About the Friends of Stratfield Brake

The Friends of Stratfield Brake formed in early 2022 to oppose Oxfordshire County Council's (OCC's) proposal to allow Oxford United Football Club (OUFC) to build a stadium and associated commercial development on Stratfield Brake and/or the Triangle. Since that time, we have focused on promoting awareness of the proposal locally, and challenging the process as it unfolds to ensure that local concerns are heard.

In 2022 Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) offered Oxford United Football Club (OUFC) Stratfield Brake as a site for a new stadium and associated commercial development. OCC then decided that Stratfield Brake was not deliverable as a site and offered the much smaller site known as the Triangle as an alternative.

The Triangle is approximately five hectares, lies in the Oxford Green Belt, and is one of the last bits of open space remaining in the Kidlington Gap. For all of these reasons and many more, we believe that this is the wrong place for a football stadium.  

Over the last three years we have taken every opportunity to engage with and challenge this proposal. In February 2024 a planning application was submitted to Cherwell District Council (CDC). Along with many others we have vigorously opposed this application. However, it was approved on 14 August 2025 despite CDC acknowledging that it is an inappropriate development for the Green Belt. 

Since then CDC has been working with OUFC’s agents to agree the Section 106 Conditions (i.e. a legal agreement to secure developer contributions to mitigate the impact of the development on local infrastructure). On 26 February 2026 the decision notice was posted on the planning portal meaning that the planning approval is now in place. 

Friends of Stratfield Brake have campaigned against the stadium in a number of ways including: emailing councillors, calling a Parish Poll, leafleting, speaking at council meetings, etc. We are grateful to our supporters in helping us with this.

We now intend to seek a judicial review of CDC’s decision to approve the planning application. This means that we will go to court to ask a judge to quash this decision. We have had a very successful fundraising campaign and have reached our target of raising the £50,000 required to take legal action. Read more about our campaign.

FoSB is run by a small group of committee members. All are local to the area.

FoSB is proud of our team and our achievements in voicing the  community opposition to the stadium.

FoSB was formed by individuals driven to act against the direct threat to publicly owned land. However, they rapidly formed links with a well-established network of community action groups. This allowed FoSB to hit the ground running and start campaigning very effectively as soon as the stadium proposal became public knowledge.

You may recall that residents recently fought a long, hard battle to try and prevent Cherwell taking land out of the Green Belt North of Oxford. At the end of the day, we were promised that the newly revised Green Belt boundaries would endure. The unexpected news that OCC were considering allowing a football stadium and associated commercial development on the remaining Green Belt simply could not be taken lying down. It is inconceivable that the County Council did not expect strong local opposition to placing a stadium in proximity to land recently allocated for 2,200 houses of the 4,400 to be built in total in this area.

No.

FoSB is a not-for-profit group formed for a single purpose - to Stop the Stadium. We firmly believe that doing this is in the public benefit. We considered whether it was necessary or appropriate to register with the Charity Commission. However, to be accepted as a charity ALL of an organisation’s aims must meet the definition of ‘charitable’. Charities can take part in political activity, but campaigning must not be the reason for the charity’s existence. Since FoSB’s primary aim is to influence political decision makers, it is highly unlikely we would qualify.

We met the initial costs of printing leaflets and arranging delivery personally, but it quickly became clear that FoSB needed a fighting fund to mount a long and potentially costly campaign. So in November 2022, FoSB launched a crowdfunder on the GoFundMe platform. This is a typical fundraising model for project specific ‘not for profit’ groups such as ours.

We are delighted that people have connected with our cause and want to support it financially.  All we can give our donors is heartfelt thanks for their support. 

We promise that FoSB will only ever ask for money when it is absolutely necessary.

Once we've won this campaign, any surplus will go to a suitable local charity or cause.

All donations are used to campaign. Members give their time freely (and they give A LOT of time). All money is managed via a dedicated bank account and every penny is strictly accounted for. All expenses have to be approved by at least two people (with most discussed and agreed in Committee).

We hope donors take pride in FoSB's achievements so far and agree that we are putting the money to good use:

• Professional website
• Secure mailing list to ensure compliance with GDPR
• Secure PO Box for postal communications
• Publicity material (banners etc)
• Leafleting residents at key time points to keep them informed
• (From summer 2023) Legal costs

Please do not believe the desperate, false accusations being bandied about by some OUFC supporters.

Our finances are correct and above board.

Regrettably, it’s because a minority of OUFC's fans have forced us to take this position. They quickly crossed the boundaries of reasonable, respectful campaigning. Bullying, aggression, derogatory comments, and confrontational messages are not acceptable.  Please note that following unacceptable messages and material created/sent on behalf of OUFC supporters, the police have advised us to block individuals from our social media pages where necessary. We are not obliged to publish membership lists and we have no intention of breaching confidentiality.

OUFC wants to be seen as a community friendly, socially responsible organisation.

Yet its repeated requests to their fans for tolerance and to respect the opposition fall on deaf ears.

Attempts to shut FoSB down DO NOT help the club build local trust or support