Timely Reminder

Isn't time strange? The photo above shows the construction of the steel frame for the Tesco store on Millbrook Square in Grove. It is now difficult to remember how the square used to look, but amazingly the photo was taken just under 5 years ago on 7th January 2007.

On the other hand, the proposal to build 2,500 dwellings on the former Grove Airfield seems to have been around for an eternity and has taken numerous twists and turns. As readers will be aware, there have been several problems with the latest consulation on the amended plans (as reported here). Anyway, this is a final reminder that, if you have still not had your say, this consultation closes this Friday 30 November. Comments can be made online by using the "Comment now" facility at http://t.co/69ztPgYt

I undestand that the planning application will be considered by the Planning Committee of the Vale of White Horse District Council on 19 December at 6.30pm (venue to be confirmed). You can find details of this committee here.

More Community Grants Awarded

I am pleased to say that there have been some more community grants awarded from our County Councillor budgets to fund a number of projects for young people in Grove and Wantage. Councillor Jenny Hannaby and I have pooled our funds for the following schemes:

Vale and Downland Museum project 'Alfie and Friends' for families with pre-school children.  This will provide activities and craft sessions with the help of museum volunteers for very young children enabling them and their carers to explore and engage with the collection.  'Alfie' is a toy bear who will 'introduce' the sessions of play, story-telling and music-making aswell as finding different things in the museum.  This is hoped to be launched in January 2013.  The intention is to make the museum a welcoming, exciting and fun place to be.  We have given £500 to this project.

South and Vale Carers' Centre and Young Carers' Project to fund carers' respite breaks for young carers aged from 8 to 17.  Young carers in our community are looking after a parent or sibling who is disabled or has a physical or mental illness, and need to have a chance to experience normal childhood activities by having an occasional break from their caring responsibilities.  There are currently 282 young carers registered as active and 20 of these are from Grove and Wantage.  We have given £1200 towards this project.  Readers of my blog will recall that I heard about the Young Carers' Festival when I appeared on the Sunday Politics programme.

Sweatbox Rock in the Park project is a community live music event organised by teenagers from the Sweatbox Youth Centre.  This popular event was previously the highlight of an annual programme of activites, but has not happened for 3 years due to restructuring of youth services and budget restrictions.  This event is planned for Spring or early Summer 2013 and is much valued by our young people helping them to promote musical talent.  We have given £600 towards this project.

There is still some funding available if anyone has a local need to fund a community project.  Please get in touch with me if you wish to discuss.

Stormy Weather

Well, that was a wet and windy night! I did make a quick tour around both Wantage and Grove at about 11pm to check for any flooding. Letcombe Brook seemed to be coping and although it was high and swollen it seemed to be contained everywhere. 

The first photo on the left shows the height of the water as it flowed under the bridge next to Wessex Mill. The water level was such that the hazel groynes behind the mill were completely submerged (these were constructed to stop silt building up). In  Grove, the water level was also high and flowing fast in Kingfishers, Cane Lane and at the Denchworth Road bridge(right most photo). I think many of us have been bemused by recent press reports about flood risks that failed to even mention Grove, yet it was this bridge that was swept away in the 2007 flash flood!

The main problem, unsuprisingly, was the large amount of standing water where the drains could not cope. The middle picture above shows the road near to the Bay Tree in Grove. Other areas included the A338 next to Autotype, the "dip" near to Sainsburys and near to Barwell and Stockham on the Denchworth Road( A417).

Apologies for the quality of the photos, but it was difficult in the dark conditions. 

Caring for Cow Lane

Cow Lane is an important amenity for the Grove community. This lane provides access to the countryside for horse riders, cyclists, pedestrians and walkers of dogs. If the future large-scale housing development goes ahead on Grove Airfield, it will provide an invaluable green escape for residents.

It is therefore important that we all do our best to maintain this by-way. Over the last few months, I have taken up a number of issues with the lane. First of all, the sign at the entrance was damaged. Initially, it had been uprooted - possibly knocked over by a vehicle - and lay discarded in the hedgerow (left photo). Then, after some of the hedgerows had been cut back it was retrieved, but stood in a sorry bent state without any foundations (middle photo). I can happily report that, after much chasing, a new sign was recently installed (right photo). 

Another issue was the discovery of a fly tip of asbestos a little way down the lane. I know that residents had reported this many weeks ago, but nothing had been done by the authorities. I got on the case and although I was reassured that it would be removed swiftly (as any toxic waste should)  it was there every time that I went to check. Suffice to say, that after much perseverance the waste has at long last been removed.

Finally, I was very disturbed to discover on one of my walks that the track to East Hanney (just past the sewage treatment works) has been blocked by the dumping of a mound of earth as shown below.

This has obstructed the right of way and we have been investigating where this material originated. I have requested that it is removed as soon as possible and that the track is restored to its rightful state. Watch this space.

Grove Challengers Football Club Awarded Grant

I have heard this week that the application that Grove Challengers Football Club made to my County Councillor Community budget funding has been successful.  This is excellent news for the club who have been awarded £1,500 in order to purchase two new goals.  They are particularly keen to expand the club next year to have teams for girls and these moveable goal posts are helping them to achieve this aim.   On the back of the great success that women's football played in this years' Olympic games, I was delighted to enable this to happen.

The club has an excellent fund-raising committee dedicated to the work of promoting football within Grove and has been running since 1971.  There are over 170 children registered at the moment and the club continues to grow.  These goals should now be able to be in use for the new season.  I have always enjoyed going along to the Challengers 6-a-side competitions held over the summer as reported here and will look forward to seeing the goals and the girls in action in the future!

The End of Thames Valley Police Authority

This morning, I attended the last Thames Valley Police Authority  meeting where we finished our business before the new Police and Crime Commissioner takes over.   As I drove home, I could hear the results of the first count.  I have been a member of the authority for five years now as a representative for Oxfordshire County Council and I have seen many changes.  I have also been involved with the local policing boards at Cherwell, Vale of White Horse and, up until this week, West Oxfordshire.  Currently, it is not clear how the new commissioner will be involved with neighbourhood policing as one person can hardly be sitting on every single board across Thames Valley.

I expressed concern today that the new Police and Crime Panel will have no representation from Liberal Democrats and will therefore not have the same political balance as the current authority where we have a committee set up after every council election in the Thames Valley, which works out the proportional representation of all three main political parties.  The new panel is made up of the majority Conservative group with some Labour representation.  I did write about this concern to the Panel, LGA (Local Government Association) and the Policing Minister, but unfortunately the discretion lies with the remit of the Panel.  However, it does not inspire confidence in fair representation at this stage.

Today, we also had a tour of the new office block at the Kidlington HQ of Thames Valley Police (see extreme left of first photo above), and as I stood at the door for the last time, I felt a tinge of sadness that this is the end of an era keeping an eye on the work of the police in Thames Valley.  I wish them well in the future under the new arrangements.

Election for new Police and Crime Commissioner

On Thursday 15th November we will be asked to vote for the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley Police.  I attended a hustings event at Oxford Town Hall last week where the candidates all set out their manifestos and answered questions.  The photo above shows all candidates except one of the independents who arrived too late for the line-up at the beginning.  The event was chaired by  Professor Ian Loader (middle), Leader of the Criminology Unit, University of Oxford.  Candidates from left to right in the photo are Professor John Howson (Liberal Democrat), Tim Starkey (Labour), Anthony Stansfeld (Conservative), Barry Cooper (UKIP) and Geoff Howard (Independent). Patience Awe (Independent) was the candidate who arrived late.  It was a lively evening with many questions from the floor.

I have been a member of Thames Valley Police Authority as an elected member from Oxfordshire County Council for five years now, and we are due to be abolished in favour of all the work being overseen by one person.  There are currently 18 members of the Police Authority, 10 of us are elected from county and borough councils across Thames Valley, and the others are independent members including two magistrates.   We work on several committees all of which are open to the public and set the council tax and the police budget annually.  As I have reported on this blog, I have also attended ceremonies on a regular basis where we commend officers, volunteers and staff for the service to the community for bravery and long service.  I will miss the work we have done, but do feel it is important to exercise your vote on Thursday, as we do not wish this important position to go unchallenged.

You can view all the candidates on the Home Office website here.

The role of the new commissioner will be to allocate the budget, set the council tax precept and be responsible for how it is spent. They will set the strategic direction and aims for the police force through the Police and Crime Plan. They will also hold the Chief Constable to account. The candidate will also have to swear an oath of impartiality and be independent of party politics.  Quite a task to take on.  On Friday it will be our last meeting of the Police Authority and I shall look forward to seeing who is our successor.

Remembering

New Wantage Police Station Takes Shape

The photo on the left shows the latest status of the new Wantage police station on Grove Technology Park.  The building looks smaller than I expected and the old station in Wantage town centre is shown on the right for comparison. However, I understand that there is room for future expansion.

Grove Airfield Planning Consultation Problems

Today, I have finally received a revised consultation letter regarding the outline planning application for 2,500 homes on Grove Airfield.  Last week, I had complained to the Vale of White Horse District Council about their original letter which was sent out last week full of errors.  This was the subject of a front page article on this week's Wantage and Grove Herald.

There are a number of amendments to the original application including changes to access routes both to the south adjacent to Cane Lane and to the north on the Denchworth Road.  The amendments and revised plans can be seen either online or a hard copy can be viewed at the Grove Parish Council offices at Old Mill Hall.

This planning site has been on the horizon for many years. If it is now ready for submission to the Vale, then we have to ensure that all residents have had a chance to have their say.  I hope everyone will feel able to send in their views.

The deadline date for comments to the application is 30th November 2012 and these can be made online at the website link here.

Wantage Day Centre Open Evening

This evening I visited Wantage Day Centre, which is now called the 'Health and Wellbeing Centre' along with all the other previously called 'day centres' run by Oxfordshire County Council.  This is supposed to be in line with the new arrangements that local government have made whereby we work more closely with our partners in the NHS.  Social care and health are expected to become more seamless as our pooled budgets and resources are shared.   It is also expected to make them more attractive to attend for our elderly residents who sometimes have pre-conceived ideas about them.  Today, the centres run a whole host of activities such as arts & crafts, computer sessions and seated exercise classes.

The Wantage centre has just had a big refurbishment thanks to the work of the Friends of Wantage Day Centre and the volunteers who have helped to make this happen.  The story was recently reported here.  It was an excellent evening where it was good to touch base with the local community and talk to the staff who work there.

Oxford from the Air

This morning I was in Oxford by 8am to take to the air in a balloon flight. This was a package from a birthday celebration earlier in the year, but the wet weather all over the summer has made it very difficult to arrange. This was the third attempt and hey presto we were away above Oxford's dreaming spires floating off towards the east on a fresh breeze. Views were stunning and it was a great experience including helping to prepare and pack the balloon.

We landed just over an hour later outside Thame in a muddy field. Luckily, a friendly farmer came to our rescue with his tractor as even the 4x4 couldn't cope with the wet! It was all over too quickly, but it was a great start to the day. Next time I am stuck in traffic on the Botley Road I can remember this more peaceful alternative.

Wantage Betjeman Literary Festival

This afternoon, I enjoyed an excellent talk by P.D. James presented by local author Mary Loudon at Wantage Civic Hall (photo left).   She gave us all an enthralling insight into her life of writing and the humour and wit she displayed kept the audience completely captivated.  At the age of 92 she still shows no sign of retiring from her writing which she so thoroughly enjoys.  I bought a signed copy of her latest novel 'Death Comes To Pemberley' which recreates the world of 'Pride and Prejudice' and was a new venture for her.

Next stop, this evening was to hear Richard Pitman at the King Alfred's Head (photo right) who gave us all a light-hearted romp through his life as a jump jockey and also his time as presenter at the BBC from which he has now retired.  Both of these events were part of this year's Betjeman Literary Festival which is now in its second year and is becoming increasingly popular.  Thanks to all involved for such an interesting and enjoyable programme this year and look forward to the return in 2013.