Dear [Forename]

Several consultations for you this month, a talk about accessing Newbury Street Practice, a little planning (no) news and major Roadworks.

The first is one I'm very incensed about:
The District Council is currently working on a regeneration review for central Abingdon, called the Central Abingdon Regeneration Framework (CARF). The project will include a review of the town centre to identify realistic options for improving buildings, spaces and movement to help make central Abingdon a thriving place in the future.
They are hosting a four-week online consultation event between Friday 17 June to 11.59pm on Friday 15 July 2022. You can see the current proposals on their consultation webpage. You can also see the papers and complete a survey
- So why Abingdon and not Wantage? We get all the new homes (we have 7,500 and they have about 1,000) and Abingdon gets loads of money spent on its leisure centre and outdoor pool already!

Please don't forget the Vale and South Oxfordshire District Councils consultation on the new Joint Local Plan which will guide the kinds of new housing and jobs needed and where they should go, informing planning application decisions for the districts. This consultation is on the main issues facing our districts and how we could use the Joint Local Plan to address them. See Joint Local Plan for details. We only have until until 11.59pm on Thursday 23 June 2022 to respond.

The consultation on making the pedestrianisation of the West end of Wantage Market Place (outside the King Alfreds Head and Marmalade) permanent is still open until 1st July but don't forget. Some of our subscribers have been quite upset that they are taking away the disabled spaces at this end of the town. See https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wantage_marketplace_experiment22? for the consultation. I did ask the Town Clerk about the disabled spaces and the response was "The purpose of the consultation is to draw out issues such as this. I will work with others to look at alternatives."

The Town Council has finally finished updating to the draft Wantage Neighbourhood Plan. The original Plan was rejected by an inspector in 2016 relating to the proposed town centre and greenspaces policies. The updated Plan has been modified to amend or remove the policies that were deemed unacceptable. All other policies remain unchanged from the document published in 2016. No new policies have been added. More information can be accessed on the Town Council’s website https://wantagetowncouncil.gov.uk/wantage-neighbourhood-plan/ You should also complete the survey attached to it that can be accessed by visiting  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JZVVYMX. The deadline for responding to the survey is Thursday 14 July 2022.

OK that's enough surveys for one email - the Newbury Street Practice Patient Group is hosting a zoom talk tomorrow evening (Tuesday 21 June) at 8pm to explain how best to contact the practice. They had a new telephone system installed last year which should make it easier to get through on the phone and now have a new on-line system as well so listen in to find out how everything works..
Link to join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82848315167?pwd=NXpualNNOWNqZENqK3l6N2NRRmMwQT09
Meeting ID: 828 4831 5167  Passcode: 848581

Planning News:
This is mainly no news.

• No decision has yet been made about the steps in the Snicket between the Bovis development on King Alfred's East Site and Charlton Road see P21/V3349/FUL.
• No decision has yet been made about Lidl at Grove Road P22/V0286/FUL .
• The 'temporary' football pitches on Grove Airfield which should have been completed before 50 homes were occupied P20/V1014/RM still haven't been handed over.

Applications have been submitted but not decided for:

• Grove Airfield Parcel P4 - 197 more residential units with associated landscaping and infrastructure works.P22/V0086/RM
• Monks Farm - 83 dwellings (Phase 1B) P21/V3516/RM
• Land at Ashfields Lane and A338 East Hanney - latest update was for 45 homes P21/V0376/FUL

Outline applications for new developments submitted but not decided include:

• P20/V3113/O Land North/West of Grove Airfield - Residential development of up to 700 homes,
• P22/V0550/O Tulwick Park (opposite Williams F1) - Development for up to 300 dwellings

Finally roadworks:

• The roundabout construction on the A417 at Crab Hill has started and there will be traffic lights until 26 August. They are currently causing delays so allow more time. The road to West Lockinge from the A417 near the roundabout will be closed from 1 July to 10 August.
• The roundabout construction at the Airplane roundabout will start on 4 July and last until 3rd September so that way could be problematic as well. They will also be closing Denchworth Road from the roundabout to Cane Lane from 30 August to 3 September.
• Parts of Ickleton Road between the Beacon and Challow Cricket Club will be closed on 1-2 July and 11-15 July.
• Mill Street could be closed all day on 26 June.
• There are also loads of closure notices for the A34 - some are just lane closures but others appear to be complete road closures.
• Broadway in Didcot is also subject to closures, so don't forget that you can check for any road works which may delay your journey at https://one.network/

Thanks for reading.

Best wishes
Julie

Julie Mabberley
Campaign Manager

Wantage and Grove Campaign Group
www.wantageandgrove.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wantageandgrovecampaigngroup