Dear [Forename]

I know - this is the third email in two weeks and you usually only hear from me once every month or so, but there have been a few new planning applications and it's our meeting this Thursday. I'll promise not to disturb you again until July.

For details of the speakers and the papers for the meeting please go to https://wantageandgrove.org/agm2023.php (I'm trying not to fill up your intray with attachments). As I mentioned last week, the meeting will take place on Thursday evening at the Methodist Church in Wantage (off Newbury Street). Doors will open at 7pm and the meeting will start at 7.30pm. It will be a combination of a physical meeting and a zoom meeting.
If you want to watch the proceedings remotely the zoom link is
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83839158203?pwd=a1VLTWx0SFAxOTdSZjRDaXNGTW1jQT09 
or Meeting ID: 838 3915 8203, Passcode: 809060.
It will be much easier to ask questions if you are in the room.

Other items

I'm not going to repeat the things I talked about last week - if you want the details again, all previous newsletters are available at https://wantageandgrove.org/newsletters.php.

New items for this week include 3 new planning applications:

1. Fullers Field (more commonly known as Tom's Field) - just off Crab Hill Lane near the Kingsgrove Development. P23/V1236/O
   The owners have submitted an outline application to build 60 homes on the field where we used to play football. Access will be from Rutherford Road (near the primary school on Kingsgrove) with two pedestrian links to Crab Hill Lane. Comments can be submitted no later than 12th July.
2. Kingsgrove Nursery and retail units - This is also off Rutherford Road and is the detailed application for a children's day nursery,  a convenience store and 3 retail units P23/V1358/RM. They will be located to the East of the primary school and will have 14 parking spaces for the nursery and 35 spaces for the shops (the most unallocated parking spaces on the whole development!). Again comments can be submitted no later than 12th July.
3. The application for the next parcel of homes on Wellington Gate (Grove Airfield) has also been submitted - this is for another 65 homes just north of where the Community Centre will be and also north of the primary school which will open next September. P23/V1331/RM. Yet again comments can be submitted no later than 12th July.

Finally, an update on the plans for the possible reservoir. We submitted comments on the water company plans earlier in the year but Water Resources SouthEast (WRSE), Thames Water, Affinity Water and Southern Water are all delaying their response to the consultations on their schemes from the end of June to the end of August. This means that we won't know where we stand until September at the earliest, but there is clearly something significant going on. If we hear anything we will let you know.
The only news is that Thames Water are planning to submit an application to build a test model dam embankment on Cow Common (halfway along the Steventon-Hanney Road) later this year. GARD welcomes the trial build but is puzzled that it is rather small, only three metres high and not very long. By carrying out the proposed trial excavation and carrying out surveys on the clay that they dig out, Thames Water say that they can understand the local clay’s qualities under compression .Given that the embankment for the real reservoir will be about 4 miles long and about 10 times higher, we're not sure how much it will tell them.

As you know, you can read columns from the Herald at https://wantageandgrove.org/columns.php and find a list of many of the sports, cultural and community organisations in OX12 at https://wantageandgrove.org/organisations.php

For roadworks see https://one.network/ (the Mably Way Roundabout traffic lights are now mentioned and are scheduled until 1 July).

Thanks for reading.

Best wishes
Julie

Julie Mabberley
Campaign Manager

Wantage and Grove Campaign Group
www.wantageandgrove.org

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