Oxford bridge objectors raise thousands to take legal action

The Friends of Grandpont Nature Park group has set up a fundraiser page which has so far amassed £4500 amid their launch of a judicial review.

The Oxpens River Bridge which would link Osney Mead to Oxpens, the site of a new Oxford quarter, was granted planning permission at a city council meeting in March and then again in April during an appeal.

Protesters against the bridge. (Image: Save Grandpont Nature Park)

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Some questioned the need for an additional bridge at the Grandpont Nature Reserve when there was already one "two-minutes away" and suggested it would "trash" the local habitat.

The city council says the proposed Oxpens River Bridge is designed to improve walking and cycling links between the south and west of the city and city centre by providing a new crossing over the River Thames.

But speaking to us, Dan Glazebrook, of the Friends of Grandpont Nature Park group, said: "The Council repeatedly misled their own members about all this and more to ensure their white elephant project scraped through planning committee.

The bridge will link Osney Mead to Oxpens. (Image: Oxfordshire County Council)

"We urge everyone who cares about nature, about local democracy, and about public green space, to help us challenge the Council’s contempt for all three in Court. And we urge the Council not to recklessly sign a contract that will commit them to spending millions of pounds on a project which we believe will ultimately be declared illegal.”

A council spokesman said it would "not be appropriate to comment further during live legal proceedings" but that it "rejects the allegations in the judicial review claim and will be defending it robustly".

The Save GNP group has said it is making its Judicial Review application on five grounds which include the council's opinion that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required being "wrong" and the council "failing to inform the committee about an official report into refurbishing the existing bridge as an alternative to a new one".

Oxford Town Hall. (Image: Ed Nix.)

A spokesman for the group added: "Committee members were wrongly told by officers that they were not allowed to question the Council’s opinion that an Environmental Impact Assessment was not required by the bridge, even if they believed it was wrong.

"If this were true, councillors would be obliged to grant planning permission even where they knew or suspected that doing so would be unlawful. Clearly this is a nonsense."

The city council has previously issued a statement on the bridge which says it "maintained proper process" when submitting a planning application.

Grandpont Nature Park. (Image: Contribution.)

It added: "The planning application includes ecological, environmental risk, arboricultural and biodiversity assessments. Public consultation on the proposed development was undertaken before submission of the planning application. The scheme was reviewed before finalisation and submission of the application to the local planning authority."

Subject to approvals, construction work on the bridge is expected to start later in 2024, with the bridge scheme expected to be completed in 2025.

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About the author

Noor is the Local Democracy Reporter for Oxfordshire who covers political stories from across the county. 

She began working as a journalist in Oxford in September 2023 having graduated from the University of Oxford.

Noor was trained at the News Associates journalism school and can be found on X through the handle @NoorJQurashi