Dear [Forename],
It's almost Christmas so the first thing to do is to wish you a safe and happy day and let's hope that by this time next year life is back to "normal".
Even in our quiet corner of Oxfordshire the number of confirmed cases of Covid is rising rapidly so please take care and remember that the best thing to do is keep your distance from everyone except your own household, wear a mask when you go out and wash your hands whenever you touch anything.
While you are at home, there are a few surveys which can be completed over Christmas so when you are bored with all the usual things, consider looking at the following:
Wantage Neighbourhood Plan The Plan was first drafted in 2014/15, with the help of the Campaign Group but was rejected by a planning inspector in 2016. The updated Plan has been modified to amend or remove the policies that were deemed unacceptable by the Inspector, but disappointingly all other policies remain unchanged.
There is a copy of the draft plan and a survey to complete on the Town Council website. The deadline for responses is 15th January 2021 so don’t delay. For our initial comments see our webpage at https://www.wantageandgrove.org/wantageplan.php
As I mentioned last time, the Oxfordshire Growth Board is asking us all to comment on a Strategic Vision for Oxfordshire, that will sit above the 2050 Plan. The "engagement" closes 3rd January 2021. It's available here: https://www.oxfordshireopenthought.org/strategic-vision. You need to scroll through the blurb to find the start of the survey at the bottom.
The response from Need Not Greed Oxon (NNGO)is available on their website http://www.neednotgreedoxon.org.uk/resources/ and we'll be drafting our response shortly. NNGO make the point that the Vision explicitly omits the ‘quantum of housing or economic growth for Oxfordshire’ which is having such a detrimental impact across our landscape and many existing communities. Without this, the words risk becoming meaningless ‘motherhood and apple pie’.
Finally don't forget that you can comment on the planning application for yet another 5-600 homes in Grove near the Cemetery. For details see our Grove Airfield Expansion page. Application P20/V3113/O contains a large number of documents but assumes that all homes will still be heated by gas boilers and doesn't say anything about increasing the energy efficiency of the homes. Given that the District Council has declared a climate emergency we would have hoped for at least some movement towards zero carbon homes and this seems like a perfect opportunity!
Don't forget that you have to travel, you can access information about roadworks around here at https://one.network/ and if you don't get the Herald and would like to read our columns, we include them on our website at https://www.wantageandgrove.org/columns.php after they have been published.
That's all for now.
Stay safe and if there is anything we can do to help you then please get in touch. Have a safe and happy Christmas.
Thanks for reading,
Best wishes
Julie
Julie Mabberley
Campaign Manager
Wantage and Grove Campaign Group
www.wantageandgrove.org