A ROW has broken out over a parish council’s plans to make improvements to a wood on the edge of Oxford.

North Hinksey Parish Council’s has been given £19,350 to make a fen and copse near Matthew Arnold School more accessible to visitors.

The council says its plans will help protect the “dying” fen for future generations.

However, it has come under fierce criticism from a group of residents, who fear the character of the woodland could be ruined by plans for a crushed limestone path and a viewing platform for schoolchildren.

The parish council has strongly refuted the claims and has hired three independent ecological experts to vet its plans.

Niki Carter, one of the local residents opposing the work and secretary of Friends of the Field and Copse, said 137 people had signed a petition urging the council to abandon the scheme.

She said: “There is no need for gravel or a stone path.

“The paths are muddy after rain but roots form natural steps.

“It is a waste of money.

“The idea of spending thousands of pounds on this is obscene.”

The council won a grant from the Trust for Oxfordshire Environment for the work at the Lower Louie Memorial Playing Fields, and plans to start work in the next few days.

Parish council clerk Alan Stone said: “This is a beautiful fen which we can’t get access to.

“We’re creating access not to destroy the fen but to open it up for educational use for school children to give them a greater appreciation of it so they can protect it for future generations.

“The fen is dying, but also when we get torrential rain it comes off Harcourt Hill down through the fenland and floods the back gardens of houses further down.

“This work we’re doing with ecological experts will create a better water table in the fen to regenerate it and to control the waterflow to help ease flooding further down.”

cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk