Denchworth Road Closure and Potholes

Advance warning that the part of the Denchworth Road between Mably Way and Newlands Drive will be closed for 3 days from 14 January for maintenance works. This is the piece of road that divides the old airfield and Wasbrough Field and, despite various attempts at patching, has been in need of attention for some time (see photos above). There will be the usual exemptions for emergency vehicles.

On the subject of roads, I was interested to read the other day that there is no national definition of a pothole and hence they cannot be accurately counted! This was revealed in the Progress Report of the Government Potholes Review commissioned by Norman Baker as Transport Minister. As far as I know, Oxfordshire County Council uses a depth of 40mm and a diameter of 150mm for a pothole to be investigated (see here).

Strangely, back in 1967, John Lennon seemed to have no such problem....

     Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire

     And though the holes were rather small

     They had to count them all

     Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall

South Pacific in Oxford

I went to the New Theatre in Oxford last night to see Rodgers and Hammerstein's fabulous musical South Pacific which was performed by  the Lincoln Center Theatre under the direction of André Bishop.  The theatre is one of New York's favourite not-for-profit theatres, now celebrating its 27th year, and tours around the world including Broadway.

I particularly enjoyed the old favourites Bali Ha'i, Happy Talk and Some Enchanted Evening.  The performances by the cast including the songs were excellent.  Bloody Mary did not let us down as one of the stars of the evening. The show is running until 31st December.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a peaceful and relaxing time.

Grove Carol Service

Tonight was the Grove carol service, which was held around the Christmas tree at the end of Vale Avenue.  It was a mild evening, unlike last year when we were standing in the snow.  There was a good turnout and tonight the collection was for the Grove and Wantage Food Bank.  The Chairman of Grove Parish Council introduced the service which was officiated by the Rev. John Robertson from Grove Parish Church. The Wantage Silver Band were there and as usual did us proud (see photo above).

Afterwards we were invited over to the new Methodist Church building for coffee, tea and mince pies.  The extra room and new kitchen and toilet facilities are excellent and will be a bonus for groups who meet in the church hall.  Returning back home to continue with Christmas preparations - seems to come round more quickly every year.

No Joint Ticketing for Grove and Wantage

Today, I put a motion to the full County Council calling for the joint ticketing system, which was introduced in Oxford at the beginning of this year, to be extended to our area. This was reported here.  I was hoping that, as this has been operational for some time in the city, there was a real opportunity to take this forward to other areas in the county where more than one bus operator is working.

Readers of my blog will know that I have been campaigning for this to happen for some time. Many residents have said to me how much easier it would be for them if they could travel on any of our bus companies and be able to use one return ticket for both journeys, rather than having to buy a separate ticket if another operator turns up.  We currently have both Stagecoach and Thames Travel who operate commercial services in our area, and both of these companies are signed up to the Quality Bus Partnership in Oxford, which allows the council to 'broker' the services which are provided and ensure that this can happen.

Indeed, I have experienced first-hand how well the service works in Oxford when I have used the buses within the city.  You can buy your return ticket and it clearly states on it that it can be used with Stagecoach, Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel.

Unfortunately, for some reason which I do not understand, the Conservative ruling group at the County Council voted it down.  Everyone else supported it.  The Leader of the Council tried to make some vague excuses as to why it couldn't happen, but no explanation was forthcoming.  I did remind them that it was the same Conservative group who argued it couldn't happen before, and yet it all did happen in the city despite their previous negative reaction.

This would have helped improve public transport, help our carbon footprint, bring better value for money and above all give bus passengers a hassle-free experience.   What a pity our administration at the County Council has no desire try to improve public transport across Oxfordshire.

Grove Library Decision

This afternoon I went to address the special Cabinet meeting which was to decide on the future of Oxfordshire's libraries.  You can see the report in the link on my previous blog post here.

As I pointed out in my speech, we have gone from a situation a year ago where we were threatened with closure to a position now where we have been designated a Community Plus Library.  This means that our library stays open as usual, however, we will have two thirds paid staff and one third volunteers.  Hopefully, this should mean that there will always be a paid member of staff in the library to support any volunteers.

I have met with the Friends of Grove Library group (FROGs) on many occasions where we have discussed the proposals with the Cabinet member and officers from the council and it is hoped that we will be able to find a local solution which will be of benefit to everyone in the community.  There was some discussion today about the possibility that with volunteers, we may even be able to have longer opening times, especially during the weekends when more people are available to help.

I emphasised the point that with future housing development planned that the library status will need to be upgraded, and assurances were given that a review would certainly happen in four years time and earlier if housing growth had taken place in the meantime.

The Coming of Christmas

Tonight, I attended "The Coming of Christmas" - a candelit evening of Christmas music and readings at Dorchester Abbey with the Choir of New College, Oxford. There were a number of readings by Imogen Stubbs and Dominic West  (pictured above). This excellent event is organised annually to raise funds for the Hft charity.

Green Light for Charlton Primary School Extension

I have just come back from the County Council's Planning and Regulation Committee where Charlton Primary School's extension has been given the go ahead.   I went along to speak and give my support both as local councillor and a governor at the school.  This is excellent news for the area as we have been aware for some time now that admissions for places have been full at many of our local primary schools.  The new extension will provide a new 2 classroom Foundation Stage Building located to the rear of the school.  This will involve the removal of a temporary building and the outdoor swimming pool and changing rooms.

Obviously, it will be a shame to lose the swimming pool, but this would have become a significant cost to the school as time goes on.  Also, as an outdoor pool it has had limited use, and the school, along with others in the area do use the local leisure centre indoor pool in Wantage for its swimming lessons.  There has been significant consultation and engagement locally and I am sure that the whole community will see the benefits of having an increase in numbers at the school.  The intake will now go from 45 to 60 pupils in the first year so there will be a two-form entry right from the start and is due to be open in time for September 2012.

Wantage Dickensian Evening

Last night, it was the annual Dickensian evening in Wantage. It seems to get bigger and attract more people every year. There were a few spots of rain, but the weather held and everyone clearly enjoyed themselves. The collage of photos above give an idea of the atmosphere in and around the Market Square.

Grove Library Latest

Today, I have been involved in a briefing regarding the future of Oxfordshire libraries which is due to come before a special Cabinet meeting on Monday 12th December at 1pm.  The agenda is now published on the County Council's website and there is a press release here.  Grove is classified as a Community Plus library which means that under these new proposals, the library would be staffed by two-thirds council paid staff and one-third by volunteers.

This should be good news for Grove because I would hope that we can find enough volunteers to help run our local library as I know how much residents value this important service.  I shall be working with the Friends of Grove Library group (FROGs) over the forthcoming months to ensure they are supported in trying to get the best for our community.  As a founder member of this group, I know they are in a strong position and their willingness to co-operate with the council has been recognised.

Hidden Trail in Wantage

This is an exhibition I visited yesterday at the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage which was put together by five young individual artists from the local area supported by the Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership Trust.

Hidden Trail is part of a wider project.  The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded OYAP Trust a grant to work with young people in Witney, Woodstock and Wantage to explore the secrets and treasures of the local towns.  This is a partnership beetween OYAP Trust, The Vale and Downland Museum, The Oxfordshire Museum and Cogges which inpires young people to explore the county's heritage.  It was an excellent exhibition as you can see from the photos above and the culmination was to go underground in the cellars of the The King Alfred's Head in Wantage where you can see the tunnels in the last of the photos above.

The Hidden Trail will finish on Sunday 4th December, but certainly worth a visit if you can spare the time.

A Day of Strike Action in Oxfordshire

There were demonstrations in Oxford today by many public sector workers who were taking action against changes to their pensions.   I was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford along with the other two main political parties about my views both on Sunday's Bill Heine programme and today on the breakfast show with Phil Gayle.

I feel it was a shame that the strike was called whilst there is still a deal on the table to be negotiated.  Also only a quarter of union members backed strike action.  It will cost the economy £500m at a time when we are all feeling the pinch.  Many people who are either self-employed or working for the private sector already have to provide for their own pensions  and many of their schemes are also changing.   Through their taxes they also have to pay for public sector pensions.

Public sector pensions are a recognition of the dedication and hard work of millions of public sector workers. But because we are all living longer, the costs of public service pensions is increasing, and will keep going up unless we do something about it - asking other taxpayers to work longer and pay more so public sector workers don’t have to just isn’t fair.

Today there was a total of 72 per cent of Oxfordshire’s 291 schools which were closed or partially closed. Only 28 per cent opened as normal.  Locally, both primary schools in Grove were closed as was Wantage Church of England Primary School.  King Alfred's College was partially open and 2 classes were closed at Charlton Primary School.  Stockham Primary School remained open.  I hope that local families were able to manage their childcare arrangements if they were trying to get to work.

Let us hope that this can be resolved and that a deal can be struck which will bring everyone back together.  I am sure that we all want the best outcome in these difficult economic times. 

Superfast Broadband on the Horizon

This photo is 'The BT Vehicle for Change' parked for the day in Milton Park, nr. Didcot which was hosting a number of presentations on how to tackle the challenges of the future with new technology and faster broadband.  This is very much part of the OxOnline project which is being rolled out all over the county.  I went along to see what I could find out.

On 16 August Broadband Delivery UK announced that Oxfordshire would be allocated £3.86 million to provide faster broadband speeds in rural areas up to 2015. Oxfordshire will be able to draw down this funding on completion of an agreed Local Broadband Plan.  This means there will have to be a robust business and financial case for the building of superfast broadband infrastructure in our rural areas. £3.86 million is clearly not enough to provide the infrastructure required so the County Council and the private sector will need to provide additional funds in order to make the project viable. Work is on-going to identify where this additional funding is going to come from.

Locally, many people in Grove complain to me about their broadband and how slow the speeds are, indeed I suffer from this myself.  I have been told that this is because Grove is some miles distance from Wantage where the exchange in based.  I was informed today that the plan is to extend the network to the boxes in the various streets which should make for faster broadband locally.  It is also the case that we do have competition in the area so there are several providers who can supply broadband locally - it is a matter of shopping around for the best deal.

Another innovation I heard about today was regarding V Pods which are supposed to be a new way for the public to access services through a number of outlets via  libraries, colleges, schools and other public places.  This is an extension of the one-stop-shop - a virtual connection to a service provider basically - too complicated to explain here in detail, but I am sure it won't be long before we are all aware of this new idea! 

New Bus Timetables Online

I have reported previously that there are some changes to our local bus services.

These changes will come into operation from Sunday 12 December so it is worth familiarising yourself with the new timetables for the subsidised services.  The majority of services will continue at their current frequency, with some services improving.   The commercially operated Stagecoach services X30 and 31 remain the same.

Among the changes are  a new service A1 which will run between Ardington and Wantage to partially replace the 32 service removed by Thames Travel.

A summary of the changes, along with timetables for the new services, can be found on Oxfordshire County Council’s website in the Public Transport section.

Two new timetable booklets covering the Wantage and Faringdon areas and the Didcot area are also available from libraries, tourist information centres and other local outlets.

Building Progress in Wantage and Grove

It's always interesting to observe the progress of local buildings and features.  The first two pictures show the "before" and "after" of the extension to the Waitrose store in Wantage. I have shopped in there recently and the store is certainly much more roomy and attractive.

In Grove, the extension to the Methodist Church in Main Street has been completed. These new facilities will be of much benefit to the wider community, as well as to those who worship there. I particularly remember taking my daughter to the church for her ballet lessons. The final photo shows King Alfred looking down at the ongoing refurbishments in Wantage Market Square, which are due to finish next week.

Politics Morning at King Alfred's College

This morning I attended four "Question and Answer" sessions about politics at King Alfred's College in Wantage.  This gave Year 11 pupils the opportunity to ask the politicians about their views on a number of topical questions.  I was very impressed by the quality of the subjects which were raised and of particular interest to the students were the economy, tuition fees, future jobs and employment issues, binge drinking and the summer riots.

The panel consisted of myself for the Liberal Democrats as Leader of the Opposition at the County Council, Leader of the Conservatives at the Vale of White Horse District Council and a Green Party Member who stood as Parliamentary Candidate in the Banbury Constituency.  We had a good debate and opportunities to discuss areas where we agreed and disagreed.  The national situation where Liberal Democrats are in a coalition government with the Conservatives raised its head several times, especially where it has meant that the parties have had to compromise on some things to achieve a common goal.

As it came up several times about how to help young people to get jobs especially during these hard times, I was able to refer to the announcement made by Vince Cable, our Lib Dem Business Secretary who is trying to support businesses with apprenticeships.  You can read the article here

Remembering

This is the time of year when we remember both the contributions and sacrifices of men and women in times of conflict - particularly the two world wars. On Armistice Day, I attended the Ceremony of Remembrance at County Hall in Oxford. The date this year of 11.11.11 seemed to make it even more significant.

Today, I went to the Remembrance Sunday Service at Grove Parish Church. It is always great to see the Beavers, Cubs, Rainbows and Brownies march to the church and fill it with their brightly coloured uniforms. As usual, Professor Gary Sheffield provided some interesting insights into the conflicts and their relevance to Grove. One thing he pointed out was that the gate pillars at the entrance to St. John's church (see left and right photos above) are memorials to two soldiers. I must admit, until today, I had never paid them close attention and passed them many times without realising their relevance. This afternoon, I also attended the short ceremony at Grove Cemetry for members of the 9th USAAF and other allied servicemen from Grove who lost their lives.

Transport Symposium

Today, I attended a Transport Symposium organised by Oxford Civic Society held at St. Hilda's College in Oxford.  We had an interesting range of speakers as outlined below:

• Peter Headicar, former Reader in Transport Studies, Oxford Brookes University
• Steve Howell, Deputy Director of Environment & Economy, Highways & Transport, Oxfordshire County Council
• Ros Weatherill, previously Environment Secretary Oxford Civic Society and OxClean Chair
• Ben Hamilton-Baillie, Director of Hamilton-Baillie Associates, Bristol
• Louisa Weeks, Oxford Bus Co and Martin Sutton, MD Stagecoach
• Chris Aldridge, Principal Network Planner (West & Wales) Network Rail
• Professor David Bannister, Director of Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford

We discussed a whole range of transport issues, covering Oxford's past history right up until the present day.  We heard about the importance of creating space for pedestrians and cyclists and above all how good public transport is essential to make the whole transport planning system work.  Everyone agreed that creating a car-free environment can only benefit us all.

However, the challenge we face for the future is how we can manage the system to avoid total gridlock.  We can now see the benefits of the Smartcard Joint Ticketing and joint timetabling in Oxford and how it has helped to reduce congestion in the city.  I have been campaigning for this to happen for a long time - see my blog post here and I did ask the question today if this could possibly be extended to areas like ours.  Residents often contact me about this issue and indeed there was a comment posted on my blog recently here

The other issue I raised with Network Rail was about the re-opening of Grove railway station.  I was told that when Didcot power station closes in 2015 there may be spare capacity on the lines, however, there was also a suggestion that the company may switch to using biomass and therefore still need the trains.   The possibility of the station re-opening was resurrected after the ATOC report was published in 2009 which said that Wantage could be a viable station in the future.  I followed this up with a motion to the County Council. This was after planning permission was granted by the Vale of White Horse District Council in 2007 see here.  I will continue to campaign for this.

New Non-Emergency Police Number 101

Thames Valley Police is due to go live with 101, the new national single non-emergency number on 14 November 2011, which will replace the 0845 8 505 505 number. Both numbers will run side by side until the end of March, but if demand for the 0845 8 505 505 number drops it may be discontinued earlier.

Calls to 101 (from both landlines and mobile networks) cost 15 pence per call, no matter what time of day the call is made, or the duration of the call.

The routing will be based on the same system as 999 calls which link a caller’s dialling code to the police force that covers that geographic area. Calls from a landline will be routed to the nearest police force that covers the area’s dialling code. If the caller is using a mobile, the call will be routed using the location of the mast that the phone is transmitting from.

Anyone dialling 101 in England and Wales will be given the option to select an alternative force if the area they are in differs to the force they need to speak to. An operator will put the caller through to the requested force.

Further information regarding the national 101 project can be found here.

Have Your Say on Future Housing Development!

The Vale of the White Horse District Council has produced a draft Interim Housing Supply Policy (IHSP) document, which can be found here. This has apparently been prepared to "enable additional housing development by relaxing some current Vale Local Plan policies".

I know that Grove residents have strong opinions on this subject after conducting many surveys on local proposals. In 2007, villagers even organised a referendum on the looming airfield development and gave it the thumbs down amidst concerns over infrastructure, flooding and the sheer scale of the proposals. Just this week, the possibility of a further 350 homes near to Williams F1 was reported in the local press (see here). Of course, this is also taking place against the background of the Government commitment to "radical" reforms to planning law (see here), which are the subject of much debate in the national press at the moment.

Anyway, there is a consultation where you can have your say on the Vale housing proposals - here is the link. The consultation closes at 4pm on Friday 25th November and responses can be emailed to planning.policy@whitehorsedc.gov.uk.