Judge rejects NHS appeal over Warneford Meadow (From The Oxford Times)
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Judge rejects NHS appeal over Warneford Meadow
6:08pm Tuesday 23rd March 2010 in
Campaigners today said they were delighted after a High Court judge upheld a decision to register Warneford Meadow in Oxford as a Town Green.
The 18 acres of grassland is situated behind the Warneford Hospital, between Headington and East Oxford.
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust wants to sell the meadow for development but the Friends of Warneford Meadow have fought to protect the land by having it registered as a Town Green.
Town Green status was awarded to the land in April last year by Oxfordshire County Council, under the Commons Registration Act but the health trust appealed.
Today, Judge David Waksman upheld the council’s decision.
Following the judge’s decision, the trust issued a statement saying it would “not proceed to a further appeal”.
Friends of Warneford Meadow spokesman Paul Deluce said: “I was overjoyed to read Judge Waksman’s judgment dismissing the NHS appeal.”
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J F van den Broecke says...
12:24pm Wed 24 Mar 10
Warneford Meadow Town Green
The judge's decision vindicates the campaigners' view that proceeds from the sale of Warneford Meadow would not have gone towards improvement of the Trust's premises. The statement by the Trust broadcast on Radio Oxford still maintains that residents deprive patients of decent facilities. In view of the fact that the same Trust is being given consent to destroy a cricket field and build a replacement ward on it, whereas it could easily be built on the current site with a little imagination and prudent management, this assertion appears to have no grounds. The statement acknowledges that the Trust will now develop at a slower pace, but proceeding with the Highfield Unit also seems to defy their claim, especially if funds from the sale of the Meadow had indeed gone into this development. The Trust produced a similar threat to the residents by saying that it would lose the funding if the Council did not grant building consent for the new Highfield Units by a given date.
The mental health trust concerned should know that its relationship with the local community is not restored by more bullying.