Have Your Say on Sweatbox Future

There is currently a consultation at Oxfordshire County Council on the future of services for Children, Young People and Families. The outcome of this will influence our youth services. As many of you know, the Sweatbox in Wantage has been threatened with closure and we have been working along with King Alfred's Community College to try and help to keep it open. Please respond to this consultation which is available if you click here on the County Council's website. I hope residents' views will be listened to. The deadline for responses is 4th April so time is running out.  Watch this YouTube link here.

Spring is here!

These daffodils lining the A338 entrance to Grove are always a pleasant sight heralding Spring's arrival. The bulbs are usually added to yearly from funds from the Grove Joint Environmental Trust which has money from both the Vale and the parish to help improve the environment. In future this body will be managed by Grove Parish Council's Environmental Services committee due to financial pressure from the Vale.

Also worth mentioning here, is the practice of cars occasionally being put up for sale on this verge at the entrance to the village which always makes it look unsightly. This is illegal and the police are on the case to try to put a stop to it. It also makes it impossible to cut the grass properly, however luckily the grass had been mown yesterday when this photo was taken and no cars were parked! Let us hope this continues.

Library Latest

Last week the Leader of the Council, Keith Mitchell issued a Personal Statement about potential library closures which you can read in full here:

I have personally received a wealth of letters and e-mails about libraries. I recognise that people feel very strongly about this issue. I want to reassure people that the County Council is looking at all options and has an open mind about the outcome of the consultation I want the Council to work hand-in-hand with local communities to find a way to keep libraries open in Oxfordshire and to forge ahead with creating a modern library service that is comprehensive and efficient. I want to see libraries remain open but this can only happen if, in some places, volunteers step forward to help to run them. We have seen how effective a Friends Group can be and believe they should form an essential component of every library service provided by the Council. In the coming year I want to work with every community that does not yet have one to establish a Library Friends Group to work with our staff to agree the best way forward for that library. In places where the Council provides a full library service I hope that costs can be kept down by encouraging volunteers to supplement Council staff and by increasing the use of self service. In some places there are lots of community buildings and I want the Council to work with local people to see if we can make better use of these facilities, particularly where the current library building is not very suitable. In those places where the Council cannot afford to provide a full library service, I want the Council to give ongoing access to important local library facilities. More specifically, I believe we should continue to provide free access to a suitable library building, to our book stock; to the library stock management system and the expertise of qualified librarians. I have already announced that an additional late government grant has enabled us to put a little more money back into the service, giving the opportunity to rethink our strategy and to take longer over consultation. As part of the consultation, I want the County Council to have a dialogue with local people library-by-library. The consultation into the future of the library service will begin in mid-May. The consultation will run until the end of September to give plenty of time to hear people’s views and to consider options. However, we still need to make some savings. No decisions have been taken. Officers are working hard to rethink the process, complete the needs assessment and put together a consultation document. It is not appropriate to say any more at this time. Further information will be available in the consultation document.

This statement coincided with a meeting of the Friends of Grove Library group last Thursday evening to which I had invited Cllr. Judith Heathcoat, who has the portfolio responsibility for Safer and Stronger Communities at the County Council which includes libraries. The Assistant County Librarian also came along to help answer the many questions which were fielded from the floor. It was a constructive meeting which must have been attended by around 60-70 people where we were told that we are back to the drawing board, we should respond to the consultation which begins in May and there is everything to play for.

What came across loud and clear is how important it is to ensure that an extended library will be needed if further housing development comes to Grove. This must be negotiated with developers as part of the planning obligations (Section 106 agreement). We should be looking to improve our library and community facilities in Grove, not closing them.

Safer Chips

Amidst the current financial difficulties, it was good to see the announcement this week of a new £11 million investment at the local ISIS pulsed neutron source at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. This is for a facility called "Chipir", which will investigate how to protect silicon microchips in electronic circuits from cosmic rays. This is particularly relevant to safety critical systems like in aircraft, which fly at altitude and are more susceptible to cosmic radiation. However, chips are found everywhere these days and we now all rely on them for everyday life ... so I am sure this work will be relevant to many areas. I was particulary interested to see the story here, which refers to a voting machine being disrupted by cosmic radiation in Belgium in 2003 and giving a candidate an extra 4096 votes!

I assume the Science Minister,David Willets, chose to coincide his local announcement and visit to ISIS with National Science and Engineering Week - see here.

Doctor Faustus at Blackwell's Bookshop

Tonight, I went to see Doctor Faustus performed by the Creation Theatre company in Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford. The Norrington Room in the basement of Blackwell's was a very apt setting with the scholarly undertones of Faustus and his dealings with Mephisopheles and Lucifer. The photo gives an idea of the unique setting of the stage surrounded by bookshelves. If you still want to see the play, it has been extended until 2 April due to popular demand.

Of course, Creation Theatre are renowned for their use of unusual settings around Oxford. Last year, I went to see Romeo and Juliet at the rooftop amphitheatre of the Said Business School - an excellent setting on a summer's evening. They are also renowned for their Christmas productions at the Mini Plant in Cowley. The next production (13 May - 11 June) is Tales From King James at the New Road Baptist Church in Bonn Square. This year it is the 400th anniversary of the publication of this version of the Bible (the so-called "Authorised" version), so this is very timely. The Bodleian Library also devotes its summer exhibition (22 April-4 September) to the making of the Bible and its connections with Oxford.

"We Will Rock You" at King Alfred's College

I had the pleasure of attending this musical at King Alfred's College last night. It was an excellent performance so I can only say that if anyone is going tonight or tomorrow then they will be in for a rare treat. Some of the cast will change over on different days so that two pupils have the opportunity of playing the lead roles. The music and the acting was second to none. The college has recently been given an 'outstanding' rating by Ofsted which is well deserved. We are fortunate to have such an excellent local school in our community. Read their website here (which also has the full Ofsted report).

The Earth Trust

This is the new name for the Northmoor Trust at Hill Farm, Long Wittenham. I attended the launch of the new name for what has been a well-known conservation trust for many years in our area. It was started by Sir Martin Wood CBE (of Oxford Instruments fame) and his wife. You can visit the new website here to find out about all the events coming up in the future. The view from here at lunch time today was wonderful and you could see for many miles. A photo from my mobile couldn't do it justice but here is the official opening banner on the left!

Thames Water's Huge Reservoir Plans Rejected

Today the news was announced that Thames Water's plans for a huge reservoir on our doorstep in East Hanney/Steventon have been scrapped. Read the full story on the BBC website. The inspector ruled that there was no immediate need for such a site. The government have therefore rejected the proposals. It is thought that perhaps Thames Water may pursue building a smaller reservoir instead. We shall see, but in the meantime I am sure many residents will be relieved to hear this news. I have campaigned to have our local views heard on this issue over the years, so pleased that someone has listened to our concerns.

World Book Day and Latest Library News

Today, it is World Book Day, at least it is in the UK. In most parts of the world, this is celebrated on 23 April, but for us it happens on the first Thursday in March - apparently to avoid clashes with Easter and school holidays. Confusingly, there is now also a World Book Night on 5 March.

Talking of books, there is some new data on the 43 Oxfordshire libraries here, which relates their use for one year up to November 2010. For Grove, the age profile of registered users is: Children(0-17)=580(47%), Adult(18-59)=499(40%) and Over 60=157(13%). There is also a graph of where current borrowers live - this is obviously dominated by Grove, but there is quite a reach into the surrounding villages and parts of Wantage.

On the financial side, the average cost per visit is quoted for each library - an interesting statistic, but clearly this is only one parameter that needs to be considered alongside many others when reviewing the libraries. For Grove, this is £1.91 (across all 43 libraries this averages to £2.08). To put this into context, click on the graphic above and it will show this cost for all 43 libraries in Oxfordshire.