500 signatures reached
To: Oxfordshire County Council
Protect Oxford’s Towpath Wildlife
Halt the construction of the cycle path until after the nesting season and foreground nature in its construction.
The County Council is ignoring the advice of the construction company's Environmental Adviser and forging ahead during the nesting season with heavy machinery and vegetation clearance to create a 3 metre tarmac cycle path along the Thames from Iffley to the Westgate Centre.
We ask the County Council that the County Ecologist has oversight of the project, not just the Chief Engineer.
Why is this important?
The River Thames is in an area of ‘High Sensitivity’, according to the County Council’s Oxfordshire 'County Sensitivity Report'.
This means that it requires particularly sensitive treatment during any development works. There are 4 species of Red Listed birds (in greatest danger of extinction) - Sparrow, Starling, Song Thrush, Kingfisher - nesting along the towpath. Sparrows, alone have declined by 60% in the last few years. Disturbance during the nesting season and removal of their foraging and singing sites will impact on their numbers, as is recognised by the County Council itself.
Opinions may vary on how humans and wildlife should share this beautiful route. However, the County Council must adhere to national guidelines and its own policies of best practice and not try to scrape through with the bare legal minimum, as it has so far.
As regular Oxford cyclists we welcome the cycle path. In Oxford, we are entirely used to cycle paths narrowing (or even disappearing during the most dangerous points). There is no reason why this one couldn't be shaped to include the nature and wildlife that makes the route such a pleasure for all of us now and for the future.
