Paul Barrow - District Councillor Report August 2023

Food and Farming

Having been nominated Vale Food and Farming Champion I, together with my deputy, Cllr. Val Shaw, am trying to define our roles. I am concerned that farmers do not receive information in a timely way or at all from the Vale. Establishing a good communication system will therefore be vital. I am already talking to individual farmers from the different sectors – large arable, mixed and small livestock farmers but other sectors including fruit and vegetable growers, beekepers, hay producers etc are also important. Concerns raised so far include the slow planning process, which could be improved.

Levelling-up money from central government has been obtained by the Vale in two funds (Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural England Prosperity Fund). The latter will be particularly important in this ward and might be used for diversification, sustainable energy generation etc but some farmers are not aware of it!

Grove Business Park

Following concerns in Oxford University about lack of accommodation for spin-out companies, Oxford University Endowment Management (OUEM), which owns the park, is expanding the business park to fill the new available space with modern offices, and business and laboratory space. A presentation on their plans was made on June 7^th. Having pestered them about retro-fitting PV solar on existing buildings I was pleased to see that this will be incorporated into all the new planned buildings. There are currently no plans for a bus route connection which is a shame and no current plans for connecting the buildings to the grid to generate income. I am also concerned about the capacity of the small sewage treatment plant that services the park and which was set up probably 70 years ago for the Non-Ferrous Metals Institute on that site.

Footpaths

We have a good network of footpaths in the East of the ward and I am trying to complete it by opening up (asking the landowner to open them under OCC pressure and maintain) the paths between East Challow, Denchworth and Grove.

There are three wooden bridges that need repair and a couple of swing gates that have been bent to prevent use. I have contacted the OCC footpaths officer about this. One of the paths leads to Denchworth and The Fox pub and I have contacted Denchworth parish council about managing the footpaths in their parish. Another path (bridleway starting at the W&G Estate on the A417) cuts across Woodhill Brook up to Woodhill Farm and across to Grove. As part of the Grove Business Park extension OUEM intends to use this bridleway for access to Wellington Gate so this would also facilitate access for Grove residents to the Challow footpaths and beyond to the Letcombes, Childrey and further West to Sparsholt and Kingston Lisle.

Childrey Brook

The first meeting of a Childrey Brook Group took place online on July 7^th. It currently comprises Mark Bradfield (Letcombe Brook Project Leader), Adam Bows (Freshwater Habitats Trust, Ock Catchment Partnership) and Cllrs Paul Barrow and Kiera Bentley. The decision was made to explore what might be done to develop the project improving water quality and biodiversity in parallel with Letcombe Brook.

Childrey Brook arises as a spring in Childrey (but originates well south of the B4507) and passes through West and East Challow, Denchworth and West Hanney before joining Letcombe Brook south of Marcham.

Hedge planting

The Challows and Childrey Hedgerow Group will be planting a mixed species hedge along Silver Lane (Whitelands Rd), West Challow from the Chestnut Avenue up to the B4507 and along the south side of Childrey Way from Silver Lane to Cornhill Farm. The landowner’s permission has been obtained and they have agreed to maintain the hedge after planting. OCC Highways have also been consulted and agree to this project. We will planting in November and January and welcome volunteers. Please contact me if you are interested.

Childrey Way School Transport

Appeals against the decision to rescind the free school transport for Childrey school children have been rejected. This is a bad decision and we have continued to generate publicity about it. I am concerned over child safety but also the likely consequence that children will be driven to school. OCC now say that they will repair the worst stretch of the Bridleway but it may be wasted money as parents will not allow their kids to use this isolated way to school.

CCTV upgrade in Wantage and Abingdon

Twenty-six new high-definition CCTV cameras have been installed in the Vale, with 20 rolled out across Abingdon and six in Wantage town centre. The digital cameras directly replace the outdated analogue CCTV system to provide CCTV operators with much better picture clarity to help support public safety and assist emergency services.

The cameras and new data transmission circuits, costing over £150,000, have been funded by Vale. The council jointly operates the Abingdon-based CCTV control room with South Oxfordshire District Council to oversee town centre schemes across both districts.

The new cameras are also more energy efficient than the existing analogue ones, playing a part in helping the council reduce its carbon emissions. The final stage of this upgrade project is to reinstate a CCTV camera on Wallingford Street in Wantage, and work on this is currently underway.

The council’s CCTV service is important to help the police to keep people safe and detect crime. In 2022/23, CCTV operators monitored over 1,000 incidents in Abingdon and Wantage and supported the police in making 80 arrests!

HOSC (OCC health scrutiny committee)

Concerns remain over the services that will be run from Wantage Hospital. A workshop was run on June 28^th between Wantage Town Council Health Committee, Oxford Health and the BOB ICS to discuss this. This was followed by a further workshop on July 18^th. No firm decisions have been made and discussions are ongoing but on this occasion we feel very positive about a change of attitude with OH and BOB ICS now that they have visited Wantage as a community (including Wantage Hospital and the Mably Way surgeries and pharmacies) and have had a more positive and flexible interaction with us. We are still hoping for a small injuries unit to be reinstated there with a great deal of CIL money unused and available intended to support health services.

Free and low-cost activities this summer

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse have launched a summer of fun with free and low-cost activities for children and families from dance to skateboarding, football to family fun  days. Booking is recommended for some of the sessions and the councils’ websites have booking forms and all the details of the activities including date, location and times.

Find out more by Googling Vale school holiday activities.

Further Proposed Housing Between Grove And East Hanney

You may have seen in the Herald (9^th August) a proposal by Richborough to develop 70 hectares for housing and business immediately north of the railway line at Grove, stretching almost as far as East Hanney (see www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/23687592.draft-masterplan-new-railway-station-near-wantage/). They say that they would like to see Grove Station developed – but do not say that they will fund it. East Hanney Parish Council knew nothing about this when I asked. Many will agree that we have enough houses in this area – we are one of the development hots-spots in England – and almost no solar panels installed on new build!!

VWHDC – Joint Local Plan (2031-2041) and Corporate Plan (2024-2028)

The Vale together with South Oxfordshire is putting together a new Joint Local Plan covering forward planning (including house building – numbers and spatial distribution) until 2041. New build numbers will be reduced but this is still also partially dictated from above!

The Vale is also now preparing a new Corporate Plan to cover 2024-2028 and which will include the council’s priorities also including planning, climate emergency, healthy communities and stable finances. More on this as we hear more.

Brief county notes

Oxford University Health (OUH) will introduce new parking charges for patients and visitors at its three Oxford hospital sites from Tuesday 1 August.

This is the first time the Trust has increased parking charges since 2017. The changes will see a reduction for those spending less time on the sites and increases for longer stayers in the visitor car parks at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital, and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre to bring the all-day rate in line with local Headington car parks to prevent misuse of hospital facilities.

Charges at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury remain unchanged as they are similar to nearby public car parks.

Concessionary arrangements for patients and visitors who regularly attend the hospitals remain the same. Free parking for Blue Badge holders is also unchanged – we have 253 spaces on the four sites.

Oxfordshire and Nature Recovery Support

Oxfordshire County Council is one of 48 councils set to benefit from a £14 million fund, enabling it to work with local communities to develop a tailored nature recovery strategy for Oxfordshire which will help map out the action needed in their area to restore nature, working closely with local stakeholders, from farmers to schoolchildren, to meet the Government’s England-wide nature targets.

The county will work closely with Oxfordshire’s our district council as well as Oxfordshire’s Local Nature Partnership and environmental organisations, to coordinate these plans for nature recovery.

The new funding will support projects with grants of up to £3m to tackle habitat loss, safeguard fragile ecosystems etc.

(Preparing local nature recovery strategies is a statutory requirement under the Environment Act 2021).

Pothole innovation trial

Oxfordshire County Council and its highways contractor Milestone Infrastructure recently used the road between Steventon and East Hanney as a test site to trial seven methods of filling in potholes or repairing minor defects requiring patching.

The trial will allow comparisons of the type of repair, equipment, material, and labour used, and the time taken to understand longevity of repairs, waste generated, carbon impact, use of recycled content and productivity that may be achievable.

The next stage will involve contractors returning for at least four more days of work with additional testing and analysis to enable a longer-term review of the methods.

Harwell Campus Development

A state-of-the art conference centre to support the thriving UK space industry, has opened at Harwell Campus.

The European Space Agency’s new facility sits alongside its European satellite and space telecommunications centre at Harwell and provides meeting facilities, a conference hall for 300 people, breakout areas, exhibition space and dedicated rooms for interpreters.

Cllr Dr Paul Barrow

Ridgeway Ward

Vale of White Horse District Council

[email protected]