Dear [Forename]

It's May already, doesn't time fly.

First Annual Parish Meetings. The Local Government Act 1972 requires that all parishes hold a parish meeting annually on some day between 1st March and 1st June, in every year. This should be an opportunity for residents of the parish to find out what the Council has been doing on their behalf and how they spend the council tax.
Grove held their meeting last week and the Chair gave a report of the work of the Parish Council in the previous 12 months. It was not very well attended.
The Hanneys had a joint meeting last week. 
Wantage was to hold its meeting on 8 April but cancelled it (no reason given) and will now hold it next week on Thursday 9 May at 7.30pm in the Silver Band Hall on Tugwell Field (near the Lord Nelson). I know it's not very convenient for those living in the west of town but it is more convenient for the residents of Kingsgrove.
Letcombe Regis will hold their meeting on 20 May at 7pm in the Village Hall.
East Challow Annual Parish Meeting will be on 22 May at 8pm in East Challow Village Hall.
Childrey Annual meeting will be on 13 May at 7.30pm in Childrey Village Hall.
Sparsholt will hold their meeting on 14 May at 7.30pm in the Griffin Memorial Hall.
These are the only ones I've managed to find dates for but it you live in one of our other villages, you should be able to find the date from your parish clerk.

Please sign the petition https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/stopTWreservoir to ask The Secretary of State for the Environment to stop Thames Water’s costly mega-reservoir plans and fix the leaks. Please follow the link and sign the petition and get all of your family and friends to do the same. There are only about 1500 signatures at the moment and we'd like to double that.
Thames Water's temporary clay compaction trials near Steventon have been approved. They will be on such a small scale (circa 3 metres high) as to prove meaningless when compared with the huge banks which will be required for the reservoir so I think they are just wasting more of our money.

Thos who still read the Herald will have seen Jenny Hannaby and Jane Hanna telling us that plans for the upgrade to the Community Hospital will be unveiled next month. The plans will take away all the wards and replace them with consulting rooms to enable more clinics to be moved from the Oxford Hospitals. We wait to see the details. Hopefully the work will be completed by the beginning of next year.

The summer version of the Joint (Church Street and Newbury Street) Patients Newsletter is now available, you can see it on the practice websites https://www.newburystreetpractice.co.uk/ppg-newsletters or pick up a copy in many of the local shops or libraries.

If you want to know more about Chronic Kidney Disease then Newbury Street Patient Group are hosting a Zoom talk entitled What is it? How do I know I’ve got it? What can I do about it? in which Dr Ladd will be talking about Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes. The talk will be held on on 23 May at 7.30pm, https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86953654212?pwd=6rpkjGMscnEySktzhUVWy5R9J1NMZQ.1 Meeting ID: 869 5365 4212 Passcode: 486400

Plans have been submitted for the next phases of housing development on Crab Hill, Grove Airfield and Monks Farm. It appears that the County Council Highway's team are objecting to any more than two parking spaces per home regardless of the number of bedrooms, so expect more onstreet parking in future and more people compaining about parking tickets.

The Solar Farm planned for north of East Hanney has been approved but all local parish councils are objecting to the similar (but larger) application near Denchworth. Apparently, unless there is battery storage on a solar farm site or close to the solar farm they are effectively obsolete in a few years’ time.  Solar farms only produce solar power in daylight.  As we move to an all-electric future, people will need power for their heat pumps or to charge cars in the evening and night-time when these farms are not generating, so without local storage they will become superfluous to the National Grid.

The Wantage and Grove Traffic Advisory Meeting reported that the new Puffin crossing at Fitzwaryn school is to be installed this summer. So some good news.

The Vale has announced that Wantage Leisure Centre will have new roof insulation with solar panels added, new windows that will keep the heat in more effectively, installation of Air Source Heat Pumps, and the building will have exterior wall insulation fitted. There is no mention of any modernisation of the swimming pool, addition of a learner pool or rennovation of the gym but I guess it's better than nothing.

It's the time of year for open gardens so please look around the village newsletters to see when they are - we've found Wantage Market Garden open day on 19 May, Letcombe Basset - 2 June, Sparsholt - 27 May, Childrey - 9 June, East Hendred - 9 June. I'm sure there are more. There is also a Hanney Gardening Club plant sale on 5 May in East Hanney Village Hall at 2pm and a Grove Garden Club plant sale in Grove Village Hall on 11 May 10am.

The Wantage Carnival takes place on 9 June from 11am and Grove Extravaganza on 15th June from noon to midnight. Grove Parish Council are sponsoring an Art Competition at the Extravaganza to commemorate D-day (6 June 1944) with prizes totalling £500. There are 5 age categories from under 5's to Key Stage 4 and more details can be obtained from the Parish Council. Entires have to be submitted by noon on 31 May so when it's a wet bank holiday, you can get creative!

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

Thanks for reading.

Best wishes
Julie

Julie Mabberley
Campaign Manager

Wantage and Grove Campaign Group
www.wantageandgrove.org

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