Dear [Forename]

It's time for another update.

First Playing Pitch Strategy and a Leisure Facilities Strategy.
After waiting for more than 3 years for a new leisure strategy, we now have a consultation on two new strategies. These are important because they will drive the funding for new sports and leisure facilities in our area so please take part. This consultation runs until 17 April. So if you have a quiet time before (or during) the Easter break, have a read.
The consultation is broken down into 3 areas with Wantage sitting in the middle of the South and West areas so we probably have to complet the consultation twice to cover all of OX12 (don't the District Council realise that this is one area?). Each Consultation consists of two questions asking if you have any comments. I would say just read the recommendations but I won't. They aren't clear and don't make a lot of sense without the main reports.
As usual there are documents to read (playing pitch strategy - 75 pages, leisure facilities strategy - 74 pages, background papers and maps including the Leisure Facilities Assessment and Strategy Assessment Report 2023–2041 - 169 pages and a number of appendices to the pitch strategy by type of pitch - though in my first readthrough I couldn't find any mention of Charlton Cricket Pitch or of Tugwell Fields football pitch)
We also have a presentation which was given to the councillors at both Wantage Town Council and Grove Parish Council which makes a little bit more sense of the leisure strategy but only covers these two parishes. I've loaded this onto our website so that you can take a look. It's available at https://wantageandgrove.org/images/Wantage-GroveLeisureAssessmentMar2024.pdf

Now Thames Water. They are still pushing hard for the reservoir, but there are many people who believe that one of the key reasons why they are so eager is because it takes the pressure off their possible insolvency problem by giving them a very good reason to be able to borrow more £ billions and make us (the customers) pay both the interest on the debt and the higher dividends to their shareholders.

The Guardian has published three articles about Thames Water this week - none of which show the water company in a good light. See:

• Come clean on secret taxpayer rescue plans for Thames Water, MP demands
  "Sarah Olney will press in parliament this week for details of a behind-the-scenes rescue operation being drawn up...
  "Thames Water, which has debts of £14.7bn, is trying to stay solvent and avoid a takeover by seeking an additional £2.5bn bailout from its shareholders for the second half of the decade. But the company wants concessions from Ofwat to encourage shareholders to commit to the bailout. These include being allowed to pay higher dividends, while increasing bills by 40%, and limitations on fines for serious pollution of rivers."

• Thames Water accused of ‘misleading’ customers over level of debt payments
  Thames Water "has sent a breakdown of its costs in bills to customers, including spending 48p of every pound on infrastructure, 20p on the supply and treatment of water, and 3p to its lenders.
  "However, critics of the company said Thames was playing down the true cost of its £14bn debt pile after analysis by the Guardian found the firm had on average spent almost 28% of its annual revenues servicing its debts between 2018 and 2023."

• Thames Water absent from industry’s £180m anti-pollution drive
  "Thames Water has risked a fresh backlash over its commitment to tackling sewage dumping after it declined to commit funds to a £180m industry-wide initiative to fast-track efforts to reduce pollution in England’s waterways."

This morning Bloomberg follows with Thames Water Price Hikes Are Unacceptable, Consumer Group Says They point out that "Thames Water Ltd.’s investment plans are unacceptable because it’s asking customers to pay for past financial mistakes ... The Consumer Council for Water said Thames’s plan was “unacceptable” ...
"Thames Water has said that bills will rise by about 40% over the price review period from 2025 to 2030, but CCW said the increase is likely to be 57% when factoring in inflation."

So given that Professor Chris Binnie (former member of the Government’s Reservoir Engineers Panel, and former Director of W S Atkins) concluded that the ‘very limited engineering detail’ available is ‘not a sufficiently sound basis for Thames Water to proceed with the construction of the reservoir’. We still believe that the reservoir should not be given permission without a public enquiry which should be given the answers to a very long list of outstanding questions. You can also support GARD's call for a Public Inquiry. Write to the Secretary of State for DEFRA, the Rt Hon Steve Barclay at the House of Commons. defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk

Don't forget that the Local Government Boundary Commission wants to hear what residents and organisations think about the Vale of the White Horse Wards.The consultation runs until 18 March 2024. This is a consultation on District Council voting areas. Go to https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/democracy/have-your-say-on-a-new-political-map-for-vale-of-white-horse-district-council/.

You may remember that late last year the Local Government Boundary Commission was reviewing new division boundaries for the County Council. Due to the significance of the proposed changes made to the Vale of the White Horse, (and the fact that out of 18 responses, 14 disagreed with their recommendations) they are opening a new phase of consultation to see what we think of their new recommendations. They are now proposing that Charlton, Ardington and the Hendreds (including the western half of Chilton); Drayton, Sutton Courtnay and Steventon; Grove (including the Hanneys and Denchworth but excluding South Grove); Harwell, Western Valley & Blewbury (including the eastern part of Chilton); Shrivenham (including Letcombe Regis and all parishes to the west); and Wantage West (including the Challows and South Grove); will each have 1 County Councillor.
This consultation closes on 22 April. You can access it at https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/oxfordshire/feedback

Finally a reminder that if you want to share your stories and photos of Second World War with the University of Oxford project. Then you have until 5th April to do so at https://oxford.omeka.net/s/theirfinesthour-archive/page/direct-submissions

As you know, you can read previous newsletters at https://wantageandgrove.org/newsletters.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/.

Thanks for reading.

Best wishes
Julie

Julie Mabberley
Campaign Manager

Wantage and Grove Campaign Group
www.wantageandgrove.org

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