Port Meadow in north Oxford is a popular open space for leisure activities for residents and visitors to the city.

Earlier this month residents and walkers hit out at plans to put up a new fence there.

Oxford City Council is to build a 3ft-high green mesh fence near the boats in the beauty spot to stop antisocial behaviour like ‘vandalism and littering’.

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It said in the summer groups congregated at the boardwalk area close to Bossom’s Boatyard, to have barbecues which set fire to the grass verges and were a ‘danger’ to wildlife.

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According the council, there have also been several ‘criminal incidents’ with the boats moored at the marina – which could be stopped with a private fencing that only the council, staff or boat owners can unlock.

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Walkers say the fence will take away from the openness of the meadow – the very thing it is famous for.

Oxford Mail: 26-01-2015 Tina Gotthardt and Ben Hennig, who are desperately seeking Puck, their knitted squirrel, who the lost on Port Meadow. Catchline: Puck the Squirrel Length: o/n Copy: Matt Oliver Pic: Damian Halliwell Picture Sales Ref: OX7240826-01-2015 Tina Gotthardt and Ben Hennig, who are desperately seeking Puck, their knitted squirrel, who the lost on Port Meadow. Catchline: Puck the Squirrel Length: o/n Copy: Matt Oliver Pic: Damian Halliwell Picture Sales Ref: OX72408

They also say closing off the Broadwalk will make the north part of the meadow completely inaccessible when the park is flooded – like is it at the moment.

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Every year the city council takes part in an annual round-up of livestock at the meadow.

Port Meadow also has strong links with aviation - it was an airfield in the First World War.

An archaeological survey has uncovered fascinating details of the wartime airfield.

Little was known of it until Peter Smith was prompted by his 11-year-old daughter Katie in 2013 to investigate the site as part of her school centenary project.

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Working with aviation historian Peter Wright, his detailed research ended with the unveiling in 2018 of a stone memorial commemorating 17 young airmen killed in flying accidents in 1917 and 1918.

Oxford Mail: A ceremony in 2018 to remember Port Meadow's First World War airfieldA ceremony in 2018 to remember Port Meadow's First World War airfield

All that remains of the airfield above ground 100 years later is a small concrete hut.