Students wore anti-pollution suits and masks to protest about Ruskin College's proposed move to a contaminated site in north Oxford.
Factory site is polluted, objectors warn
They lobbied people attending a meeting at the college's headquarters in Walton Street, on November 29, about plans to sell its existing premises in Jericho and Headington and relocate to land previously occupied by a radiator factory off Woodstock Road.
Tests have revealed the disused industrial land is polluted with lead, zinc, copper and arsenic, and would need a major clean-up.
Nick Peace, 35, a member of the students' union, which organised the protest with the Ruskin Defence Committee, said the college should stay in the heart of the city and expand on its Headington site. "We are dubious that the clean-up would be effective," he said.
The college's executive has voted 6-3 in favour of the move. Principal Jim Durcan believes it would secure Ruskin's long-term future.
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