County Council Unitary Proposals

There has been much discussion and articles written in the press about the proposals to move towards unitary status for the 2-tier council system in Oxfordshire.  Unfortunately, this led to the district councils commissioning one study with PwC and the County Council undertaking another study with Grant Thornton.  The cost to taxpayers for both studies is around £100K. You can see the press article on the County Council website here.

I would urge all residents to take part in the survey on the link at the County Council's website, because it is important that the public have their say on this very important issue.  It is hoped that having one council running all services for the whole county will save several million pounds in ratepayers taxes and will enable people to understand more easily where responsibility for services lie. The survey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/oxfordshire-evidence

Temporary Road closures Coming up on A338 Weekends in June

There are forthcoming temporary road closures and speed limits coming up on the A338 on consecutive weekends in June, so this is a warning of the dates ahead.  This is to allow Bam Nuttall Ltd. to undertake work at the rail bridge associated with the Network Rail Great Western Electrification Project to be carried out.

The weekends involved are from

 3 June 20.00 hrs to 6 June 06.00 hrs,

10 June 20.00 hrs to 13 June 06.00 hrs,

17 June 20.00 hrs to 20 June 06.00 hrs,

24 June 20.00 hrs to 27 June 06.00 hrs.

Each time the road is reopened a 10mph temporary speed restriction and ramps will be in place.  Appropriate traffic signs will be displayed to indicate when the measures are in force.  Notice of intention will be published in the local press.

I hope that appropriate diversion signs will be in place to drivers who will be unaware of the closures.

Newbury Street Resurfacing

Just a reminder that Newbury Street in Wantage is closed as it is being resurfaced between the Market Place and the Ormond Road junction. As you can see from the photo above, the work commenced today and is expected to finish on 20 May.

Election to Vice-Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council

It was a great honour today to be elected the new Vice-Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council for the year 2016/17.  Cllr. Michael Waine was elected as Chairman and I am pleased to be supporting his role in attending ceremonial duties out and about in our beautiful county of Oxfordshire.

After serving 15 years on this council, where I have seen many changes, I stood down as Leader of the Liberal Democrat group last year due to ill health Now, it is good to look forward to taking on this non-political role in the future.