Ruskin Fields
Full details on the Ruskin Fields section
of the Friends of Old Headington website
Town Green proposal
- Oxford Mail, 21 February 2012:
“Campaigners’ new plan to save fields”
Ruskin College owns the Ruskin Fields (right), which lie just to the south of the northern bypass within the Old Headington Conservation Area.
Barton Area Action Plan – Proposed Submission Draft
The Ruskin Fields have been omitted from the BAAP. The following extract from the Report of the Head of City Development to Oxford City Council dated 19 December 2011 explains why:
The Preferred Options version of the document included a proposal put forward by Ruskin College for between 175 and 190 new homes on fields to the north of the College and south of the ring-road. The document did not take a view on the proposals but invited the public to comment. In the Preferred Options consultation only 27% of respondents said that they supported Ruskin’s proposal. Since the Preferred Options consultation, Ruskin College have submitted further proposals together with supporting technical studies. However, the proposals and technical studies are not sufficiently robust to be included in the AAP. In particular, no workable vehicle access arrangement has been demonstrated and the proposals do not adequately reflect the requirement to protect and enhance the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. To include the proposals in the Barton AAP would present a risk to the soundness of the AAP, and could hold up delivery of homes on the Land at Barton to the north of the ring-road. Therefore no land at Ruskin Fields has been allocated for development in the AAP.
New proposals revealed in Oxford Mail
on November 2011
West Waddy:
Ruskin Fields Development Promotion, January 2011
Mark Pitt speaks at full council against Ruskin’s proposals
(starts 13½ minutes into the video)
In 2007 the college offered the Ruskin Fields to the city council for development via the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), and ideas are afloat to extend the Barton West development south of the bypass and into the Old Headington Conservation Area.
The Ruskin Fields were included in the consultation on the Barton West development (closed 24 June 2011), with the following statement from the City Council:
Ruskin College proposals for Ruskin Fields
The proposals relating to Ruskin Fields have a different status from those set out elsewhere in this document. They have been promoted by the landowner and have not been developed with the same ongoing and close involvement of the local community and other stakeholders that has helped shape the preferred options. We would like to receive comments on the specific proposals put forward by Ruskin College as well as on the principle, scale, nature and location of a smaller-scale development at Ruskin Fields.
The proposals can be seen on pp. 49–52 of the Barton Area Preferred Options document
Articles in local press
- 10 November 2011: “’Headington will improve under Ruskin plan’”
- 14 July 2011: “College principal brands housing protesters ‘Nimbys’”
- 7 July 2011: “The need to protect our village”
- 27 May 2011: “Ruskin College defends scheme to build on fields”
- 15 April 2011: “Homes plan is revealed”
Letters in local press
- 7 July 2011: “Calming to the soul” (Judith Craft)
- 7 July 2011: “Workable balance” (Veronica Hurst, Ruskin Fields Group)
- 16 June 2011: “Focus on homeless” (Professor Audrey Mullender, Principal)
- 9 June 2011: “Entrances blocked” (Sue Shaw)
- 9 June 2011: “Community use” (Clive Hurst)
- 2 June 2011: “Carving up a gem” (Zoe Traill, Ruskin Fields Group)
- 2 June 2001: “Preserve character” (Neil Iggo)
- 2 June 2011: “Loss to wildlife” (Jane Jakeman)
- 1 June 2011: “Ruskin facts corrected” (Professor Audrey Mullender, Principal)
- 19 May 2011: “Delightful patch” (Veronica Hurst, Ruskin Fields Group)
- 19 May 2011: “Last remnant” (Lyn Robertson)
- 19 May 2011: “Unacceptable plan” (Dr Helena Whall, CPRE)
- 5 May 2011: “Green Wedge” (Sarah King, Chairman, Friends of Old Headington)
- 28 April 2011: “College, cars and conservation” (Vi Hughes)
