King Alfred's - Les Misérables Success!

Last evening, I was invited to the final performance of the West End musical Les Misérables at King Alfred's College at centre site hall in Wantage. It was an excellent production and I was impressed by the sheer scale and organisation that is required to put on something like this with four evening performances plus an afternoon matinee. Apparently, the planning and casting started back in September.

In 2011, you may remember, I went to see the school's impressive production of We Will Rock You (see here). Well done to the Creative Arts Department and all others at KAs for yet another great success.

Celebrations at Grove Library

It was a great day today for Grove Library as it celebrated 40 years in the village.  This photo shows me leaving at midday as I had to be in County Hall this afternoon to attend a Cabinet meeting.

I thoroughly enjoyed the morning talking to old colleagues and new as we reminisced amongst the photos and press cuttings, and the lovely displays of children's artwork were on show for all to see.  Here's to another 40 years - and who knows what Grove Library will look like then?

Happy 40th Birthday to Grove Library

Grove Library celebrates its 40th birthday tomorrow - Tuesday 13th March 2012 - and, as shown in the middle photo, there are celebrations and activities organised throughout the day. I hope to pay a visit in the morning and it would be great to see as many as people as possible showing their support.

On the right, is a 13 year old cutting from the archives when the Friends of Grove Library (FROG) were celebrating their own first anniversary in 1999. As you will see, the issues were much the same as they are today - how to defend the library from threats of closure and how to raise funds and support it.  Yours truly is on the left (I was group secretary at the time).

Denchworth Barn Destroyed by Fire

This morning, many of us in the north of Grove woke to find black pieces of burnt debris on our cars and the road between Grove and Denchworth closed with a barrier across (left photo). This was because of a fire which destroyed the long thatched barn (Brook Lane Barns) next to Denchworth Manor and reports have appeared in the media here and here. I have just visited the scene of the fire tonight (right photo) and talked to the fire officers. Apparently, the alarm was raised by a passing motorist in the early hours of Sunday morning and 10 fire engines from across the county were used to bring the blaze under control. There are a number of nearby thatched properties so, whilst it is a great shame that this old barn has been lost, we should be thankful that the officers managed to prevent it from spreading further.

The road is now open to traffic, but please take great care as you approach Denchworth as there will be a continuing presence of fire vehicles and firemen through the night and tomorrow. I understand there has also been an accident at The Volunteer bridge, which has meant that more traffic than normal has been going through Denchworth tonight.

Spring Clean for Old Mill Hall

It was my monthly surgery in Grove Library this morning. This meant that I could observe the start of a spring clean of the exterior of Old Mill Hall. As shown in the above pictures, this involved some gymnastics with a pressure washer to remove the accumulated grime. Good to see this happen as the building was looking a bit shabby and a clean was long overdue.

Tour of Didcot A Power Station

Last evening, I visited Didcot A Power Station.  This tour was arranged for councillors in the area to see how the power station operates at first hand.  The site hosts two power stations - the 2,000MW dual-fired A station and the 1,360MW combined cycle gas turbine B station.  The photo on the left shows the cooling towers for Didcot A and the photo on the right shows the grid for the electricity generated on site.  Together, the two power stations are capable of producing enough electricity to meet the needs of over 3 million people - equivalent to the demand of three counties the size of Oxfordshire.

Didcot A began commercial operation in 1970 as a coal-fired power station and it now has the capability of dual-operation with other materials including biomass.   We visited the control room, the turbine room and the coal store where the trains come in daily to offload the fuel.  However, the station is due to be decommissioned in 2015.  There has been some discussion recently about what will happen to the site.  The other question has to be - how will these cooling towers be demolished?

Chief Constable's Awards Ceremony

I had the pleasure of giving the closing speech as member of the Thames Valley Police Authority this afternoon at a presentation of the Chief Constable's Awards held at Drayton Golf Club.  There were 22 awards given out, some for long service (one police officer had 32 years service), commendations for actions of bravery and also one award for a member of the public from the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire for a heroic rescue of young people from a motor accident.  Four PCSOs also received awards for 'acting with courage and integrity'.

I think it is excellent that we recognise the exceptional work, commitment and loyalty of individuals who work for their communities as part of Thames Valley Police.  This ceremony provides a unique opportunity to reflect on moments of bravey, inspiration and dedication.   I enjoyed speaking with many of the officers and families there this afternoon who were very proud of their achievements.

Community Infrastructure Levy

Yesterday, I attended a seminar describing the new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which is the new mechanism for funding infrastructure with new housing developments.  Previously, this used to be covered by Section 106 Planning conditions, which formed legal agreements to ensure that infrastructure required to be in place to support housing was negotiated at the time of the planning permission.  Local authorities would be required to secure sufficient funds for schools, roads, leisure amenities and all the community facilities needed to ensure that new residents in a community are supported when they move in.

However, planning regulations have now changed under the new government and the CIL and the New Homes Bonus are both expected to meet the needs of new housing when it is built.   With the news in my previous post that the application for outline planning permission for 2,500 homes on the Grove Airfield site has just been submitted, it is vital that adequate infrastructure for this new housing development is planned and funded.  Residents have been rightly concerned that historic lessons of the past have not been learned where Grove grew via 'planning on appeal' and this created a community which lacked facilities.  We must ensure that this is not repeated.

Grove Airfield - Outline Planning Application

A planning application from Persimmon Homes has now appeared on the Vale of White Horse District Council website for "Outline application for residential development of 2500 dwellings with associated services and facilities including secondary school, primary school, local centre, open space, community park and realignment of Denchworth road to the south".

This link will take you directly to the application and lot of detailed documentation including an illustrative masterplan. Written representations can be made on the application no later than 28th March 2012. One way this can be done is via a web form which can be found from the above link. I would encourage all residents to take this opportunity to express their views on what would be a large-scale expansion of Grove.

Wilts and Berks Canal - Towpath Project

This morning I attended a presentation at County Hall given by the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust outlining their ambitious plans for restoration of the canal.  As part of this work, the Trust is hoping to develop a towpath for walkers, and other users where possible, to follow the route of the old canal.  Locally, the scheme would link Grove right through to Abingdon by the River Thames.  The plan is that this could be completed within five years.  

The idea is that by securing a footpath and multi-user trail where possible, this should accelerate the canal development.  An experienced project manager has volunteered his time for a year in order to 'kick-start' the process and build momentum.

I have long been a supporter of the excellent work which has been undertaken to date by the Trust and have previously reported on some of the events I have attended, including a trip on the Kennet canal here.   The eventual aim of the whole restoration project will be to link the Wilts and Berks Canal to the Avon and Kennet (pictured above), which then makes a complete boating 'ring' - a complete circuit which boaters can enjoy without navigating the same route twice.

The School Run

There have been problems with parking near to the Wantage Church of England Primary School (pictured above) in Newbury Street and these have just been highlighted in the local press (see here).  This, however, is not a problem unique to Wantage and I suspect that many Oxfordshire councillors get complaints about parking issues and enforcement (which are often really a police matter). A similar situation arises at North Drive in Grove where the Church of England Primary School is located. As the photo below shows, there is only a very narrow residential road near to the entrance to the school and, recently, the congestion in the area has been made worse by the ongoing pipe replacement works of Southern Gas.

In the Wantage case, there are at least some nearby car parks (Civic Hall and Memorial Park) which parents can use, but this is not a possibility in Grove where there is only street parking available.

One of the factors that has made things worse in recent years has been the closure of school sites, which means that the remaining schools have had to expand to take even more children. The Garston Lane School site was sold for redevelopment and the Church Street CE Infants School was integrated with the Junior School in Newbury Street (both shown below).

I believe there is also a planning issue. Schools are often located in residential areas where housing and development has been allowed to encroach close to their boundaries making it very difficult to deal with any increases in traffic. Also, sometimes the opposite has happened - a school built in earlier times has expanded beyond what the local area can reasonably accommodate in terms of traffic.

Millbrook Primary School (shown below) in Grove is a good example of where car parking has been designed into the campus. Even here, space can sometimes be at a premium on a busy day, but at least the problem has been addressed. 

I do hope that future developments (e.g. Grove Airfield) take on these issues and ensure that new schools are not only designed with sufficient parking/drop-off facilities, but that an adequate "buffer zone" is kept around premises to provide for future expansion. All too often we just  hear the claim that "we want to discourage people using cars for the school trip". Fine, but how do you actually do this?

I would be very interested to hear the opinions of local residents on this topic.

New Police Station Emerges

As I reported previously, Wantage Police Station will move to a new purpose built facility on Grove Technology Park. The photo above shows that progress has already been made on clearing the plot. It will be interesting to watch the construction of the station advance from this beginning.

Hazel Groynes in Letcombe Brook

This is a winter view of Letcombe Brook in Wantage taken from behind Wessex Mill in Mill Street. The hazel groynes were added after the floods in 2007 to narrow the channel and increase the flow to help prevent the buildup of silt.

Budget Day!

On Friday, it was the meeting where Oxfordshire County Council set its budget for 2012-13.  Snow had fallen everywhere so it was a wintry start to the day.  I had been on Radio Oxford on Thursday morning setting out the Opposition alternative proposals from the Liberal Democrat Group.   You can read all about our budget here with my accompanying speech here.

It was a long day and thoroughly exhausting, but important that Oxfordshire residents see that there is some challenge to the system.  The BBC was there to film the debate and it was covered in the local news on BBC South Today in the evening.

Wantage Demolition

It is reported that approval has been given to Vanderbilt Homes to knock down the Wallingford Street shops under development in Wantage.  As these are historic buildings, it was hoped that some of their architecture (such as the facades) could be preserved - especially as they are situated in the Wantage Conservation Area. As can be seen in the bottom photo, the roof has been left open for some time and this clearly cannot have helped matters.

One of the aspects that makes market towns such as Wantage so attractive is the historic blend and character of the architecture. Now that the decison has been taken, it would be good if the developers try to at least incoporate some of the features of the old building, such as the leaded window (upper right) and spiral cast iron columns (lower right) pictured above.

The planning approval can be found here and here.

More Wintry Scenes

Another very cold night with newspapers reporting that Chesham in Buckinghamshire reached minus 17.8C overnight. Here are some photos from the Ridgeway just off the B4494. The  photo on the left looks over the point-to-point course toward Wantage. The right-most photo looks along the Ridgeway towards the Lord Wantage monument.

Wintry Oxfordshire

The overnight snow fell in Oxfordshire as predicted and some wintry Grove scenes are pictured above.

The roads around the village (including the A338 into Oxford) seem to be reasonably clear. See here for the latest travel news. News about school closures can be found here.

Care Home Proposal for Health Centre



I recently came across this photo, which shows myself and District Councillor Sue Marchant  during the building of the Health Centre on Mably Way. The photo was taken on 7 February 2003 and the Newbury Street and Church Street GP practices moved from Wantage into the new building in June of that year.

Earlier today, I noted that a planning application for a proposed two-storey 60 bed residential care home has just appeared on the Vale of White Horse District Council website. From the plans, it looks like this will be situated behind the existing Health Centre. I don't know how this fits in with the overall strategy for the site. I am sure residents will remember that at one time a new hospital was destined to be situated near to the centre. More information can be found here along with the chance to comment on the plans.

Wantage Police Station on the Move

The police station in Wantage is on the move from the current building in Church Street with plans to relocate to a new station at Grove Technology Park, which will serve the communities of Wantage, Grove and the surrounding villages. The planning application for this two-storey new station can be found  here on the Vale of District Council website, where comments can also be made.

It is also planned to have a front counter facility in Wantage by the library to enable public access to the police as reported here.   However, there is an ongoing discussion at the moment about the opening hours of this counter facility.  Currently, the proposals are for opening just 4 hours a day for 5 days a week.  I believe this is not sufficient for an area the size of ours and with Cllr Jenny Hannaby I have written a response to Thames Valley Police requesting that this is open for at least 8 hours a day with a Saturday opening as well. Please find below our response (click on it to enlarge):

Student Police Officer Ceremony

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Student Officer Confirmation Ceremony for Thames Valley Police at Drayton Park Golf Club.  As a Police Authority member, my role is to make the closing speech at the end of the day.  I am pleased that during these tough economic times, Thames Valley Police are still able to recruit new officers to the force and to see the student officers receiving their certificates from the Chief Constable is a very proud moment for their families.  It was a real privilege for me to be there and I enjoyed talking to many of the young officers as they shared their enthusiasm for their new careers.

In today's world, there are ever increasing demands made upon our police officers, and the Police Authority is keen to ensure that good training facilities are in place at the Sulhamstead Training Centre.   In last year's capital programme, the authority approved a new dojo at the site, believing that it is absolutely essential that our student officers are able to train to be fit for their role.   It is certainly worth a visit to go along to their yearly Open Day, as I have reported here previously. 

Of course, the landscape is changing for Police Authorities as they are due to be scrapped later this year when elections for the new Police and Crime Commissioners take place.  A demanding job and certainly important the right person is chosen - but will the public be sufficiently engaged with the election process?  Time will tell, but I shall always remember these occasions as very special.