Oxford City Council is proposing to build 31 affordable homes, with a multi-use games area and children’s play area on New Hinksey Playground in Bertie Place, known locally as Bertie Park.
The authority first made its intentions known in 2019, and the proposals have been subject to a high level of objection since a planning application was submitted in May 2023.
Campaign group Save Bertie Park has been fighting the plans, locals have submitted planning objections, and Thames Valley Police (TVP) has “repeatedly” weighed in with concerns.
Thames Valley Police has expressed fears over the potenital creation of “a hotspot for unauthorised parking” at the park.
The force said this “will be a constant battle for the local authority” if plans are approved.
Save Bertie Park campaign (Image: Ed Nix)
This comes as New Hinksey was named as one of the areas in Oxford with the least access to green space.
A survey, by MG Timber and Online Marketing Surgery, has ranked the number of postcodes within 900m of a public park, garden or playing fields for different Oxford locations.
North Central Oxford, Churchill, Grandpont, Marston and Iffley Park all joined New Hinksey with the fewest postcodes with close access – each area had just over 100 postcodes near green spaces.
Oxford Central tops the list with 380 postcodes.
There is a city council planning committee meeting on May 26 but the park development is not due to be discussed, and sits as the second-longest-running application on a list of proposals “currently expected to be considered by the committee at future meetings”.
The proposal was made as part of the city council’s aim to build the homes that “local people need”.
The most recent document added to the planning portal for the proposal is a response from TVP, with a back-and-forth of criticism between the force and the planning applicant.
In March, Arcadis Consulting had prepared comments on behalf of Oxford City Council’s housing company, Ox Place, responding to objections to the plans in a report.
It said: “In their response dated December 8, 2025 the Thames Valley Police raised a number of objections to the proposed scheme. It is disappointing that these objections are being made at this stage given that the application has been with the council since May 2023.”
TVP replied that the force “has been liaising with the council and applicants since 2021, and we have repeatedly raised the same concerns”.
Thames Valley Police says it is investigating (Image: Police)
The planned development (Image: BM3 and Arcadis/Oxford City Council planning portal)
This included fears about a new games area, planned within the development.
Police had shared concerns about “a risk of noise having a negative impact on residents, neighbour disturbances and community tension”.
It added: “This space is a very challenging location for development, with no clear solution. ”
A consultee for Thames Valley Police said they understood the wish to retain a youth recreation facility, but that there was no appropriate location to do so if houses were to be built.
The city report responded, saying it had addressed this by proposing the space be “sunk down” from street level and with fencing.
The police consultee came back stating their concerns about “potential for crime and antisocial behaviour, particularly in the evenings and at night” were maintained.
They offered a “possible solution” to add higher fencing to close the facility outside of “legitimate hours of usage”.
