OXFORD GREEN BELT NETWORK

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Horspath village hall at 7.30pm on Friday 12th November 2010

Present: Ian Scargill (in the Chair) and 37 others, including members of the Steering Committee, council and parish representatives and members of the public. The Chairman opened the meeting by expressing thanks to the ladies from Horspath who had kindly provided refreshments.

Apologies for absence were received from Carl Smith on behalf of Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council, Christopher Gowers, Hugh Jaeger, Michael Daniell and Alan Jones.

Minutes of the 2009 AGM, having been circulated and available on the website of OGBN, were approved. There were no matters arising.

Hon Treasurer’s report and Accounts for the year to 30 September 2010: Michael Tyce presented the Accounts, a copy of which is attached to these Minutes. 43 subscriptions had been received over the past year and the Accounts showed a balance in hand of £1,907.38. This total did not take account of a commitment to support the cost of CPRE’s High Court challenge to the S.E.Plan should this be needed. There were no questions of the Hon Treasurer and the Accounts were approved. At the suggestion of the Hon Treasurer it was agreed to keep the annual subscription at £15 for 2011.

Election of Steering Committee: It was noted that Moyra Haynes and Duncan Graham wished to retire from the Committee and the Chairman paid tribute to their contribution to the work of OGBN.

No new nominations having been received, the following were re-elected to serve on the Steering Committee: Joe Adams (Kidlington), Jane Baldwin (OPT)), Clive Briffett (South Hinksey), Elizabeth Gillespie (Baldons), Christopher Gowers (Wolvercote), Martin Harris (Horspath), Gill Oliver (Oxford), Gillian Salway (CPRE), Ian Scargill (Oxford, Chairman), Liz Shatford (Sandford-on-Thames), Henry Towers (Stanton St John), Michael Tyce (Waterstock, Hon Treasurer).

Attention was drawn to the Rules of OGBN which permit nominations for co-optation to the Committee to be made during the course of the year.

Chairman’s Annual Report: The Chairman presented a report on the activities of the Oxford Green Belt Network over the past year. A copy of the report is attached to these Minutes and is available on the website www.oxfordgreenbelt.net.

Presentations: There followed two presentations by members of the Steering committee which generated lively discussion:

Martin Harris first gave a presentation on the pressures experienced by the Green Belt, illustrating his talk with a series of pictures to show the threats which had been experienced within the narrow belt of Green Belt between Oxford City and the village of Horspath. He drew attention to the significance of the local authority boundary in disputes over the Green Belt, one side of Oxford Road being in the City, the other side in the District of South Oxfordshire. The kind of threats experienced had arisen as a result of unlawful development, reviews of the boundary of the Green Belt, the strategy of first developing and then seeking retrospective permission, the provision of permitted development under the General Development Order, degradation of the rural character of the Green Belt, the encroachment of industry, and proposals like that for the wind turbine. Sites used to illustrate these threats included the athletics track car park and its lighting scheme, the expansion of the City Works depot, the exclusion of the Rover sports field from the Green Belt, the history of the Unipart site, the treatment of the allotments south of Oxford Road, and developments within the village itself.

Michael Tyce followed with a presentation on wind farms and the current threat to the Green Belt from the giant wind turbine being promoted by Partnership for Renewables on City Council land south of Oxford Road. It was pointed out that wind farms are heavily dependent on public subsidy, and that financial arrangements for the National Grid leads to schemes being promoted in the least windy south of the country. Furthermore, in assessing the merits of schemes, account is not taken of the amount of electricity which the turbines are likely to produce.

In the case of the Horspath turbine, the City Council, is a party in promoting the scheme, will benefit financially from it, and is also the planning authority that will consider the application to build it (which might come as early as January). Such conflicts of interest do arise, but what happens next needs to be scrutinised carefully because of the possibility of challenging action in the courts. The proposed turbine is very high, 130 metres (425 feet) to tip of blade, and its impact will be city-wide as well as being visible much further afield.

Michael Tyce drew attention to the need for a fighting fund and for the preparation of an exceptional case if the scheme were to be defeated. A request for an extension of the usual time for objecting to an application had been put to the City but was not certain; likewise a call-in from the Secretary of State was unlikely. Points raised in discussion covered the role of the MoD, ecological issues relating particularly to bats and birds of prey, views from listed building, noise and lighting matters, and the City’s ambition to be the “greenest” council.

A Statement on the wind turbine proposal prepared by Horspath Parish Council was available to the meeting and it was announced that plans were in hand to fly a kite balloon (blimp) on a date to be decided. Publicity will be given to this at the appropriate time.

The meeting closed at 9.30pm with thanks to the speakers and to Clive Briffett for providing the video equipment and screen.