A petition has been launched to save three local businesses under threat from Oxford University’s land-grabbing agenda.
The City Council have just announced a sell off of yet more of the city’s cherished yet diminishing publicly-owned space, in this case to St Peter’s College.
Pulling the rug out from under the feet of three popular local businesses, the Council’s plans to sell 11 New Road to the college were apparently well advanced before they bothered to inform the tenants of the building. It was only once the Oxford Mail had reported on the issue that the Council sent out a cursory email to the tenants to inform the tenants of the impending sale.
Castle News, Classy Barbers and American Nails all received emails on Thursday 10th September at 3pm, just three working days before the Council Cabinet is set to vote on “disposing” of the property. By this time, architects had been enlisted, visualisations drawn up and a planning application submitted.
Regular visitor to Castle News, Viviane Fallah, said: “Everybody comes here, the homeless, bus drivers, people from the University. I talk to the youth who come in here, fifteen, sixteen years old, tell them to keep out of trouble. It’s like a community centre. I’ve seen every nationality in this place. But they want to disperse everyone out of the city centre. It closes at 1am, not like Tesco that closes at 10 or 11. I’m so shocked they’ve been doing all this behind the backs of the business owners here. They have worked so hard to build up these businesses. Where are they going to go?”
Dan Glazebrook from Save Our Spaces said: “Once again, the City Council is selling off community space to serve the University’s land grab. These three businesses serve thousands of local people and are much loved by the local community. But they have been treated with total contempt by the Council and St Peter’s College, who have been drawing up plans behind their backs to kick them out. It is also an incredibly short-sighted strategy, permanently losing a community-owned property which brings in well over £100,000 per year in rent in exchange for a single, one-off payment. The Council seems to prioritise the University’s needs above those of everyone else in the city.”
Local people are being urged to sign the petition to demonstrate their support for the businesses here and for keeping the property in public ownership, and their opposition to the City Council’s plans to sell the premises to St Peter’s College from under their feet.
The petition can be found at https://c.org/tSy9RsQrRp
To contact Dan from Save Our Spaces, email oxfordgrassroots@gmail.com
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