Wantage Police Station Closure

Another blow to the communities of Grove and Wantage is the potential closure of Wantage Police Station. Read more here. The aim is to move out of the town to another location but where this will be has not yet been decided. Will it be part of the new development in Grove?

I am getting more concerned that as we await news of the proposed planning application for the airfield, we learn each day about more and more services which are being lost. Library, youth facilities, police station - what will be next? What is always difficult to do is to get back services which have been lost. I am trying to find out more about the 'pots of money' available to communities to run services in their area. This should become clearer in the next few weeks. I shall keep you posted.

Grove Library and Wantage Sweatbox Threatened

Today we all heard the devastating news that many of the county's libraries and youth centres could close due to potential budget cuts. We are being asked to 'pull together' in our communities to help save these vital services with local volunteers. Read the press release here.

Many residents will remember that Grove Library was threatened in the past and a group of residents formed the 'Friends of Grove Library' (FROGs) to keep it open. I was secretary at the time and it took a huge amount of effort. However, our library was saved, but now here we are again. Let us hope that something similar can happen now!

We have been worried for some time about the future of The Sweatbox in Wantage, and here we are again concerned about its future as Wantage is listed in this press release as one of the centres which could close unless the community can somehow pull together to keep it open. Once again, this will be down to volunteers.

The future looks bleak indeed so let us hope that solutions can be found before the budget is decided in February.

Boundary Review for Oxfordshire

Consultation is now taking place on an electoral review for Oxfordshire. This was triggered when it was discovered that Witney East was under-represented by 35%. There are currently 74 councillors representing various divisions in Oxfordshire - but is this too many? There are proposals for reducing the number of councillors. What do you think? There is also a move to go back to single-member divisions. If you recall, some years back Grove and Wantage were separate divisions but were put together in the county elections in 2005. More details can be found at the Local Government Boundary Commission website where you can send in your views online. Comments can also be sent to the review manager: joan.dsouza@lgbce.org.uk (tel:020 7664 8531) by 22nd November.

Remembrance Sunday

Along with parish councillors, beavers, cubs, scouts and brownies, I joined residents at the parish church remembrance service this morning in Grove. There seemed to be a record turnout as no seat was left unfilled! Professor Gary Sheffield, local historian, told us a story of a brother and sister from London who were evacuated to Grove during the war. Of course, during this time of reflection, we also pay tribute to those who are currently in Afghanistan and in particular, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

A Ceremony of Remembrance

There was a Ceremony of Remembrance held this morning at County Hall which I attended along with other members of the council and staff. We remembered 11 members of County Council staff who were killed in both World Wars. Two wreaths were laid below the plaque. We had two minutes silence along with the rest of the nation and then recited:

"We will remember them
When you go home
Tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow
We gave our today."

Grove Airfield Planning Event

This evening I was pleased to see a number of residents at the planning event held at Grove Church of England Primary School at North Drive. This was organised by Planning Aid South and had a number of presentations including one from a Vale Planning Officer. We were all given information about how best to respond to large (and small) planning applications and what suggestions we can make if we wish to be constructive about the forthcoming proposals. We were told that a planning application for the airfield site is expected at the end of this month, but there would be a long period of consultation probably taking us up to next June. Realistically we were told that any building work would not commence before 2012 at the earliest.

The table I sat at discussed S106 agreements (legal agreements which tie the developer into providing infrastructure such as roads and schools) and how important it was to make sure that these are delivered in time as development progresses. There are plans to have further workshops if residents missed this one and in particular we were looking at one which may include design and layout. This was a constructive evening, and I was surprised to see how positive people were in these times of gloom and doom. We are hoping that by the time the houses are on the horizon, the recession may be behind us - let us hope!

King Alfred's Awards Evening

It is always a pleasure to attend King Alfred's Awards evening, and tonight was no exception. For the second year running the school was Oxfordshire's highest achieving state school with Year 11 students recording outstanding examination results with 92.5% achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE. We enjoyed seeing the school's music talent on show too. An enjoyable evening. Visit their website here to read more.