Oxfordshire Year of the Dragon Celebrations

This Sunday afternoon saw the celebration of the Chinese New Year in Oxford Town Hall. This annual event is organised by the Oxfordshire Chinese Community and Advice Centre. In 2012, we celebrate the Year of the Dragon - a particularly special year in the Chinese zodiac, so let us hope it brings good fortune to us all.

The afternoon opened with the Chinese Lion Dance. After the formalities of the welcome, address and presentations, we were then treated to a series of excellent performances, which included a Group Fan Dance, Chinese Flute, Handkerchief Dance and Chinese Zither, as well as Jar & Pot Juggling.

The audience was particularly amazed by the Mongolian Contortionism. As can be seen from the top right photo, the young lady could flex herself into some astounding positions!

Many thanks to the local Chinese community for an enjoyable and entertaining afternoon.

Sweatbox Re-opens in Wantage!

Tonight, I went along to the re-opening of The Sweatbox in Wantage. It really is excellent news that, despite all the threats of closure, we have been able to maintain this youth facility for the local area. Many thanks to all who helped to make this happen including King Alfred's College, Grove Parish Council, Wantage Town Council, the Big Society Grant from the County Council and the local community who have pulled together.

National Libraries Day - 4th February 2012

It is National Libraries Day on Saturday 4th February 2012 - a chance to celebrate our local libraries, pay them a visit or attend an event.  The School Library Association is also a partner in this event. I havent heard of any local events yet, but I will certainly be holding my councillor surgery in Grove Library from 10.30-11.30am (no appointment necessary). In fact, strangely enough it will coincide with an unusual surgery I held in the library exactly one year ago! 

Of course, a lot has happened since early 2011 when Oxfordshire was threatened with losing many of its libraries, including the local one in Grove. Thankfully, reason was eventually seen and the situation has progressed over the last year as reported in my blog several times (here, here, here, here, here, here and here ).

We now need to look forward and, as shown by the collage of photographs above, libraries have always been evolving - even without the challenges of eBooks, the Internet, etc. I remember first visiting Wantage Library when it used to be located  behind the parish church - in the building (top left photo) now used by the October Club. The library moved to its current location behind Waitrose when a new purpose-built building (top middle) was opened in 1992. Just recently, we have seen the introduction of Self Service (top right) in the library.  In the case of Grove, the entrance was remodelled in early 2005 to give easier access, as can be seen from the bottom two photos. There will be new challenges ahead, so please think about visiting one of your local libraries on 4th February, even if you just want to chat to me!

Oxfordshire CEO Visits Grove and Wantage

Today, we took the Oxfordshire County Council Chief Executive, Joanna Simons, on a tour of Grove and Wantage.  I thought it was important to give her a flavour of the challenges facing our area, especially in the light of any further development on Grove airfield and in Wantage.  The County will play a large part in negotiating the infrastructure; in particular our roads, our schools, our library and other community facilities.

We started the day at Millbrook School in Grove (see photo above left), where we were able to meet with headteacher, Sarah Weston, and some school governors.  Next, we visited Grove Parish Council to meet local councillors after which we toured some of the businesses at Grove Technology Park.  We are very grateful to Steve Head, Simon Ames and Robert Lamplough who hosted us there for lunch before we moved on to Wantage at King Alfred's College.

As you will see from the photo above (right), we were able to have a very interesting discussion with the headteacher, Simon Spiers, deputy Jonathan Smith and Peter Thompson, the Business Manager, about all of the issues facing education - especially with the new changes from the Government surrounding academies. 

We rounded off the day with Wantage Town Council for tea at the Vale and Downland Museum, which was an excellent opportunity to catch up with what is happening locally in the town and a tour around the museum.  We all enjoyed the day and I hope this will help to raise our profile at County Hall.

Big Local Issues Discussed at the LGA

Today, I was in London at the LGA (Local Government Assocation) along with other Liberal Democrat group leaders to meet with the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and then with Andrew Stunnell MP, the Local Government Minister.   We were able to have a discussion about local challenges in our councils and how to tackle them.  Nick Clegg was grilled about a whole range of issues from council tax benefits to academies, how the pupil premium was working and about the local government financial settlement.

Later, we had a discussion with Andrew Stunell about the draft National Planning Policy Framework and what this will mean for all of us.  It is expected that this new guidance will be brought into place in about 18 months time, but in the meantime there were concerns about the transitional arrangements and what will happen to current local plans. 

I asked a question about infrastructure and how the new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and the New Homes Bonus will work alongside the current Section 106 agreements (legal planning conditions), especially when the money coming from government is split into 80% towards the district councils and only 20% towards the county councils who provide most of the infrastructure like roads, schools, libraries etc.  I was told that this split of funding was going to be looked into, but was assured that the money raised should be spent in the areas where the housing development is taking place.  The affordable housing obligations of developers was less certain, as it was clear that during these difficult times, profit margins are not so great and this meant less money available. This also brought into question the viability of some housing sites.  It was quite interesting to hear about other areas in the country with similar situations to Grove and Wantage.

Grove Station Back On Track?

At today's Cabinet meeting at the County Council, the Oxfordshire Rail Strategy was approved for stakeholder consultation.  This covers the period up to 2034 and if finally agreed will be included in the Council's updated Local Transport Plan 3 in spring 2012.

This report sets out how investment in rail will play a key role in Oxfordshire's economic development and how the opportunity will be for rail to establish itself as an alternative to the A34 supporting Science Vale UK, Oxford and Bicester.  In our area, where Science Vale UK is now of vital importance for business growth locally, it is recognised that the re-opening of the railway station at Grove will bring about increased access for rail passengers.

The report states that 'the time is right to look again at the potential for Grove and Wantage station.  The franchise renewal in 2013 may provide an opportunity to seek an appropriate train service - possibly releasing capacity on longer distance services by encouraging local travel between Swindon and Didcot to be made on 'local' services.  It is imporant to consider the station and train service in the context of a wider corridor approach between Bicester/Oxford and Swindon/Bristol. '  The report then goes on to state that 'The County Council will work in partnership with neighbouring local authorities and the rail industry to investigate the viability of a new station at Grove & Wantage, and an appropriate 'local' train service to serve the station.'

This is encouraging news for us locally as many of you will know that  I have campaigned for our local station to re-open for as long as I can remember and certainly supported the planning application when it was approved by the Vale of White Horse District Council.  Let us hope now that the rail industry will come forward with a franchise proposal to run a service locally, potentially linking up with Swindon and Didcot.   I mentioned this in a previous blog post when I attended the Transport Symposium in Oxford.

Grove Planning Application - Development of land at Monk's Farm

On the planning section of the Vale of White Horse District Council website, I note that an application has been received for a formal EIA screening option relating to development proposals for 130 dwellings on land at Monk's Farm in Grove. There are apparently 3.98 hectares of land, which (as shown by the photos above) are bordered by North Drive and Station Road.

The application number is 12/00024/SOP and the details can be found here. Residents can comment on this application here.

Sandwiched

They say that all roads lead to London, but it seems that, at least as far as Oxfordshire County Council is concerned, all sandwiches sold in their in-house Common Hall café within County Hall (pictured above) have to come from London!   I discovered this whilst trying to buy sandwiches some time ago and was told there were none available as the delivery had not arrived from London.  I therefore felt that it was important to raise this as a question to the Cabinet at their last meeting in December. My question was:

“Why are the sandwiches sold in the Common Hall café being bought from a company in London rather than being purchased locally according to the County's procurement rules? According to the Source Oxfordshire website, it states 'We are supporting the Federation of Small Businesses' Keep Trade Local campaign - the Oxford part of which was launched in November 2008.' This is certainly not consistent with that policy. It has also meant that there have been some days where there have been no sandwiches available because they have not arrived from London.” 

The full draft minutes with the answer to this question and my supplementary as to why they are not made in house can be found here.  This was picked up by the press and printed in today's Oxford Mail here. Not only does this not support local Oxfordshire businesses, but, given all the hoo-ha that was made in 2007 about reducing the council's carbon footprint, it is a bad idea from the environmental point of view.  I am now hoping that the council will look seriously at this issue and there will be a change in the future.

Road Closure Confusion

I previously gave a heads-up about the closure of the Denchworth Road across the airfield (the bit between Mably Way and Newlands Drive) for 3 days from 14 January, which is tomorrow. Indeed, the official Oxfordshire County Council notice on page 71 of this week's Wantage and Grove Herald  confirms these dates. It is therefore somewhat surprising to see that the notices put by the roadside (pictured above) have different dates and indicate that the closure won't start until Monday. Confused? So am I. I have enquired, but so far at 10:30pm on Friday 13th January (maybe that is the jinx) I have received no comment. I will keep you posted if and when I hear anything.

Update - 14 January 2012
Well, having driven into Wantage by this route I can say that the road was not closed today and I think we can now take it that the closure will be 16-18 January, as the roadside signs above indicate. It is a pity that the notices posted on the lamposts along the same stretch of road have the wrong date (see below) like the notice printed in the Herald.

Historic Wantage Bank Building

The scaffolding around the HSBC Bank in Wantage Market Place has been removed and the refurbishment can now be observed. As you can see from the upper photos, it looks to be largely complete except for the balcony and supports. 

You may remember that there were calls in early 2011 to spruce up the building and it is good to see that the bank has kept it's promise. However, I must admit that I was struck today by how inappropriate the cash machine signage looked at the front of such an historic building. Surely, something a little more discreet and befitting a listed building could be used?

Light Bulb Moment!

It is good to see that two faulty street lights (numbers 40 and 41) have been repaired on the A338 between Grove and Wantage - near to the entrance of MacDermid Autotype. I reported these lights some time ago and I know that others did. It turns out that the reason for the delay was because there is a strange numbering system along the A338 - there are, in fact, two more (working) lamp posts labelled 40 and 41 by the roundabout with Mably Way. I went to check this myself today and the photographic proof is shown above. I have been advised that the County Council will look into renumbering the posts to avoid future confusion.

Extra Shopping Hazard

Those of us who went shopping at Sainsbury's in Wantage today had to beware of an extra hazard. A roof tile had come loose (pictured above), presumably due to the recent high winds. A safety zone had been set up to prevent shoppers straying underneath.

London Images

A short trip to London this week - so here is a selection of unusual photos. Clockwise, from top left we have Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (HMS Victory) by Yinka Shonibare on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.  Next, we have the countdown to the 2012 London Olympics - only 203/236 days to go the Olympics/Paralympics! Third, we have the majesty of St. Paul's Cathedral looming above the protest camp below. Finally, we have a docking station from the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme - or what are often referred to as Boris Bikes.

Winter Views from the Ridgeway

Here is the first local view of 2012 taken near to the Ridgeway above Ardington and Lockinge. Saw quite a lot of wildlife - several squirrels, a fox, a hare and a flock of 12 red kites circling in the sky. We even managed to encounter a brief sleet shower (note the dark cloud in the first photo!).

A Last Glimpse of 2011

It is time to start looking forward to the challenges of 2012, but here is one last glimpse of 2011 - a word cloud of the 500 most popular words from all of my entries over the last year.

Happy New Year!