Double Launch - King Alfred the Great and Street Pastors

Last night I went along to two important events in Wantage which proved to be thoroughly enjoyable occasions. First up was the Vale and Downland Museum, our jewel in the crown of Wantage, where the new exhibition 'Alfred the Great: Warrior and Visionary King' was opened by TV Presenter Phil Harding of Channel 4's Time Team. This is all very timely considering the recent Saxon finds in a local field near Grove - see my previous blogpost. This exhibition will be worth a visit and highly recommended, so try to go along if you can - details here.

Next stop was to Wantage church where we had a commissioning service for the first night of our Wantage and Grove Street Pastors hitting the streets of Wantage. This will soon be extended into Grove. Again, you can visit my previous post telling you all about it. It is always a pleasure to support such excellent initiatives in our community where dedicated volunteers play such an important role. This is an example of where the police and the church can work so well together to achieve a common goal - to make our streets safer places at night. Anyone interested in taking up the challenge can still get involved (details on the link above).

Christmas Tree Blunder!

Well, we have discovered that the culprit responsible for chopping down our Christmas Tree is our very own County Council! The news came as a shock to many of us as we grappled to get to the bottom of the facts. The story was in the press this week and fortunately the council came forward to admit that it was their 'mistake'. According to officers in Highways, they were doing a 'survey' of the village and decided that this tree needed removing because it did not look a healthy specimen. Unfortunately, they did not consult with the parish council beforehand - and we are yet to find out why.

However, the good news is that the tree will be replaced very soon with a bigger tree and we shall have new fencing around it too which should make up for the disaster. We shall hopefully be able to have our carol service around the tree at Christmas after all - though it will have a whole new meaning now!

This story hit the BBC news aswell as our local news (including featuring on BBC South Today) - I think there will be many jokes made about this one for a long time to come!

Grove's Christmas Tree Gone!

Christmas may have come early for someone - but sadly not for us in Grove! Our Christmas tree which had been planted at the end of Vale Avenue only a short time ago has been chopped down and taken away.
(see picture on right).
Every year the villagers have sung carols around our tree, which used to be in Millbrook Square but replaced when Tesco's came. The carol service is arranged by the parish council with the collection funds going to charity.
The tree will not survive in time for Christmas and why would anyone want to do such a thing? It happened at the end of last week because I heard the news when I attended the Grove Parish Council reception on Friday evening. None of us could believe it - so I had to go along to take a look.
Two young girls walking past as I took this photo said "The Christmas tree's gone - oh how depressing!" That just about sums it up! Anyone who saw anything - please report to the police.

Presenting Our Petition for Mably Way

We have collected 1938 signatures on our petition to reduce the speed limit from 40 mph to 30 mph at Mably Way and today we presented this to the Transport Decisions Committee at the County Council.
The photo shows Cllr. Jenny Hannaby and myself just before we went through the doors into the committee room to present our case.
I was allowed to speak for just 2 minutes, but we were both delighted to hear that the Cabinet Member for Transport agreed that this should now go out for formal consultation with a view to this being implemented in the forseeable future.

Saxon Treasure on the Doorstep

Driving along the A338 to Oxford from Grove and back again at the weekend, I couldn't help but notice the enormous rally of people with metal detectors in the fields nearby. It was therefore with much surprise that I heard the news that a find of such significance had taken place. A Saxon brooch and other jewellery along with a skull and other bones have pointed to an early grave of perhaps 1500 years old has been discovered. Read the full story here

It makes you wonder what other treasures will be found underneath our local fields - maybe that's one way to dig ourselves out of the recession!

Grove Secondary School Update and More

Today at the County Council's cabinet I spoke in support of the proposals to build a new full-sized secondary school in Grove for 1200 pupils with its own sixth form. This was welcome news after the decision was taken over 2 years ago that only a small 600-place school without a sixth form would be built.

At that time, there had been a public consultation exercise with 3 possible options, a large 'superschool' for both Grove and Wantage, two separate schools of around equal size for both communities or a small 600-place school for Grove. The smaller school option was chosen. However, although we sought assurances that the school could 'grow' in size if necessary, there was always going to be a problem for developers and planners to set aside a large enough site to allow for this to happen. Now however, this can be planned in from the start and ensure that shared community facilities can also be provided for at the same time.

As part of the proposals, King Alfred's School will downsize to 2 sites in Wantage, and there is hope that funding can be applied for from government BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme. You can read the agenda report here.

Another important decision was taken at Cabinet today, which again I spoke in support of - this was for the important transport infrastructure to be agreed and worked on in advance of any housing development coming to Grove and Wantage. This is referred to as the SCOTS (Southern Central Oxfordshire Transport Study) report and has been rumbling on for some time. Read the press report here and the agenda item here

Scrutinizing the Incinerator Decision

Liberal Democrats at the County Council have 'called in' the decision to build an incinerator in Oxfordshire for the following reasons:

The meeting was poorly publicised
Decisions on the planning applications should have been made before the procurement decision
The decision was made on financial grounds rather than environmental grounds
There is no specific “break clause” proposed for the contract
There was confusion about the mandatory elements of the tendering process
There was no report on the performance and track record of the two companies, so that element was not properly considered
There was inadequate consideration of capacity in the context of Oxfordshire’s needs and no consideration of the environmental impact of importing waste

Read our press release here

The Growth and Infrastructure Scrutiny committee meeting where this will be heard is due to take place on Wednesday 16th September at 10am at County Hall.

Oxfordshire's Incinerator One Step Closer

Today the County Council's Cabinet decided to proceed with the procurement of an incinerator with the company Viridor which runs its operation at Ardley near Bicester. Read the press release here

The meeting room was packed this afternoon with protestors and everyone was waiting to hear the decision with bated breath. Some of the proceedings had to be taken in private because of the sensitivity of the tendering information. The next stage of the process will be the decision to grant planning permission.

Liberal Democrats in opposition at the County Council have been concerned about the process leading to this decision, especially the lack of publicity surrounding this extraordinary cabinet meeting called at the last minute and which was still not listed on the county's website today.

We have always called for the least environmentally-damaging option for incineration, if this is to be the only alternative to deal with our residual waste. We have also called for there to be a break clause in the 25 year contract to allow for more up to date technologies to be considered when they become available. With more and better recycling facilities, the capacity for such a large incinerator does need some questioning. Watch this space.

Independent Advice Centre

In Wantage, we have an Independent Advice Centre who can give local residents advice on a whole range of issues including debt, legal aid and help with transport for people in need. On Thursday evening I attended their AGM in Ardington at the Loyd Lindsey Rooms and it was a real pleasure to meet up again with the staff and volunteers who do so much for our community. Last year they were awarded the Queen's Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service. See my previous blog posting here which tells you all about it.

Anyone who needs help can always just pop into their office at 16 Market Place in Wantage or telephone 01235 765348/763862. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated service on our doorstep.

Grand Event on the Park

Today saw the Grand Event at Grove Technology Park with all proceeds going to Helen and Douglas House.

The low cloud put paid to some of the aero displays, but otherwise the weather held and the large crowds appeared to have a great time.

Highlights included an army helicopter, climbing wall, live music, the cockpit section of a C47 Dakota plane and classic cars.

The picture shows racing driver Paul Rees in an ex-Ronnie Peterson March F1 car at the end of this excellent day.

Two Small Requests

Today was a special meeting of the County Council to debate the new constitution - not a subject that captures the public imagination - but before you glaze over - it was an important step in local democracy. The new administration at County Hall was setting out their store of new proposals for running the council over the next four years.

In opposition, we are keen to hold the Cabinet to account and to ensure the public have a chance to have their say too. So one request, was to ask that if a member of the public submits a question to a council meeting, if they are unable to attend for any reason, then someone else can ask the question in their place. The question will have been tabled, so no extra work involved, just a change of name if the person cannot be there. But no, this was too much of a problem for them and the suggestion was voted down.

Secondly, we wished to try to ensure better and effective scrutiny of the work of the council, especially as all the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Scrutiny committees, are also members of the ruling group. They wished to disband the Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group, which is a forum where all members of all political parties can look at scrutiny reviews, ensure adequate resources are available and prioritise the issues. We proposed to replace this group and have a Scrutiny Management Group of all political parties which would be open to the public (the current meeting isn't) and thus the scrutiny function of the council would be seen to be more outwardly focussed and accountable. But, guess what? The proposal was voted down. We were unanimously supported in our requests by both the Labour and Green groups

I really hope this does not mean that we are going to be battling on like this for the next four years. But there is a chink of light - we are supposed to be reviewing the situation in 12 months time - so we will be carefully monitoring this to see if there really is going to be any improvements.

Oxford City Tour for Army Families

Today I had the privilege of joining young families from Bicester Garrison who came into Oxford for an open top bus tour of the city sights. For many of them, it was the first time they had been into Oxford and they enjoyed the opportunity of seeing all the main tourist attractions, including the colleges, museums and the parks. After the tour, they all came back into County Hall to have tea and cakes with the Chairman and those of us who had joined them. This was an opportunity to express our appreciation to the troops who are currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or Cyprus on our behalf. Read more here.

Wantage Day Centre Open Day

I went along this morning to have a look at the activities happening at Wantage Day Centre in Stirlings Close on their Open Day. It was lovely to see the older people taking part in their seated exercise classes, painting sessions and relaxation therapy. There are a whole range of opportunities available here and it was good to talk to the dedicated staff and many of the clients who seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The Mayor of Wantage presented the centre with a cheque for £526 which had been raised by Waitrose supermarket in Wantage from their community fund. This will go to help support the work they are doing by putting in some extra much-needed resources.

Many residents in the area come along to the centre twice weekly, but there are some vacancies so if you or your relatives or friends would like to find out more then see here for contact details and the full range of facilities on offer.

Cropredy is here!

Its the final day of Fairport's Cropredy Convention - another of our local musical festivals. I have been to Cornbury and Wychwood, but this year has seen my first visit to Cropredy (despite the fact that it has been going since the 1970s) and it has been excellent. The rain has held off so far and everyone is so friendly. The stage picture is from Steve Winwood's set on Thursday night which was fantastic and brought back many happy memories. There may still be some tickets available for today. See here for all details.

Thames Valley Police Open Day

I attended this event over the weekend and saw many visitors enjoying the day which was held at the Sulhamstead Training Centre, nr. Reading.

The mounted section, the dog handlers and the fire and rescue service were all there on display for the public to view and ask questions. Read about it here.

As one of the members of the Police Authority for the County Council, it is always welcome to give support to the Force on these occasions and see the hard work they are doing on all of our behalf.

Public Enquiry called on the Reservoir

It was announced this week that the government has called for a public enquiry on Thames Waters' proposals to build a massive reservoir near us at Steventon. You can read the story on the Vale of White Horse website and also the County Council website. The news has been welcomed by both councils and is also a relief that residents can now have an opportunity to have their say. This has been looming over us all for a long time with various proposals coming back to us for 'consultation'. I am also grateful that campaigning for our voices to be heard is now beginning to pay off. Now the whole scheme can be looked at and decided upon. We shall await further news about when this will be taking place. Will keep you posted.

Back from Amalfi

'When the American writer John Steinbeck first saw the Amalfi coast, he was moved to uncontrollable weeping. He was not the first - nor will he be the last - to succumb to the emotional impact of the potent beauty found here.' So reads my Guide Book which I took with me on holiday to Amalfi in Italy for the last two weeks and how well it fits the description. What can I add?

Except to say that I have now travelled on the most incredible bus journey of my life. One day, catching the local 'SITA' bus outside our hotel with a 'Unico Costiera' ticket at the cost of 6Euros, we travelled all the way along the coast from Amalfi to Sorrento and back. A truly rollercoaster ride, zigzagging around the mountains' hairpin bends with sheer jaw-dropping cliff edges and a view of the whole bay of Salerno one side and changing to a view of the Bay of Naples with Versuvius in the background on the other. The highway is so old that it is 'listed' and no alterations can be made to it. There is a weight limit and the buses are the largest vehicles which can travel along it - anyone meeting them has to negotiate with skill - though scraped cars were a plenty! The small towns on the way were built right up to the road edge - so walking the road is as dangerous as driving it, though you can sample a taste of it through this You Tube link. The journey into Oxford will never be the same again!

But now it is time to catch up, as usual, on everything that has been happening whilst I have been away. The weather has been pretty grim here, so I am pleased to have not grumbled about the searing heat but was thankful for my sunhat! I am now ready again to continue to keep you posted.

Difficult Times Ahead

There has been a lot in the press about the forthcoming job losses which are being predicted by the County Council in the light of the economic recession. The budget is tight, the likelihood of a poor settlement in the forthcoming CSR (Comprehensive Spending Review) is looming large and the ruling group are planning a low council tax of 2.5%.

The alarm amongst staff has been regarding the announcement of the cuts which only came about during a TV interview about 2 weeks ago - not a good way of handling the situation. It was also put up on the council's website hidden amongst other stories the same day. There needs to be a round table discussion of all parties to try to resolve the situation and we have called for an early meeting of the Employees Joint Consultative Committee which comprises staff, union representatives, councillors and management. We have now heard that this has been agreed in August.

Our staff are key in delivering frontline services, whether it is supporting our children, older people or mending our roads. We also need to cut down the wastage at County Hall in creating unnecessary posts and printing glossy publications. Perhaps the time has come where there will have to be a change of direction - but we need to bring the staff with us, not alienate them. I hope the situation can be resolved.

Grove Challengers Annual Football Competition

Today I was a VIP guest at the Grove Challengers Football Club Annual 6-a-side competition. This important event in Grove has teams ranging from Under 7's through to Under 16's, attracts over 1600 children and 2500 adults from the local area and further afield.

The weather stayed good and was a bit cooler than the previous years where I have attended in sweltering heat. It was an excellent opportunity to have a look around the new clubhouse and changing facilities and to catch up on the latest news from the organisers of the event. The children and their families were all having a great time and the quality of some of the football matches being played was impressive too.

The club offers an important facility for the youngsters of Grove, Wantage and surrounding area - checkout their website here. I look forward to many more competitions to come.

LEADER funding in the North Wessex Downs

On Thursday I attended a meeting of the North Wessex Downs Council of Partners where I represent the Vale of White Horse District Council looking after our interests on the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

We learned about the LEADER scheme (Liaisons Entre Actions de Développement de l'Economie Rurale) which will open up opportunities for funding in rural development which comes from Europe via the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). The idea is to help local projects get off the ground especially those helping rural communities. The North Wessex Downs Action Group successfully secured £2.5 million to help fund a wide range of activities including farm diversification, tourism activities and community groups who wish support for the local economy. If you wish to find out more click here. Funding for up to £50,000 may be requested so long as they meet the criteria set out.

It is always a pleasure to serve on this partnership where everyone works together in the best interests of the historic downland which is so close to us here in Grove and Wantage. What could be more pleasant on a beautiful day than a walk up on The Ridgeway with the whole landscape rolling before you. The Management Plan is now ready to be adopted by our respective councils in the area which will ensure that this important landscape can be enjoyed by all of us for many years to come.