Balmy Summer Days

We have been enjoying some extraordinary hot summer days recently starting at the weekend when I had the pleasure of attending the Mayor of Henley's barn dance which was held at the Boat Festival at Henley on Thames.  You can see the photo above where I am standing next to the lovely boat Gloriana, which earlier in the day sailed up the river with all flags flying.  I was there during the evening to represent the County Council, and the setting by the river was particulary beautiful in the evening sun.

During the evening I took part in the charity raffle, and was lucky to win a couple of tickets to the Henley fringe festival to see Twelfth Night performed by Page 2 Stage Productions Ltd.  An excellent performance enjoyed in the gardens of Rupert House School in the town.

The lovely hot weather continues which means that we can all feel that summer is here at last.  

I have no planned surgeries in August, but hopefully will arrange some dates from September onwards.  I shall keep you posted.

Heathcare In Oxfordshire Roadshow

This is a reminder to all residents that there will be a drop-in session tomorrow evening Monday 18 July 6pm - 9pm at The Beacon in Wantage to discuss options for the future of healthcare in our area and across Oxfordshire.

Transforming Healthcare in Oxfordshire has been given much media attention over the past weeks as the OUH Trust needs to save money over the next few years and make sure funding is providing best value for residents.  More information can be found here.

This is your opportunity to have your say on healthcare in this area, so please go along to speak to the professionals.

The Oxfordshire Veterans' Forum

Yesterday I attended the Oxfordshire Veterans' Forum at the Edward Brooks Barracks in Abingdon to hear about the ongoing work on the Oxfordshire Community Covenant.   The orginal covenant was signed several years ago and certainly needs updating to ensure that personnel leaving the military after service, can get the help and support they need.  You can see my original blog post on this subject here.

Discussions were held regardng the transition into civilian life and the opportunities available to those who have undertaken military service, right through to pension support for those seeking advice and help.  

Overall this was a very useful briefing and helps to keep us up to date with the help the County Council is able to give.  Working both with charities and district councils, in particular,  housing departments, is very important. I was pleased to be able to attend as Vice Chairman on this occasion to represent residents in Oxfordshire.

White Lining Refresh on Denchworth Road in Grove

I am pleased to see that the white lines at the junction to the Denchworth Road have been refreshed yesterday.  As many residents will remember, this route was used by many motorists some time back as a short cut when the railway bridge on the A417 was closed for six months whilst work was undertaken as part of the Great Western Electrification project.

I had previously paid for such work out of my County Council Highways stewardship budget, but this is no longer available so I was concerned that the new white lining had worn out.  Thanks to some money being available in this year's budget, this work has now been completed.

I have other work on the list which I have discussed with County Highways, so I shall update you if and when these projects have been completed.

 

Manor Road in Wantage - Temporary Road Closure

This is to notify residents that a section of Manor Road in Wantage is to close temporarily from 25th July for up to 6 weeks.  This is so that Thames Water can carry out essential drainage works, which need to be completed over the summer.  Several residents in the area have suffered from flooding of their properties in the past, and this work will hopefully resolve these issues as well address the new houses being built there.

I attended an exhibition and drop-in session at the Comrades Club in Newbury Street held on Monday 20th June, which was organised by Thames Water.   Several local residents attended who could ask queries and voice any concerns on the closure.  A photo of the plans is shown above.

It was some time ago that a resident attended my local surgery in Grove Library to voice concerns over flooding to  homes and gardens in this area, so I am pleased that Thames Water are now taking action to resolve this issue.

Opening of Wantage Road Bridge

This morning, I was delighted to cut the ribbon to open the new A338 Wantage Road bridge over the railway line at Grove.  Plans to close the road for up to 6 months had originally been made back in January 2014, but was turned down by Oxfordshire County Council due to the 18 mile detour it would mean for drivers on this busy route.  I do remember a great deal of protests by local commuters at the time.

I have kept residents informed of progress on the work using this blog and updates in the Grove Community Newsletter, including the recent closures at weekends where works were being done to re-align the bridge after raising it to accommodate the electrification of the railway below. Thanks to all those involved in the project, we now have a brand new bridge as an entrance to Grove and Wantage on the main highway which will be there for years to come.

The next step I am campaigning for, is to re-open Grove railway station after it was closed during the Beeching cuts in the 1960's.  The new Local Transport Plan put together by the County Council has given it the green light, but the recent re-alignment of this new bridge means that the site will have to be moved. 

The original planning permission for the station site lapsed in 2011, so new plans and a business case need to be submitted to take this forward.  I attended the County Council Cabinet last week to speak on this important subject. It may take as long as the year 2030 to get this plan moving, but with more housing development scheduled in the area and no signs of improvement to our public transport system, the sooner we can see this happen, the better it will be for our community as hopefully, there will be less cars on our already congested roads.

100th Anniversary of The Battle of the Somme

Yesterday, along with many others, I attended a commemoration service held for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at Oxford Town Hall, which was hosted by The Lord Mayor of Oxford.  The photograph above shows me in my official capacity of Vice Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council at the memorial plaque placed in honour of those who died serving the Oxfordshire and Buckingham Light Infantry during the Great War.

The poignant service was addressed by Brigadier Robin Draper CVO OBE who gave us a description of what it meant to be "Going over the Top" on 1st July 1916 in The Somme.  The event was organised by the Oxford Branch of The Royal Green Jackets Association.

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.