John Vidal of the Guardian reports: Plans to develop the 160 year old boatyard into luxury flats were rejected by Oxford city council because they were “sterile” and “uninspiring.” Author Philip Pullman, whose Gyptian characters docked at Jericho, was one of many conservation activists protesting the bid by the real estate developer by Spring Residential, calling the boatyard “part of a complex human ecology that sustains all kinds of life: economic life, artistic life, social life, environmental life, cultural life in the widest possible sense.” Pullman hopes that the site might instead be developed for social housing and local workshops. “The ideal situation now would be for a fairy godmother to appear with a pot of gold and make over the site to a trust.” Read more. Thanks to Kinders again for the tip.