Campaigners issue fresh complaint over Oxford United new stadium

The football club have been granted planning permission to build a new 16,000-seater stadium at ‘The Triangle’ near Kidlington which has been hailed as ‘crucial’ for the future of the club.

Last month, a High Court Judge refused a full judicial review into planning permission for the new multi-million pound ground. FOSB have issued a final appeal after the decision.

Now, the group have issued a formal complaint to Natural England, the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England, after it twice decided not to designate Stratfield Brake as Ancient Woodland.

Pressure from Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds’ office, shown in a series of freedom of information requests published by FOSB, they say resulted in Natural England reversing an initial Ancient Woodland ‘conclusion’.

The second time, FOSB says, staff at Natural England suggested internally that the decision to give the woodland ancient status should be overturned, with the campaign group citing reputational concerns as a factor behind the decision.

Dodds rejects what she claims are ‘unfounded accusations’, telling the BBC that hundreds of constituents have contacted her with concerns over the need for a new stadium and it is an issue that is repeatedly raised with her on doorsteps.

Speaking to BBC Radio Oxford, a spokesperson for FOSB, who chose to remain anonymous, said: “Natural England has twice accepted that the woodland is ancient and twice they’ve said they are going to put it on the ancient woodland inventory and twice they’ve backed away from it.

“We can go into the reasons they’ve given for that but that is essentially the reason for our formal complaint to Natural England.

“They have prevaricated, procrastinated and they have denied the woodland its true status.”

If the land is given Ancient Woodland status, the stadium’s opponents insist that the natural biodiversity of the wood carries more benefits that they say need protecting which is important in planning law.

The FOSB member continued: “Once a wood is put onto that inventory…it is protected by the national planning policy framework; that’s the law.

“Under that framework, a planning application has to be refused or there has to be a truly exceptional reason for allowing it to go through.”

With FOSB having lodged a complaint with Natural England, they await a deadline to hear back.

However, said deadline is different to that of the stadium appeal, with the latter coming first.

One FOSB member told the BBC they don’t expect the formal complaint to stop the stadium from being built.

FOSB are hopeful that if the stadium goes ahead and the trees are given ancient status, that a buffer zone will be introduced to protect the wood long into the future.

Oxford United have been approached for comment.