Portmeirion and Oxfordshire

Back after a few days R&R at Portmeirion in North Wales (see photo). This is, of course, the "Italian" village designed and built by Clough Williams Ellis. I am afraid I am also old enough to remember that this was the location for shooting the cult TV series The Prisoner in 1967 and 1968 and starring the late Patrick McGoohan. One of the things I discovered is that Clough Williams Ellis has links with Oxfordshire, having restored Cornwell in the 1930s. Apparently, in 1931 he was also one of the visiting lecturers at what is now Oxford Brookes University. He also contributed to the development of Stowe School - just over the border in Buckinghamshire.

Review of the Sunday Newspapers

This morning I was one of the guests on BBC Radio Oxford's Bill Heine programme to review todays' newspapers. The other three guests on the show were: John Lubbock, founder and director of the Orchestra of St. John's, Stephan Venables who walked in the steps of Ernest Shackleton and is giving a talk on this at Oxford Town Hall tomorrow at 7.30pm and Mark Fysh who was formerly the senior branch officer for the County Council's union, Unison.

I chose five stories but only three got a mention because we ran out of time. My top story was entitled "Nimby? Cameron accused after his council halts library closures". This was in The Independent and referred to the County Council's budget meeting earlier this week, where thanks to the Conservatives agreeing with our Lib Dem amendment to give a stay of execution to libraries this year, we now have some breathing space to look at other options. Good to see a local story go national!

We also discussed the U-turn over the forests, equality issues, cycling, salmon being exported to China and other topical items making todays papers. It was an interesting and lively discussion.

Why do people do it?

Fly tip and drop litter that is! Today, we find an empty gas bottle and other debris at the entrance to Cow Lane. This is depite the warning notice displayed on the lampost nearby. Walking around a few streets in Grove at the weekend it is all too easy to fill rubbish sacks with litter in a short time. At a time when council spending and cuts are in the news, it is a great shame that extra money or time has to be spent dealing with clearing up after the thoughtless actions of others. According to Keep Britain Tidy, 2.25 million items of litter are dropped every day in the UK with £858 million being spent by local authorities on street cleaning in 2008-2009.

However, it always good to see the community spirit in action. On 4-5 March there will be the OxClean Spring Clean event organised by Oxford Civic Society, which will give the area around Oxford a good Spring Clean. There is also the Big Tidy Up, which aims to collect 500,000 bags of rubbish as part of a national campaign and, of course, we have local litter pickers in Grove. The simple message though is surely Don't Drop It in the first place.

Thames Valley Police set budget

It was an early start today to be at the Police Authority meeting at Kidlington for 9am where we were to agree this years budget. Read press release here. It has been a busy week with setting the County Council budget on Tuesday and next it will be the turn of the Vale of White Horse District Council on Wednesday. The overall picture is that everyone is making cuts and losing jobs and having to tighten their belts, the difficulty has to be when front line services are hit. No one wants to see less police officers on the streets and the Chief Constable has assured us that frontline policing is to be protected. Let us hope this will be the case.

Big Society Fund Launched in Oxfordshire

Yesterday, the "Big Society" fund was launched in Oxfordshire. This is the £600,000 fund to which community groups can apply. The starting point for the fund is here. Last night (Wednesday), I also attended the meeting of the Grove Library Action Group where we discussed the future support for the local library. The relevant information for "Big Society" funding of libraries is here.

No Cold Calling in Grove!

You may recall, that in a previous post on my blog I explained how No Cold Calling zones were being introduced in Wantage.

This morning it was the turn of Grove. A group of volunteers from the Wantage West Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) delivered information packs to residents in Old Grove explaining the scheme. This picture shows myself and Jenny Hannaby delivering the packs in Main Street. I know that unwelcome visits on the doorstep can cause much annoyance and I hope this helps.

Budget Day!

Today was the budget meeting at Oxfordshire County Council and, as can be seen from the photo, there was already a lot of public interest when I arrived at County Hall at 8.45am this morning.

As Leader of the Opposition, it was my job to present the budget amendments of the Lib Dem group. There is a press release here, my budget speech can be found here and the amendments can be found here. We tried very hard to influence the Conservative Budget, particularly by trying to slow down the cuts in 2011-12 to give time to look at all the options for services like libraries and youth services. However, as the council comprises 52 Conservative councillors, 10 Lib Dem councillors, 9 Labour councillors, 2 Green councillors and 1 Independent councillor that was always going to be a tough task.

I should make special mention of Ana Ramos who presented a petition on behalf of Grove Library. The paper version had over 800 signatures and the e-petition reached 185 signatures.

BBC interview here (starts 04.42 mins).

Arts Centre in the Woods

Hands up if you know where Arlington Arts Centre is? It always surprises me that no matter how long you have lived in a place there is always somewhere new to discover. Last night, I went to see guitarist extrordinaire Preston Reed perform just a half an hour away from Grove.

Arlington Arts Centre is opposite Snelsmore Common Country Park on the B4494 over the downs from Wantage - just outside Newbury. It is actually part of the campus of Mary Hare School, which does wonderful work with deaf children and which I have passed numerous times. The arts centre has everything you would expect of a theatre -an auditorium with a capacity for 250 people, a box office and a bar. I was amazed to find such a facility in the woodlands just outside Newbury.

Of course, Wantage and Grove quite rightly has its own WAGArts (Wantage and Grove Arts Guild), which provides a focus for getting better facilities for local arts groups. With the expanding population of both Wantage and Grove, this is an ambition well worth supporting... but pay a visit to Arlington to see how it is done in the woods.

A338 Road Closure Postponed

I have received notification that the planned closure of the A338 between Mably Way and Limorough Road has been postponed. Instead of commencing on Monday 14 February as mentioned in my original blog post, the work will now start on 28 February. The duration of the closure is also now expected to be 6 weeks instead of the original 8 weeks.

Busy, busy

A few media appearances cropping up after a busy week. Interest seems to have been stirred by this letter, which was published in The Times. First up, was BBC Radio Oxford on Thursday morning - a hurried telephone interview just as I was leaving home to rush to a meeting. Then, on Friday afternoon a brief TV interview in the studio for The Politics Show, which should be broadcast this Sunday lunchtime. The last time I appeared on the show was against the backdrop of a jousting tournament at Blenheim Palace! [Update: Politics Show now on iPlayer here. My bit starts at around 41.28 mins].

On Monday morning, another appearance is scheduled for BBC Radio Oxford to discuss the imminent Oxfordshire County Council budget meeting.

A Very Unusual Surgery

Yesterday, it was my usual monthly surgery in Grove Library where residents can discuss any local issues of concern. It was unsually busy because it coincided with a "Read-In" to raise the profile of the plight of our local library due to the proposed cuts in funding by Oxfordshire County Council. This was part of a national campaign to highlight the support for libraries in our local communities.

There was a good mix of people at my surgery and, not surprisingly, library issues were at the forefront! Particular concern was expressed about supporting child literacy and ensuring that elderly people have good access to books and other library services. It emphasised to me how important the local library is to the social fabric of Grove - particularly with the planned expansion of the village. I was impressed by how knowledgeable people were about local services and I see today that the Sunday Times has reported on the success of LSSI in reducing back-office costs to keep libraries open in the US. Something worth thinking about....

Charlton Primary School Consultation Evening

Tonight I attended Charlton Primary School's consultation evening with parents and governors where we discussed plans for the expansion of the school to a 2 form entry with the headteacher and an officer from the County Council. This will mean that 15 extra children can be admitted to the school from September. The consultation runs until Monday 7th March, and will go to the County Council's Cabinet in April. Planning permission will have to be sought for the new building which will be for the Foundation Stage. The plans also include space to create four new classrooms for Key Stage 1/2 children which would allow the current temporary classroom to be removed. There will also be a new studio created which is a new and exciting concept.

As a governor of the school this gave me an opportunity to hear the views of parents of children at the school and overall it seemed that most people welcomed the proposals. There were the usual concerns about traffic, but this has always been an issue at the school as it is an issue with schools all over the county. There were also the obvious concerns about building work on the site during any school day, but we were reassured that plans are in place for most of the work to take place during school holidays. The consultation document can be viewed here.

Grant funding on offer

Its worth drawing attention to two opportunities to bid for funding from the Vale District Council:

1. Local community groups and town and district councils can apply for up to £5,000 for projects that benefit Vale residents - this is the community grants scheme. The deadline is 2 March. Please see here and here for details.
2. Shopkeepers in Grove and Wantage can bid for funding from a shop front improvement scheme - this is from SEEDA. Please see here for details.