Dear [Forename]

It is time for our Annual Meeting again. It will take place on 27 September at 7.30pm in Wantage Methodist Church, Newbury Street OX12 8DA.
Our topic this year is the particular issues relating to the infrastructure and facilities available to the residents of this area.
Our Keynote speaker will be Andrew Crawford, Vale of the White Horse District Councillor and Cabinet member for Finance and Property, and Wantage Town Councillor. Councillor Crawford will be representing Olly Glover MP, the recently elected Member of Parliament for Didcot and Wantage who is unable to attend.

This main part of the meeting will be preceded by a brief AGM for the WaGCG. In order to allow as much time as possible for our major topic, verbal reports will be kept to a minimum. Reports will be available on our website at https://wantageandgrove.org/agm2024.php and some printed copies will also be available at the meeting. Questions will of course be accepted but we would ask you to keep these brief.

AGM Agenda:
  Chairman’s Welcome
  Minutes of the 2023 AGM
  Treasurer’s Report
  Campaign Manager’s Report
  Election of Committee

If you would be interested in joining the committee it would be helpful if you could let us know in advance by emailing chair@wantageandgrove.org.

As last year, the meeting will be a combination of a physical meeting and a zoom meeting, although it will be much harder to join in the discussion via zoom. If you want to watch the proceedings remotely the zoom link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88181060669?pwd=vZjSlrwZyDHUajzvgybC72EAVqtlbj.1 or Meeting ID: 881 8106 0669 Passcode: 633817.
If there are any votes in our (very short) AGM you won't be able to vote if you are a remote attendee (via Zoom).

Now normal updates:

First, the Beacon car park still has very limited parking, due to refurbishment work. Hopefully Councillor Crawford will be able to update us about this work at our meeting.

Thames Water: 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. Yet our new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Rt Hon Steve Reed MP has approved the Water Resources Management Plans for Thames Water with the reservoir at the centre of the plan. Thames Water can now apply for the Development Consent Order for the reservoir.
GARD (Group Against Reservoir Development) will oppose them all the way and is now considering whether to challenge Thames Water with a Judicial Review. In the meantime you can support them by:

• Writing to the press, national and local, giving your views about the reservoir and Thames Water
• Write to your member of parliament, olly.glover.mp@parliament.uk. This is essential to show the strength of feeling and encouragement for continued action.
• Write to your Councillors, I'm sure you know who they are by now
• Share the GARD petition with friends, family, colleagues. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-thames-water-s-plans-for-a-devastating-mega-reservoir

In the last newletter I said that we would cover the implications of the proposed major changes to the planning laws for our area in a future newsletter. Unfortunately I haven't been able to study them in detail but the consultation closes at 11.45pm on Tuesday 24 September 2024.
We do know that the changes will increase the annual housing requirement in the new Local Plan for the Vale from 633 dwellings per year to 937. What this will mean for Wantage and Grove remains to be seen. The proposed Local Plan is due to be published soon along with the relevant supporting documents and the evidence the plan is based on.We will then have a 6-week opportunity to comment on whether we think the plan meets all the relevant technical requirements and see what it will mean for OX12.

Both GP Practice Patient Groups are holding their annual meetings shortly:

• 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 Church Street PPG will be holding their meeting. If you want to join via Zoom, please email churchstreetppg@gmail.com for the link.
• To find out What's new at Newbury Street? go to the Mably Way Health Centre at 7.30pm on 7 November when Newbury Street PPG will be holding their meeting. If you want to join via Zoom the link is HERE or the Zoom Meeting ID is 846 8983 7704 and the Passcode: 658484

Finally, I’ve had several emails asking what was going on at Williams with the removal of all those beautiful trees by the A338, so I asked Grove Parish Council if they knew anything. They told me that the trees were diseased. It seems a shame.

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