PRESS RELEASE: Cherwell District Council Challenged Oct 17, 2019
Press Release - For Immediate Release
Cherwell District Council Challenged
The No Expressway Group, CPRE Cherwell, No Expressway Alliance and six Parish Councils have co-signed a letter to Nick Graham, Director Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer) to challenge the motion proposed by Cllr Barry Wood, Leader of Cherwell District Council (CDC) for CDC Council meeting on Monday 21st October.
There are two motions regarding the proposed Oxford-Cambridge Expressway.
Cllr Tyson’s Motion: Proposed by Cllr Katherine Tyson, asks Council “to oppose the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway while supporting rail Connectivity”. All signatories support this motion. It acknowledges the climate and environmental emergency and gives clear actions for the Council to promote alternatives for investment in the regions transport systems.
Cllr Wood’s Motion: Proposed by Cllr Barry Wood, Leader of CDC, asks Council to debate and vote on “requests Officers to then assess the implications for Cherwell and the Oxon 2050 Plan and to provide recommendations for Members via Scrutiny and the Executive. In the meantime, the Council will maintain an open mind”. This motion will stifle true debate on the proposed expressway and prevent councillors being able to express their opposition, by preventing Cllr Katherine Tyson’s substantive motion from being heard and debated, as it is tabled first.
Cllr Barry Wood’s motion
asks the Council Officers to “do their jobs”! Does that need to be debated, surely not?
asks the Council to believe that the details of routes are material to CDC’s position on the proposed Ox-Cam Expressway.
Wherever the routes are within Corridor B, they will impact Cherwell, our environment and communities for generations to come
implies Council is currently “open minded” on the issue. It has, on the contrary, been supportive, without this support having been explicitly sought, debated or agreed.
Waiting for route information hasn’t stopped Oxford City Council, Vale of White Horse DC, South Oxfordshire DC, Aylesbury Vale DC or Bucks County Council all passing motions to oppose the Ox-Cam Expressway. Any expressway is in direct conflict with the Oxfordshire councils’ aims to be carbon neutral.
The signatories of the letter have requested that:
Cllr Wood’s motion is removed from the 21st October Council meeting
if CDC insist this motion remain, Cllr Wood should be recused from any debate on this motion due to his conflict of interest as Chair of the Arc Leaders Group, (set up to deliver the “benefits” of the proposed Ox-Cam Expressway) and the sentence asking that CDC “maintains an open mind” is removed due to its inaccuracy.
ENDS
Attachments:
We urgently need your help.
Your donations are needed now, to help us run the campaign and pay for political consultants and other professional experts to bring this campaign to the attention of Westminster as well as local politicians.
No Expressway Group believes there is no need for an Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, nor the over-inflated housing targets associated with it, and we will actively campaign against it and support other organisations with the same objectives.
Our environment is a national asset which is critical for everyone’s health and well-being. We must not let it be destroyed.
Your donations help us to spread information about the Expressway, run and build support for the campaign:
£10 could pay for one roadside Correx poster
£15 could pay for one roadside poster on a wooden stake
£20 could pay for one A1 printed colour poster for our pagoda display
£35 could pay for 250 A5 printed leaflets for the campaign
£70 could pay for one pole and two panels for our travelling pagoda display
£150 could pay for one feather flag for our travelling pagoda
£180 could pay to run this website for one year
£300 could pay for a 3 minutes of an Expressway Story
£500 could pay for a 5 minutes of an Expressway Story
A greater or other amount could contribute to the cost of professional support for our campaign in general and in preparation for Planning Inspectorate hearings
Please note:
The No Expressway Group has a group bank account to which the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are signatories. The group will publish accounts on noexpressway.org each year which will be audited by an accountant from outside the NEG group.
If any funds are left at the end of the campaign, these will be donated equally between RSPB and BBOWT.