Press Release

Boris Johnson To Open The New Oxford Green Belt Way

13 July 2007

A major new initiative designed to improve access to, and appreciation of, the Oxford Green Belt is launched by CPRE Oxfordshire today (Friday 13 July). This comes at a time when the Green Belt is under increasing pressure from housebuilding and other development across the country [1].

MP Boris Johnson [2] will open the 50 mile Oxford Green Belt Way [3]. Mr Johnson says: ‘We do need to care more about our green fields and the Green Belt Way is a fantastic idea to get all people to enjoy our great local countryside. I look forward to opening the Oxford Green Belt Way.’

The opening will take place at 2.30 pm on Friday 13 July at Shotover Plain [4], where there will be opportunities for photography and interviews.

Bruce Tremayne, Chairman of CPRE Oxfordshire [5] says: ‘The Oxford Green Belt Way is a celebration of the beautiful and diverse landscape that surrounds the City of the Dreaming Spires. This scenery has been protected from destructive building for fifty years by its Green Belt status, which CPRE continues to defend.’ [6]

NOTES FOR EDITORS

[1] Green Belts have shrunk in most of England’s regions since 2004, despite a pledge by John Prescott the then Deputy Prime Minister that they would grow in every region. See http://www.cpre.org.uk/news/view/361

[2] Boris Johnson has been MP for Henley-on-Thames since June 2001 and has been Shadow Minister for Higher Education from December 2005. The Oxford Green Belt Way passes through his constituency.

[3] CPRE Oxfordshire created the 50 mile circular walk as part of its 75th birthday celebrations. The CPRE Oxford Green Belt Way links Oxford’s Park & Ride sites and is crossed by major bus routes, making it easy for city and village dwellers to access the route and to travel back to their starting point. The route provides excellent views of Oxford’s Dreaming Spires, as well as of Otmoor, Foxcombe Hill and Wytham Woods. The walk uses existing footpaths and bridleways. The Oxford Green Belt Way has been created with the help of Oxfordshire County Council's Countryside Service and the Oxford Fieldpaths Society. Route maps: cpreoxon.org.uk/ogbw

[4] Shotover Plain is part of Shotover Country Park. It is approached from the New Headington area of Oxford along Old Road. There is ample car parking at the Plain. Maps: tinyurl.com/2foz3c. After the opening by Boris Johnson, children from Horspath School will accompany several local councillors and keen walkers on a 5km stroll to Horspath Village Hall, where tea will be served.

[5] CPRE Oxfordshire is a branch of the national Campaign to Protect Rural England charity. We have 1,200 members in the county, where we have been campaigning to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural Oxfordshire for 75 years.

[6] The 1947 Town and Country Planning Act allowed local authorities to include Green Belt proposals in their development plans. Fifty years ago, Oxford councillors had the foresight to designate the fields surrounding their city as Green Belt, following a campaign by Oxfordshire CPRE and the Oxford Preservation Trust. Further information on threats to the Green Belt at tinyurl.com/ytguff.