Dear [Forename]

This is just a short update to tell you of a few things which are happening over the next few weeks.

First, the Beacon car park will have very limited parking from Monday 22 July for up to eight weeks, due to refurbishment work. According to the District Council
"The work will include improvements to reduce surface water flooding, remove potholes and improve bay markings and lighting.  A rain garden is being installed at the car park to help manage rainwater and prevent overwhelming the drains during times of heavy rain. The work will also lead to an increase in green spaces, including along the footpath, that will result in increased biodiversity."
We have been unable to find anyone who would tell us how many more parking spaces will be lost as a result of this work (after 18 spaces were lost and replaced by 12 EV parking bays) or share any plans.

Next, there is a further consultation by the Local Boundary Commission about proposals for new council wards in Vale of White Horse. They have reviewed the feedback received to their earlier proposals and revised them. To see the detail go to https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/vale-white-horse
In summary, their proposals include:
- reducing the number of Abingdon Councillors from 10 (in two wards) to 9 (in three wards);
- combining Faringdon and Stanford into a 3 Councillor ward;
- including Woolstone and Uffington in Watchfield & Shrivenham ward;
- adding Baulking to Ridgeway ward;
- combining Blewbury and Chilton in 1 ward;
- making the whole of Harwell and Western Valley into a 2 Councillor ward;
- removing Denchworth and West Hanney from the Steventon and East Hanney ward and adding them to Grove to make a 3 Councillor ward; and
- making Wantage Charlton and Wantage Segsbury into two separate 2 councillor wards.

Please don't forget the Thames Water public consultation on the proposed reservoir. We have until 28 August to give our views at: https://thames-wrmp.co.uk/projects/sesro/
The survey includes questions about: where their proposed railway sidings should go (why should they get a railway siding if we can't have a station?); a new access road for construction traffic near to the Abingdon A34 roundabout (impact on traffic on the A34?); the route of the replacement road from Hanney to Steventon (proposed south of the reservoir where they expect the watertable to be raised by about a metre??); where treatment works (treating the water as it leaves the resevoir) should be; where the emergency discharge should be (they prefer a cheaper tunnel option but the Wilts and Berks Canal Group want Option B, which is an open channel which will dual as a canal and provide a green and pleasant walk and cycleway along a picturesque waterway down to the River Thames and connect with Peep o Day lane into Abingdon).
The final questions are about the Design Principles (mainly about communication not about designing a reservoir), Interim Master Plan and other comments. This is really where the meat should be and GARD are likely to be providing guidance soon so please keep an eye on their website https://www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk for updates. Even the Environment Agency (EA) recommends that “Thames Water is not allowed to publish its plan. ... We also advise that due to the public interest shown in the consultation that Defra considers whether further public scrutiny is required before the plan is published.”
The EA also point out that Thames Water are not even trying to reach the government’s 50% leakage reduction target by 2050 in Oxfordshire. They also state that Thames Water’s modelling of the proposed Reservoir’s robustness against long droughts is suspect.
The need for a public enquiry into the need for and design of a reservoir is very evident so if you haven't signed the petition yet, please do. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-thames-water-s-plans-for-a-devastating-mega-reservoir

In the Kings Speech, the new Government has proposed major changes to the planning laws but as details are not yet available we will cover the implications of this for our area in a future newsletter.

Finally, the latest version of the Patients Newsletter should be available shortly. Physical copies should be available from all the usual places and electronic copies from the surgery websites. It explains about the new Mental Health & Wellbeing Support Hub (NHS Keystone Hub) on Limborough Road and about the new way of getting appointments at the surgeries.
To find out How to get the most out of your Health Centre, go to the Mably Way Health Centre at 7pm on 12 September when the surgeries will be explaining more.

For details of all roadworks around the country - see https://one.network/.
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