The Planning Committee met on Wednesday night to consider Doric’s plans for Botley and decide what our future will look like. Or, WON’T look like, in this case. Doric’s plans were refused unanimously; the final vote was 13-0.

I have a lot of thoughts about the whole process, and what I’ve learned, what this community and West Way Community Concern have learned. I saw so many courageous and compassionate people live up to very high expectations, and some people not manage to do that at all. Some people were able to put party politics aside and come to just and fair conclusions; others weren’t. Some people had a lot of influence behind the sceens, and won’t get enough recognition for it. Others were visible and did their work out in the public eye. Everyone played their part and we got the right result.

At the end of it all, we got to see what people stand for. And the result was heartwarming; most people stand for community, for localism, for democracy. They stand for kindness, and fairness, and effectiveness. Even the poor Vale Cabinet decision making couldn’t destroy a vibrant community.

Do you have high expectations of people to step up, when called, and do the right thing? I do. Generally those expectations are met. There are very few people who simply want to hurt others (I’ve seen those too) but most people want to help others and to do the right thing. These people deserve our thanks.

I’m so pleased at the outcome. At the same time, I want to explore the path we took so that the good and effective practises we learned in this effort (was it a year and a half?) can be assimilated into the next Main Thing.

It’s not often I get to see karma within a short enough timespan to recognise it. This was gratifying.