Horton campaigners 'bitterly disappointed' at removal of maternity banners from Banbury Cross
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Keep the Horton General campaign leaders say they received full support from Cherwell district and Chipping Norton councils and Banbury’s new MP when they launched Bring Back Births to Banbury last November.
The new campaign aims to get a review of the 2016 decision to take full obstetric maternity to Oxford, leaving mothers to travel 25 – 35 miles to the John Radcliffe.
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Hide AdSince then countless mothers have suffered birth trauma because of the overload suffered by the Oxford maternity unit; 50 were published in a shocking dossier last June.


Chairman of KTHG, Keith Strangwood, said: “Volunteers spent hours last weekend putting up ten new banners, which have been funded largely through the donations given to us from the campaign’s Banbury United FC lottery contributions.
"We have received huge support from the people of Banbury, most of whom have either had a baby at the JR or know people who have. We don’t know of anyone who does not want the Horton General Hospital to have full, consultant-led maternity and the special care baby unit, restored.
"We want everyone to know about our campaign to Bring Births Back to Banbury and our banners are a central part of spreading awareness. Having councils flexing their muscles by taking down our banners shows they are turning their back on Horton area mothers.
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Hide Ad"Cherwell say banners are prohibited by law but for a long time their own lottery banners were out there – we know because we re-tied them when they came loose.”


A spokesman for Cherwell District Council said: “Advertising banners on the highway are prohibited by legislation. Cherwell District Council removes them on behalf of the Highway Authority across the district, whether their content is commercial, charitable or community focussed.
"To keep the town looking its best, the council has to be fair and consistent in its response to unauthorised banners and fly-posting. Therefore, the council removed banners from Banbury Cross and from outside St Marys Church over the weekend.”
Charlotte Bird, KTHG press officer said: “The response from CDC was interesting. In a former era the council was 100 per cent supportive of Keep the Horton General and sat alongside us in the Royal Courts of Justice when we (jointly with Cherwell District Council) took on the Clinical Commissioning Group in a legal action in 2017. Has the change of political parties signalled a change in that.”
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Hide AdThe Horton’s maternity unit was reduced to a midwife-only service in 2016. Since then mothers have had to travel up to 36 miles (from Byfield) to the JR to give birth. Mothers are often sent home if their labour is not sufficiently progressed.
The downgrade came eight years after the Secretary of State for Health refused to allow an identical plan, because it was ‘unsafe and inhumane’ to transport women in labour 25-miles for obstetric care.
The JR was rated ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission in 2021. The Horton maternity unit was rated ‘good’ at the time of the downgrade but reduced to ‘requires improvement’ last March.
KTHG has appealed to anyone with property in a prominent location and willing to have a banner put up, to contact them on 07740 599736.
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