Merry Christmas!

Christmas Carol Service

Tonight was the annual Christmas Carol Service organised by Grove Parish Council next to the Christmas tree in Vale Avenue. The service was led by Rev. John Robertson and the music was provided by Wantage Silver Band. The wintry weather gave it a seasonal touch and a collection was held in aid of the Vale and Downland Museum.

Of course, it was just over a year ago that the great Christmas tree mystery in Grove occurred. Read about it here, here and here.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year

A fantastic night for the local area at the BBC Sports Personaility of the Year Award. First of all, Sir Frank Williams, founder of local Grove-based F1 team WilliamsF1, won the Helen Rollason award. Then to cap it all, local jockey A.P. McCoy won the main award!

999 Emergency Services Christmas Ball in Wantage

Yesterday seemed to be a day of chaos on our roads due to the amount of snow which fell overnight and during the day. Our emergency services must have been stretched to the limit. It was therefore no surprise that many people were unable to make it to Civic Hall for the Wantage 999 Emergency Services Christmas Ball. This is an annual event which raises funds for local charities. We managed to make it through the snow to show support and enjoy the evening, though some of the entertainment had to be called off. Some of the emergency service teams were also dealing with real emergencies on the roads.

The snow this year was not unexpected having been accurately forecast by the Met Office, however we always still seem to be ill-prepared. However, maybe it will be a white Christmas after all this year....

The Coming of Christmas

This was the theme of a candlelit evening of Christmas music and readings which I attended at Dorchester Abbey on Wednesday night. It was an excellent event with the choir of Magdalen College, Oxford and readings by Juliet Stevenson CBE and Michael Pennington. David Hyde was the conductor. The evening was in aid of the Home Farm Trust (Hft) which supports people with learning difficulties. You can view their website here.

The Abbey was a beautiful setting for Christmas carols and readings and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Christmas seems to be coming faster than ever this year and will be upon us so soon especially with it falling at the weekend. The parish council is holding its Christmas carol service round the tree at 7pm next Tuesday evening 21st December. I hope to join many residents there too.

Saving our local services

Last night at Grove Parish Council's meeting we discussed the future of Grove Library. The County Librarian came along to hear our views and to see what possible plans we could put together to potentially save the service. However, more details are needed and above all we need the community behind us, especially if any fundraising is to happen. It was agreed to hold a public meeting in the New Year and to try to rally the Friends of Grove Library again as there are very few of the original members left. Let us hope residents will get involved. Grove Library is not just a place to borrow books, it is the hub of our community where people can socialise, use the internet and find information.

Today Cllr. Jenny Hannaby and I met with the head and deputy head of King Alfred's School and Garry Kingett, our youth worker, to see what we can do to save our youth centre at the Sweatbox. Again, we need a business case and some idea how we and the community can run the service without the County Council. We are hoping to start a steering group to move things forward, so anyone who would like to get involved should contact Garry direct at the Sweatbox Tel: 01235 770577 or garry.kingett@oxfordshire.gov.uk. Again, the Sweatbox is not just a youth centre, but a vital kingpin in our community where young people can access a whole range of services and information and above all keep them off the streets.

Christmas Lights on at County Hall

Christmas lights have been switched on this evening at County Hall, so I was there to see the ceremony. Children from Great Tew Primary School came along to sing carols for us.

There is now increased security at County Hall after last week saw two protests by students on the site. The first time they gained access to the Members' suite and the second time some of the students had a meeting with the Leader of the Council about disparaging remarks he made about them on Twitter. Let us hope that the festive season brings some good will and cheer to us all.

Wantage Police Station Closure

Another blow to the communities of Grove and Wantage is the potential closure of Wantage Police Station. Read more here. The aim is to move out of the town to another location but where this will be has not yet been decided. Will it be part of the new development in Grove?

I am getting more concerned that as we await news of the proposed planning application for the airfield, we learn each day about more and more services which are being lost. Library, youth facilities, police station - what will be next? What is always difficult to do is to get back services which have been lost. I am trying to find out more about the 'pots of money' available to communities to run services in their area. This should become clearer in the next few weeks. I shall keep you posted.

Grove Library and Wantage Sweatbox Threatened

Today we all heard the devastating news that many of the county's libraries and youth centres could close due to potential budget cuts. We are being asked to 'pull together' in our communities to help save these vital services with local volunteers. Read the press release here.

Many residents will remember that Grove Library was threatened in the past and a group of residents formed the 'Friends of Grove Library' (FROGs) to keep it open. I was secretary at the time and it took a huge amount of effort. However, our library was saved, but now here we are again. Let us hope that something similar can happen now!

We have been worried for some time about the future of The Sweatbox in Wantage, and here we are again concerned about its future as Wantage is listed in this press release as one of the centres which could close unless the community can somehow pull together to keep it open. Once again, this will be down to volunteers.

The future looks bleak indeed so let us hope that solutions can be found before the budget is decided in February.

Boundary Review for Oxfordshire

Consultation is now taking place on an electoral review for Oxfordshire. This was triggered when it was discovered that Witney East was under-represented by 35%. There are currently 74 councillors representing various divisions in Oxfordshire - but is this too many? There are proposals for reducing the number of councillors. What do you think? There is also a move to go back to single-member divisions. If you recall, some years back Grove and Wantage were separate divisions but were put together in the county elections in 2005. More details can be found at the Local Government Boundary Commission website where you can send in your views online. Comments can also be sent to the review manager: joan.dsouza@lgbce.org.uk (tel:020 7664 8531) by 22nd November.

Remembrance Sunday

Along with parish councillors, beavers, cubs, scouts and brownies, I joined residents at the parish church remembrance service this morning in Grove. There seemed to be a record turnout as no seat was left unfilled! Professor Gary Sheffield, local historian, told us a story of a brother and sister from London who were evacuated to Grove during the war. Of course, during this time of reflection, we also pay tribute to those who are currently in Afghanistan and in particular, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

A Ceremony of Remembrance

There was a Ceremony of Remembrance held this morning at County Hall which I attended along with other members of the council and staff. We remembered 11 members of County Council staff who were killed in both World Wars. Two wreaths were laid below the plaque. We had two minutes silence along with the rest of the nation and then recited:

"We will remember them
When you go home
Tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow
We gave our today."

Grove Airfield Planning Event

This evening I was pleased to see a number of residents at the planning event held at Grove Church of England Primary School at North Drive. This was organised by Planning Aid South and had a number of presentations including one from a Vale Planning Officer. We were all given information about how best to respond to large (and small) planning applications and what suggestions we can make if we wish to be constructive about the forthcoming proposals. We were told that a planning application for the airfield site is expected at the end of this month, but there would be a long period of consultation probably taking us up to next June. Realistically we were told that any building work would not commence before 2012 at the earliest.

The table I sat at discussed S106 agreements (legal agreements which tie the developer into providing infrastructure such as roads and schools) and how important it was to make sure that these are delivered in time as development progresses. There are plans to have further workshops if residents missed this one and in particular we were looking at one which may include design and layout. This was a constructive evening, and I was surprised to see how positive people were in these times of gloom and doom. We are hoping that by the time the houses are on the horizon, the recession may be behind us - let us hope!

King Alfred's Awards Evening

It is always a pleasure to attend King Alfred's Awards evening, and tonight was no exception. For the second year running the school was Oxfordshire's highest achieving state school with Year 11 students recording outstanding examination results with 92.5% achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE. We enjoyed seeing the school's music talent on show too. An enjoyable evening. Visit their website here to read more.

Greenwich Mean Time is back

I hope everyone remembered to set their clocks back one hour last night after British Summer Time ended. We are, of course, now on Greenwich Mean Time until 27 March 2011.

Coincidentally, I found myself in Greenwich today and, as pictured, stood on the Prime Meridian. These days, as well as a brass strip showing the line of 0 degrees longitude, there is also a green laser beam that shines into the night sky towards the O2 dome, which is visible for about 15 miles.

The Royal Observatory at Greenwich is well worth a visit and of particular interest are the time pieces on display of John Harrison, who solved the longitude problem (the basis of the Channel 4 drama "Longitude" in 2000).

"Oxford time" is 5 minutes later than GMT. I gather that the Great Tom Bell at Christ Church College is rung at 9:05 pm (9pm on Oxford time) every evening for this reason. However, I have to admit that I have never witnessed and confirmed this myself.

Planning Grove Airfield: Commenting Effectively

This is the title of a forthcoming event happening next month which I hope members of the public will be able to take part in. Here are the details:

Tuesday 9th November at 6pm at Grove Church of England school, North Drive in Grove.

To register and book a place either telephone Julia at 01865 798673 or email: sosupport@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk

This event is supposed to help find out what has happened so far and what happens next, what we can and can't comment on and how to make comments more effective!

Sounds an interesting evening....

Street Pastors First Birthday Celebration

Last night I attended the Wantage and Grove Street Pastors First Birthday celebration at Wantage Parish Church. There was a large crowd there all keen to share what has been a hugely successful year for the community. Reverend Les Isaac, founder and director of the Ascension Trust gave us all a rousing address - he was the catalyst for the whole movement which began in East London and has been rolling out all over the country.

The Mayor, Chairman of Grove Parish Council, Thames Valley Police and many others were all there to give our support to the many volunteers who patrol our streets regularly on Friday nights. Crime figures we hear are very low in the Vale and we believe it is testimony to the fact that we are actively reducing crime in some areas due to this initiative. Long may the good work continue! If you want to find out more visit the website.

Changes at the County Council

At yesterday's Cabinet meeting at County Hall, I spoke on a number of items. There are to be some changes to full Council meetings with the end of themed debates after a year of giving them a try. We felt that our debate on 'Breaking the Cycle of Deprivation' was a success, but unfortunately some of the themes put forward by the ruling group have not really grabbed the public's attention... congratulating Oxfordshire's newly elected MP's after the last general election was one! Council meetings are due to end at 3.30pm, but will the earlier time just cut short debates on motions? We shall have to wait and see. I suggested we may use the extra time for useful briefings and training. I attended a training session for safeguarding children on Monday which was attended by a total of 5 councillors out of the potential 74! Perhaps if training sessions were timed to coincide with councillors being in for the day then attendance would be better.

Another change is the end of 'Oxon News' the magazine which is delivered to every household in Oxfordshire with an OX postcode. £240,000 saving will be made. In opposition we welcome this saving as we have been saying for a long time that the Council should cease spending public money on glossy publications which are basically propaganda for the ruling group. I suggested that perhaps there may be savings made in the media and communications department as a a result.

With the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement today, much is being made in the news about cuts in Oxfordshire's public spending. We shall have to wait and see as the days unfold about how this will effect services.

Road closure update

I have received a reply from the County Council regarding why the road closure has been cancelled. To quote:

"The closure has been cancelled due to the high costs associated with the disposal of tarbound material discovered within the existing road construction." Make of this what you will. I have been promised a fuller explanation!

Road closure cancelled

This is to let residents know that unexpectedly the road closure scheduled to take place this week on 18th October has been cancelled. This had been to undertake carriageway works on the A338 Grove Road near to Wantage. I do not yet know the reasons for this and will try and let you know as soon as possible.