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KIDS from an Oxford neighbourhood have dressed up in animal masks and appealed to the godfather of a royal prince not to build on a field next to their homes.
The children from Sandhills took part in a protest alongside their parents against proposals to build on farmers field north of their estate.
One of the residents protesting claimed ‘urbanisation, traffic noise, and light pollution’ near the small copse of trees north of the potential site for new homes could ‘destroy wildlife’.
The field is earmarked for development in the draft South Oxfordshire Local Plan, an official document setting out where new homes could be built in the district.
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Last Wednesday (October 28), a group of Sandhills residents and their children held a demonstration at the edge of the field.
The kids dressed up in homemade masks of animals, including an owl, a fox and a rabbit, to show they were worried about the effects building could have on local wildlife.
Just north of the field is a copse of trees with a stream called the Bayswater Brook running through it, and though it is on private land, residents have said they have seen deer, foxes and other animals coming in and out of it.
One of the landowners hoping to see the field designated for building is Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, part of a prominent landowning family, and a godfather to Prince William’s son Prince George.
The other landowner is a farming family called the Buswells.
Cushla Cooper, a parent of some of those who took part in the protest on the edge of the field, said: “The children care deeply about what is going on, just like Prince William’s children. We know a quarter of mammals and nearly half of our birds are at risk of extinction – that’s why Prince William set up Earth Shot.
“However, he needs to tell his friend that urbanisation, traffic noise, light pollution, and footfall this close to protected woodland will destroy wildlife.”
A planning consultant for the Aubrey-Fletcher and Buswell families said proposals to build on the land were far from a done deal.
READ AGAIN: Our handy map showing where new homes could be built in South Oxfordshire’s Local Plan
The consultant Paul Comerford told the Oxford Mail: “Clearly the existing context, assets and surroundings must be a key consideration for any development and this would include the existing trees, hedgerows and wildlife you referenced.
“For further reassurance, the copse of trees to the north, along the Bayswater Brook, are outside of the potential allocation and therefore will remain unchanged.”
The South Oxfordshire plan is due to be adopted by the end of the year, but a Government planning inspector is currently scrutinising it.
The local Lib Dem-Green coalition council were told they must approve it by the Government, despite their objections it contains too many homes.
The land north of Sandhills is part of a ‘strategic site’ in the plan alongside land to the north and west of Barton Park owned by Christ Church College.
