Author Archives: adminimport

13 Cumnor Hill comes to Planning Cttee 30 Jul 14

Today I have heard from Vale officers that the application for 14 flats over three storeys at the corner of Cumnor Hill and Hurst Rise Road is coming to planning committee on 30 July 14. The meeting is in Wantage at The Beacon and starts at 18:30.

The officer tells me it is recommended for approval contingent on successful signing of the s106 agreements covering the developer’s contributions to schools, libraries and infrastructure. (This is standard.)

His report isn’t online yet. When it is, you can see it as part of the agenda pack on this page: http://democratic.whitehorsedc.gov.u/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=102

You can speak at the meeting, but remember that the objectors are limited to only 3 minutes, and that time is for all speakers. That is, if there are 3 speakers, each person can have a little over a minute. Here are details: http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/planning-and-building/application-advice/planning-committees/speak-at-a-planning-committee- . (I’ve just had a look at that page, and it’s out of date. The meetings are in Wantage now, and you can notify Legal & Democratic Services if you want to speak.)

If you wish to speak, contact Susan Harbour in Legal & Democratic Services no later than Tuesday. Susan.Harbour@southandvale.gov.uk

I’ll be there; I get 3 minutes too.

PS. (An hour later) I just had a phone call. The Vale page is being updated, probably today, about how to speak at a planning committee meeting. Anyone who logged a comment will also be notified about the meeting, and there’s a whole new way to sign up to speak, if you want to be very modern. All the old methods (phone, email, pony express) still work too.

 

Campaign to protect Oxford Greenbelt

2014 cumnor cricket siteI’ve been helping the local Lib Dems get support in Cumnor, Botley, Sunningwell and South Hinksey for their campaign to get the Vale adminstration to look again at the proposed plans to build piecemeal on the Oxford Green Belt.

Residents have been so supportive, signing on the doorstep when we call, or via our online petition. A big Thank You to everyone who has signed our petition so far.

If you haven’t signed already, please sign the petition to help protect the Green Belt. You can do it online here: http://oxwablibdems.org.uk/en/petition/don-t-build-on-the-green-belt-petition

PS. Did you know they plan to build 200 houses in the Green Belt land behind the Cumnor cricket gounds? (Right behind us in the photo above.) Did you know the Vale’s consultants recommend removing the Fogwell Road Pavilion Grounds and the Louie Memorial Pavilion and all the upper playing fields from the Green Belt protection?

I was astonished to learn that. I signed the petition. I’ll let you know when we are going to present it to the Vale. Maybe you’ll want to come along.

 

Who Clears the Graffiti?

Graffiti clear Jul 14 We’ve had a recent spate of graffiti here in Botley. Well, if May is considered ‘recent’.

In the spring, we were tagged with ‘Mango’. It was everywhere: bus shelters, utility cabinets, buildings in West Way, A34 underpasses, grit bins, other places. The Louie Memorial Pavilion was a big target.

So, you may ask, who is responsible for cleaning it up? Vale? County? Parish? Me?

I went to the Vale officers in late May to ask for advice and help. Officers from the Community Safety team visited the area and called on owners of some of the defaced property, and also notified the police to be vigilant.

Some of the tagging has been cleaneStella Bella Stellad up, but not all.

The Vale website has information about who is legally responsible for clean-up: http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/services-and-advice/environment/street-cleaning/graffiti

Essentially, the owner of the property is responsible for its removal.

For phone boxes and utility cabinets, it is the relevant company (numbers are on the website).

For bus stops, it’s the county council.

For bus shelters, it’s the parish council.

For Louie Memorial Pavilion, Muga and playing fields, it’s the parish council.

For street name plates, or the public toilets at West Way, it’s the Vale. To report graffiti on property owned by Vale of White Horse District Council, please contact our waste contractors Biffa by emailing admin.vale@biffa.co.uk or calling 03000 610610 (local call rate).

The volunteer supporters of the Louie Memorial Pavilion had a clean-up day in July. Adults and kids got stuck in, painting over the defaced surfaces, and trying to make the pavilion less attractive as a target.

I would sure like to see the bus shelter on Arnold’s Way cleaned up. It’s been awful for a long time. If a parish councillor is reading this blog post, how about it? Could you ask the PC to organise a graffiti clear up?

Air Quality Action Plan consultation

(Update 24 Jul 14 – this is coming to Scrutiny tonight. We’ve heard today that they were in error in leaving out Marcham from this plan. Will be ‘falling on their swords’, aplogising and submitting an amendment.)

The Vale has launched its public consultation for their Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP).

Comments are welcome through Friday the 15th of August.

From their announcement:

Generally, air quality in the district is very good, but we have areas where, due to traffic issues, air pollution is close to or exceeds the levels set in European and UK regulations. 
When that happens, and we’ve established there’s a risk of the public being significantly exposed to the pollution, we have to create what’s known as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).  We then have to come up with an action plan that sets out how we will work with others who have the power to make the necessary changes to tackle the air quality problems in these areas. 

 

See the draft AQAP and comment here: bit.ly/1iYyP5J (If you haven’t previously registered on the Consultation portal, you’ll need to do so.)

Answers to our Questions

Here are the answers to the questions we submitted to the Vale CEO, David Buckle. I was about to say these are from him, then I noticed his file name is MB WWCC Questions. So I think these are from Cllr Matthew Barber, to me, via David Buckle. And now to you.

This is a link to my Dropbox folder where you can read or download the document:

http://bit.ly/1uOWG7w

 

Ploughing through the backlog

Hi everyone.

I’ve been SO busy in the past two weeks, that I’ve fallen behind with blog posts and newsletters. I’m determined to get a newsletter out asap. So to support it I need to get all these articles of importance on the blog.

(Update on 9 Jun 14 – I beavered away and have a lot of new bits of info posted. Click on links below.)

  1. Doric’s Environmental Statement for West Way
  2. West Way Design Review Panel meeting
  3. My update with Stuart Walker
  4. Individual Voter Regisration
  5. Questions to the Vale
  6. Air Quality Action Plan for Botley
  7. Election results in Oxford West and Abingdon (there is some good news there)

 

I’ll get started now, and pause for lunch and the mens final at Roland Garros. 🙂

Air Quality Action Plan for Botley

At the full council meeting on Feb 2014, I tabled this motion, (seconded by Cllr Catherine Webber of Marcham):

Council resolves to fulfil its legal responsibility to create Air Quality Action Plans for Botley and for Marcham.

We ran out of time at that meeting, so the motion was carried forward to the next one, on 14 May 14, where I had this to say:

Botley AQMA was created in 2008.

In 2009, the official report said nitrogen oxide levels needed to be reduced by 40%. The plan was to hope that improved emissions control in new vehicles would bring air pollution to acceptable levels by 2014.

In April 2012, the Air Quality Updating & Assessment report concluded an AQMA plan was required. (It was clear at that point that hope as a strategy wasn’t enough.)

In May 2012, I asked, ‘With planned growth comes increased cars, street deterioration and air pollution. Botley is an AQMA. How will the Vale manage the impact of more development on air quality?’ I had no reply.

In July 2013, I asked the Cabinet member for Environmental Health to report on the efficacy of the Action Plan and where the public could see it. There was no plan, but the Cabinet member said he had asked officers to create one for the Oct 2013 Cabinet briefing.

In Sep 2013, I was sent a DEFRA report that said the AQAP for Botley was in draft form and would shortly go for consultation.

In late October 2013, I again asked in full council meeting how the Vale would mitigate against the anticipated air pollution brought about by the major new shopping centre where Elms Parade and West Way now stand. The Cabinet member said he would reply in writing, but I never got anything.

Here it is February May 2014, and I don’t see an Action Plan – nothing on the Vale website, nothing in my inbox.

We’re legally required to create this Air Quality Action Plan. We also have a moral responsibility to the people who live and work in Botley. Please support the motion.

This motion passed, and the Cabinet member for Environmental Health has said he’s trying his best to get it done.

Since then, officers have published an AQAP for South Oxfordshire, and I hear one for the Vale is due soon. It covers all the bad air areas in the Vale, and will be open for consultation as soon as it’s published. Any day now, I’m sure. Really.