Category Archives: Local Issues

Thames Water – flood alleviation works

Thames Water are about to start work on their £7m scheme to alleviate flooding. It will involve the upsizing of the sewer along North Hinksey Lane and an upgrade of sewers on Cumnor Hill and Eynsham Road. The work will be completed in three phases.  First at the junction of Cumnor Hill and Eynsham Road, next section around West Way, and last, starting in January 2012, the building of a storage tank at the south end of North Hinksey Lane and upsizing the existing sewer for 1.7km along the road.

The upgrades are due to be completed in the autumn of 2012.

Drop-in sessions with further information are to be held on Tuesday 4 October between 6.30 and 8.30pm at St Peter & St Paul, Church Hall, West Way, and on Thursday 6 October between 1 and 5pm at Botley WI Hall, North Hinksey Lane.

Botley Air Quality

(This is from the Vale Website)

Part of Botley has been declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) to help address air pollution problems affecting residents.

The AQMA was declared following an assessment of air quality in the area which identified levels of nitrogen dioxide above the Government’s national standards next to a stretch of the A34.

The assessment and a summary of air quality issues in Botley can be downloaded from the right of their website page. Maps showing the area covered by the AQMA and the monitoring locations in Botley can also be downloaded there.

A further assessment of air quality in the Botley area has been carried out to give more information about air quality. A report on this will be available shortly.

Last reviewed: 01 – 06 – 2011

Botley Drainage Work

The Vale of White Horse district council has welcomed plans from Thames Water to start work improving the drainage problems in Cumnor Hill and Botley.

Thames Water has written to the council to outline its plans to carry out work to upgrade the sewerage system in Botley. This work is due to start in January 2012 and should be completed by the end of next year.

This also means that planning applications, which have been on hold because of the sewerage problems, can be determined now that the drainage improvement works is due to start.

Since October 2007, the council has been unable to permit any planning applications for new housing in the OX2 0, OX2 9 or OX1 5 postcode areas because of a holding objection raised by Thames Water due to the ongoing drainage problems.

Thames Water has confirmed that as the planned work will be carried out shortly, it has no objection to the council permitting applications for new housing in the area subject to a condition being imposed on planning permissions stipulating that no new houses can be occupied until the drainage improvement works have been completed.

For more info, to ask questions or voice your concern, contact Stuart Walker
(01235) 540505 stuart.walker@southandvale.gov.uk

Government grants available – Safer Communities

New government funding is available to help communities build safer neighbourhoods

The Home Office is inviting organisations from the voluntary sector to apply for a share of £10 million to enable communities tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

The ‘Community Action Against Crime: Innovation Fund’ aims to bring together active citizens and encourage new ways of working with communities to build safer neighbourhoods. £5 million is available this year and a further £5 million has been set aside for 2012/12.

For further information about the new Home Office funding, please visit http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/partnerships/innovation-fund/.

This funding will support voluntary organisations in getting on with the job of building strong and safe communities in their own innovative way, working alongside Community Safety Partnerships and other agencies.

The South and Vale Community Safety Partnership (of which the district council is a lead member) supports local voluntary organisations to help reduce crime and the fear of crime in the Vale of White Horse. For example, the partnership gave funding for a project in Abingdon to help young people stay out of trouble and build self-esteem, whilst developing a sense of worth and making a positive impact on the community.

You can find out more about South and Vale Community Safety Partnership on our website.

Contact
Katharine Doherty
01491 823615
katharine.doherty@southandvale.gov.uk.

Seacourt Retail Development decision due

The Seacourt Retail project is due to be decided upon, now that all the Thames water obstacles (danger of flooding) have been overcome.

Many residents provided written feedback, and all letters are available to read on the Vale’s Planning website: http://bit.ly/q4iHb0 (scroll down a few screens and you’ll see all the documents associated with this plan). Many people objected to the removal of the only petrol station serving this area. There were other objections to do with environmental impact, pedestrian access and more traffic for our already clogged streets.

But none of these objections are anything that will cause a decision against the application, as the Vale officers have said a  decision based on these issues would not hold up in appeal.

If you have comments, please leave them here. Or contact the planning officer at the Vale (you can find out who to talk to via the web link above)

Planning is very much run by planning policy, and the deciding criteria is usually whether an appeal about a decision would be upheld. (Appeals are very expensive for the Vale.) Personally, I think planning policy that doesn’t consider the last local petrol station serving thousands of residents of a growing and expanding village as an amenity, needs to be examined. The additional objections about the cost in money and polution (requiring motorists to make a 10 mile journey to fill up), also points to the need to address the policy.

It’s too late now for a policy change to save our petrol station, but maybe it can save the next vital service that developers want to demolish.

Free parking to increase town business?

My colleague Councillor Angela Lawrence, today wrote on her blog:

COUNCILLORS will push ahead with free parking in Abingdon and Wantage despite warnings it is unaffordable.
The Conservatives promised free short-stay parking in council car parks by Christmas after taking control of Vale of White Horse District Council in May.

To read the whole post, see her blog: Councillor Angela Lawrence’s blog

Vale officers warned the cabinet on 8 July 2011 that spending cuts will be needed elsewhere to make up for lost income, forecast to be £250,000 a year.

In the Herald coverage, Council leader Matthew Barber said the council was committed to the scheme and the expense was something he had planned for. He said the council was likely to use the home bonus cash and make some (unspecified) long-term savings. What he didn’t mention was all the parking fees are going up top help cover this cost! When you pay for parking, you;ll now pay more.

Richard Webber, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group, said the free parking promise was “electoral bribery”. He said: “It’s a promise they frankly should not have made. I’m really anxious about what’s going to have to go to pay for it.”

The previous, Lib Dem led council, had already given 2 hrs free parking (after 4pm is free instead of after 6pm). Under the new plans, those hours will not be exempt.

The Abingdon Herald ran some polls (as they do).

“Should the Conservative-controlled Vale council push ahead with plans for free parking despite the view of its chief finance officer?”

20% Yes, 80% No

They took it down before I could get a picture of it.

The second question was: “Do you believe providing free parking will increase business for traders in our towns?”

Free Car Parking in Abingdon – the 5 minute decision

After less than 5 minutes of debate and consideration of the complexities of financing this scheme, the 5 conservative members of the Vale cabinet decided to provide free 2hr car parking for well-off car drivers who want to park in Abingdon town centre.This was despite a strong recommendation from the financial officers that the scheme not be adopted.

They also decided to raise residents’ parking permit fees, commuters’ permit fees, and fees to park longer than 2 hours.

But the main source of funding for this £1,000,000 will be the new homes bonus reserves. These are the funds paid to the Vale by large developers to support and enhance the community infrastructure where they are building swathes of new homes.

So, no new playgounds, no youth centres, no community halls for over-populated neighbourhoods in exchange for the well-off car drivers having 2 hours of free parking while they shop.

I find this annoying, to say the least.

It’s too late to convince the Tories not to do it. All we can do is ask the hard questions:

  1. How much is this costing and how is the cost being re-couped?
  2. What metrics are in place to measure the effectiveness of this free car parking on the vitality of the town centre?

Email, write, or ring them up. Let them know how you feel about this.