A campaigning coalition working to tackle climate change is to stage its second monthly protest in the city centre.
Last month Oxford4Nature, a new alliance of concerned householders and environmental groups, held a march from Broad Street to the Town Hall, to demand urgent climate action in the city.
The group opposes Oxford City Council’s plans to develop houses on a field off Meadow Lane in Iffley Village, Bertie Place playground in South Oxford, and land off Mill Lane in Marston.
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On Saturday campaigners will gather at noon in Broad Street before once again marching to the town hall in St Aldate’s, where they will deliver a letter ‘demanding action’ from city councillors.
The letter will repeat the demands of last month for the council to act urgently on the climate emergency and to only develop green spaces as a last resort.
It will also contains statements from member groups with more specific local demands.
The campaign was set up four weeks ago by Lucy Grabe-Watson, 22, who led the protest on August 26.
Urging people to join the march on Saturday she said: “Please join us to call for urgent local climate action and the protection of our natural spaces.
“The planet is burning and we cannot wait. We have the power to make a difference and we must act now.”
Nuala Young, from Oxford is campaigning to save Redbridge Meadow - otherwise known as Redbridge Paddock - from development.
The area has been deemed a brownfield site by the city council.
The council says it is suitable for development and wants 200 homes built there to help tackle the city's housing crisis.
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Ms Young said the city council could be doing more to tackle the climate emergency.
Ms Young said: “Oxford residents are increasingly aware of the lack of wild birds in their gardens with no cuckoo calls in the Spring and far fewer sightings of hedgehogs, fewer moths, butterflies and bees.
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“At the same time other less immediately visible wildlife are on the risk list and dwindling to a point where the next generations will never see them.
“The threat to pollinators is also a very immediate threat to future food production.
“Oxford City Council has declared an Ecological Emergency while at the same time shrinking its biodiverse base of the Green Belt and even, at Redbridge, blocking the important biodiversity corridor that until now runs through the city. House construction causes 10% of our carbon emissions. Architects and developers are now looking to redesign rather than demolish and rebuild. It really is absolutely urgent i.e. an emergency, that Oxford City Council revisits and reforms its outdated 2036 Plans in light of this emergency.”
Oxford4Nature has members from XR, Friends of the Earth, Only One Oxford and many smaller local campaigns - Save Redbridge Meadow, Friends of the Lye Valley, and Friends of the Fields Iffley.
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The council has a 2040 deadline for Net Zero Carbon, while many reports suggest rapid reductions in emissions are needed before 2030. The council has agreed a Carbon Management Plan for 2021/22 to 2029/30.
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