HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Will a wildlife crime be committed?

Niki Carter | 20.06.2010 08:35 | Free Spaces | Oxford

North Hinksey Parish Council are carrying out unecessary work on a lovely bit of woodland, despite local opposition.

Even though 137 people signed a petition to save a tiny bit of woodland near us, North Hinksey Parish Council are going ahead. We love the little bit of woodland as it is. Some of us enjoy the wildlife in it and the hundreds of birds from wrens to long tailed tits and noise daws and some of us use the wild wood as a respite and cure from work and troubles. All the small area needs is a bit of care, like taking out dead branches. The Parish Council's consultation process was a hollow joke.
Of the 137 petitioners, there are over 20 active members of CopseWatch and for over a year we have asked again and again for a proper consultation with concerned local people and again and again for proper maps and plans but nothing. We have resorted to FOI Act for some of the information but it is amazing how Councils can wiggle out of things. Did you know that Parish Councils are answerable to no-one? The ombudsman only kicks in at District level. This has to change.
In February the council staged a 'consultation' which they the reported so insufficiently that we don't even know how many people turned up, where they came from or what their comments were! People without the internet are disenfranchised and we are all treated with contempt by Parish Councillors.
That the Parish Council can spend so much of our taxes on work most locals do not want done is wrong anyway but at this time of redundancies etc, it is obscene.
Not only are the Parish Council planning to build paths and platforms and reroute a stream but they are doing it now! Today. While birds are nesting or fledging and while mammals are foraging for their young. The main work begins at the end of the week apparently (they won't give us exact information). Why not wait till September, as RSPB suggest? What is wrong with these people?
We even called an election for a vacant seat on the council because so many members a co-opted but then found out we would have to fund all the advertising and all the leaflets and just couldn't afford it. The Parish Council did not announce the election at a meeting, we had to call the Vale to find out if there was going to be one or not, and they did not advertise it on their web with the result that most people didn't even know there was an election. As there were only two candidates with similar platforms, one me, I dropped out to save money but this is wrong. Democracy does not exist.
Oh and some of the money the Parish Council want to do this work, and I think they have got it, is from the disastrous development on Cumnor Hill at the old Timbmet site, an SSSI - no longer so special.

Niki Carter
- e-mail: CopseWatch@gmail.com

Comments

Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech