| FOFI News Update January 2026 (3) |
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Sharing The Mother film and the 'Ask' |
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The Mother film event, campaign update & removing the Horse Fields from Oxford’s new Local Plan |
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We were delighted that The Mother screening last Saturday played to a full house!
If you were unable to attend the event, we are pleased to be able to release a link to The Mother short film here and a summary of the event, with other links a bit further on in this newsletter. |
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But first, the call to action: |
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Getting the Horse Fields removed from Oxford’s new Local Plan
The release of The Mother film is timed to galvanise city-wide action. There is now a key opportunity to get the Horse Fields (aka Land at Meadow Lane) removed from Oxford’s New Local Plan. This is the last opportunity for Councillors to influence Oxford’s Local Plan before it goes to the National Inspector The Horse Fields is a highly sensitive site, any development here is unsustainable in planning terms, particularly heritage and ecology The proposal for Meadow School Iffley for outdoor education would enable both nature and children to flourish, and is being included in a National Heritage Lottery Fund Bid
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The Horse Fields (’Land at Meadow Lane’) should never have been carried forward to the draft of Oxford's new Local Plan which is now coming forward.
Sensitive site unsuitable for housing: Even the Council recognises how sensitive this site is. The Council’s Sustainability Appraisal identifies 15 constraints to development which is the maximum of any site in the Local Plan making it an unsustainable and harmful site for ‘development’. Together, all these constraints show how difficult it would be to deliver any housing, hence the lack of any number in the allocation.
Meadow School Iffley for outdoor education: FOFI is suggesting another way forward that protects this ancient meadow and the Quiet Route for Active Travel which borders the Horse Fields, whilst meeting other local needs. It has amazing support - from residents, from local schools and from Oxford City Farm. Its inclusion in the RBOR Lottery Bid means that Meadow School Iffley has access to the collaborations and resources to become a reality.
Don’t let Oxford City Council block this amazing opportunity. Please call on your Councillors to release this land from the threat of any development, so that both children and nature can flourish.
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Read on for news of the UPP event
The film's creators, Peggy Seeger and Nicolas Brown, provided a full menu of delights:
For starters, Peggy spoke about and sang a variety of her campaign songs, giving context to The Mother song - a love song to the earth and a warning to humans whose behaviour is bringing the Earth’s survival systems into crisis.
For the main course, seeing The Mother film on the big screen showed its full beauty and power.
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Peggy and Nicolas’ discussion and Q & A brought forth some really helpful questions from the audience: including requests about how people can help the campaign, how the film could be more widely shown - including for other campaigns - and how Oxford University might get involved. |
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Campaign update with amazing new support for Meadow School Iffley |
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The Campaign and Meadow School update included exciting news from Eliza Ader from the Bucks, Berks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). She is leading on the Reconnecting Bernwood, Otmoor and the Ray (RBOR) project, a landscape-scale bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund bid for £4.1 million across 5 years. Eliza explained how RBOR is including Meadow School Iffley, which is huge news!:
‘The proposed plan for the Iffley Meadow School aligns with us on all our aims for nature, communities, and heritage - and more specifically with some of our projects, especially next-gen nature and community custodianship of greenspace. We’re currently designing a pilot and supporting with council engagement, and will be putting Meadow School Iffley as a project into our bid, which is due October 2026.’
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The ask - think global, act local! |
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The audience learned of the key opportunity to get the Horse Fields removed from the new Local Plan when the draft comes forward for all Councillors to review at the Full Council meeting on 26th January, before it opens for its final round of Consultation on 30th January. This will be the last occasion for Councillors to have a say before the plan goes to the national inspector. |
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To round off the event, we showed the first campaign film by Nicolas and Peggy, Luna’s Story. The beautiful footage of Iffley's rare white badger and her family and enchanting musical accompaniment from Peggy charmed everyone!
The audience went home to Peggy's poignant song 'Love Call me Home'. |
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Many people came down to the front afterwards with a variety of inspiring ideas around the Meadow School Iffley and we look forward to hearing more, to feed into the co-creation process and forge new collaborations. If you have ideas to contribute, please get in touch!
And finally, to conclude with the ‘ask’ again:
Please take a few moments to:
Thank you!
Friends of the Fields Iffley [email protected] www.iffleywoods.org
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