Port Meadow is one of the most special places in the country which has inspired artists, poets, writers and people in general who want to participate in its natural beauty.

Many people experience epiphanies there precisely because of the timeless quality of the place. Gerard Manley Hopkins was inspired to write a poem about the poplar trees by the river at Binsey. The poem is a green lament, expressing the sorrow Hopkins felt when the trees he had grown fond of were felled in 1879.

He must be turning in his grave at the very suggestion that this “Sweet especial rural scene” is now in serious danger of being ruined forever.

Future generations would never forgive us for such a folly.

We must stop the whole, ugly, money-grabbing project in its tracks before it goes any further.

John-Francis Phipps, Meadow Prospect, Wolvercote