Your guide for your
Weekly Out&About Put th
GROUP
Bicester, Banbury and Kidlington Thursday, February 1 - Wednesday, February 7, 2018
leisure guide for in and around Oxford
leisure time in & aroun
d Oxfordshire
e date in your diary...
Comedy marathon – 5 venues in 1 day and all for a good cause
Gary Ba rlow and Tim Fir Calenda th’s r Gi at the Ne rls w Theatre
Free
oxfordshireguardian.co.uk
Council seals deal for Castle Quay
Adult care hit as house to close
Woman given medal for life with diabetes
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Dibley writer’s backing to save golf course from development ‘Loss would shatter many lives’ By Samantha McGregor
PHIL Marshall battled extreme weather conditions to raise more than £10,000 for a charity which supports his wife. Find out about his ultramarathon along The Pennine Way on pages 8&9.
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CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save a golf club say “lives would be shattered” if the site was lost to developers. Members of North Oxford Golf Club have launched a campaign to stop their 110-year-old course being designated for housing. Cherwell District Council identified the site as suitable for housing in its local plan. But campaigners, calling themselves GreenwayOxon, say the club, in Banbury Road, Oxford, is an “important social and recreational centre for many people whose lives would be shattered if it were lost”. They argue the golf club site is a green lung and offers people of all ages the chance to enjoy regular exercise and fresh air, and is beneficial for their health and wellbeing. Group spokesman Chris Pack said: “We know houses have to be built but the sheer number in this relatively small area around Kidlington and north Oxford will affect so many people. “The legal framework for planning in the UK - the National Planning Policy Framework - is clear about the obligations on councils for protecting the green belt for recreation and
health, as well as limiting urban sprawl. “It is therefore shocking that the Draft Cherwell Local Plan Partial Review proposes building a housing estate on North Oxford golf course. “For more than 110 years golfers of all ages have enjoyed regular exercise and fresh air playing this beautiful mature course.” GreenwayOxon says an alternative golf course site put forward by the council was inappropriate. Member and golfer Paul MayhewArcher, 65, who co-wrote television show The Vicar of Dibley, suffers from Parkinson’s Disease. He said: “I know only too well how important exercise is in coping with a serious medical condition. “On a visit to North Oxford Golf Club to do a piece for The One Show I met a terminally-ill man who left me in no doubt that golf and the camaraderie of his fellow players was keeping him going. The club was for him, as for many others, his extended family. “I very much hope the council will drop its proposal to turn the course into a housing estate.” Cherwell is looking to build 4,400 homes around Kidlington, Gosford, Yarnton and Begbroke and the golf course is one of the sites earmarked.
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