Bridleway 75 revisited
IWCA councillor Stuart Craft joined Green councillors Sid Phelps and Nula Young to appear at Witney Magistrate’s Court for the second time on 9 October to give evidence against BMW in its attempt to close Bridleway 75, which runs through the car plant, between Garsington Road and Horspath Road.
Bridleway 75 has been used by generations of car workers as a short cut into the factory, and by local families as a safe and convenient route to Shotover, Brasenose Woods and the Horspath Road sports fields.
The German car giant has been trying to close the ancient bridleway for a number of years now and the IWCA has done all it can to frustrate its plans. We first encouraged the South East Area Committee to vote against the closure in February 2003. In August 2006, although Labour councillors used their majority on the area committee to push through a planning application for an alternative route—against the wishes of the IWCA councillors—most nonetheless agreed, despite pro-BMW lobbying from Cllr Val Smith, to vote against any future application to close the Bridleway 75.
Curiously, the application to close the bridleway was never returned to the South East Area Committee. Instead, the application went only to the Labour-dominated Cowley Area Committee where, we are told, Val Smith ‘whipped’ her colleagues into pushing the application through.
At the time of going to press the Leys Independent is still awaiting the decision of the court. One thing is certain, however. If, as seems likely, BMW get its way and rides roughshod over the wishes of local people then they have the local Labour Party to thank for their victory.
Leys Independent, issue 37, October 2007
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