Draft March 2025 Minutes

Botley Solar Farm – Cumnor Parish Council have discussed how the Community Benefit would be split between affected parishes. They have proposed as far as the long-term impact is concerned (i.e., leaving aside traffic disturbance during the construction period), only parishes that have panels within their boundaries should qualify, and their shares should be based on the number of households within their respective boundaries, without taking any other factors into account. – Cassington Parish Council do not agree with this.

8. Correspondence

• Email from resident re dog bite – The issue is with the police.

9. Reports from County and District & Parish Councillors –

County Councillor

Another busy month!

Budget

The County Council budget was passed on 11 February. Among other key things in the budget:

• £60m to roads maintenance
• £4m to flood measures (including a restoration of annual gulley cleaning, which was made once every 4 years in the last budget of the previous administration)
• Increases spending on Children’s Services and Adult Social Care, including measures for early interventions and help preparing children coming up to starting school
• Puts more money into libraries and family hubs
• Provides additional money into rural active travel facilities.

Roads

A40

The work on Shores Green junction in Witney has commenced. There will be some delays getting into Witney and occasional closures of the A40 overnight. When finished it will make the Eastern Witney junction four way and relieve pressure on the center of Witney.

I suspect it will also reduce traffic In Cassington, on Lower Road and in Barnard Gate, and on the Eynsham section of the A40 as it will become better for HGVs and other traffic from north of Kidlington to join the dual carriageway A40 at Shores Green rather than at Eynsham or Cassington.

Potholes

There has been a large investment in road maintenance, with £46m being put into road surface treatment, and £14m into other key maintenance after decades of under- funding, the legacy of the previous county council administration of “managed decline”, which was explicitly set out in a 2014 cabinet paper in response to government funding cuts

https://mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk/documents/s27013/CA_SEP1614R18%20-%20Highway%20Asset%20Management%20Plan.pdf

As the weather improves, you will see increased activity filling holes and resurfacing roads. I would expect the busier roads to be worked on first.

We do still need increased funding from central government to get on top of the issue. Central funding of £42m per annum is needed to keep a “steady state” and we don’t expect central government to deliver that.

Local government reorganization latest.

As expected, the complexities of Oxfordshire mean that the government didn’t put us in the first wave of changes for either unitarization or devolution.

Unitarization

Unitarization will happen if the government sticks to its policy. There will be one or more unitary authorities in place of the current two-tier system of districts and county. We are required to put in an outline proposal by 31 March, with a full proposal by 30 November this year.

The wisest option is for a whole Oxfordshire unitary authority, which would exceed the government’s stated requirement for new unitary authorities to have at least 500.000 residents. It would avoid splitting up key services like social services. And it would be financially stable.

Oxford City Council appear wedded to an inner and outer “doughnut”, with the inner authority comprising Oxford and part of each of the other districts, which would almost certainly include Eynsham, Cassington and Kidlington, and possibly Witney and Abingdon.

“Devolution”

The current top tier authorities, including Oxfordshire, are in discussions about the other part of the reform, which is to set up a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA). The MCA will have power over things like public transport and inward investment. It is likely that we will end up with a Thames Valley MCA, with the first mayoral election in May 27.

Elections

The good news is that the government did not cancel County Council elections, so they will be going ahead on 1 May. These will be under the new boundaries agreed by the Electoral Commission. I will be standing again for the Eynsham Division which includes Cassington.

Botley West

Applications to make further comments on the Botley West planning proposal to be considered by the Sec of State (Ed Miliband at the time of writing) had to be registered by 27 Feb. I have registered as the local county Councillor and as a district Councillor.

My opposition to BW.

I will be objecting to the proposal submitted by the developer on lots of grounds, including its effect on local residents and the environment, impact on flooding and agriculture, and the frankly derisory level of funding the developer proposes passing to parish councils and local groups.

WODC opposition and role in the process

Both WODC and the County Council also registered, listing a long set of objections. WODC will be required to produce a Local Impact Plan, and unless PVDP greatly change their plans, this won’t pull any punches. It is crucial that WODC’s evidence be treated seriously by the planning inspectorate, and officers have been diligent in gathering evidence and presenting it dispassionately and apolitically.

You can see the WODC position on the WODC website at https://meetings.westoxon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=1141&MId=2546

Tory failure to oppose BW

The Tory members of the committee voted against WODC putting forward this clear position of opposition to the planning inspectorate. It is a shame that they are playing politics with something so important to residents and aren’t prepared to deliver an effective and united message.

Other things

Among lots of other activity so far this year, I have had the pleasure of accompanying our MP to meet the senior management team of the Eynsham Partnership Academy Trust, including the headteacher Mr Thomas, at Bartholomew School. EPA runs most of the schools in the area, including St Peter’s Primary in Cassington. Topics included SEND provision, school transport and plans to manage the growing population of the area. We are fortunate to have such well-run schools in Eynsham and Cassington.

I attended a crowded Stop Botley West meeting in Cassington and communicated with our Oxfordshire MPs about the topic. Calum Miller wrote an open letter opposing Botley West.

And I met with our new local police colleague, Hannah Leggott, who is working alongside Helen Keen. They are both keen (sorry) to be seen around the village.

As ever, it would be good to hear from residents, and I am available via dan.levy@oxfordshire.gov.uk

District Councillors

Parish Councillors – Cllr Mills had two meetings with the Bike Night Committee. He has advised that they should be sending out the pack next week.

10. Ditches, Drainage and Flooding

11. Maintenance/ Grants
12. Village Walls

12. Traffic

• Speed Watch

January  2025

No. of sessions:                                                  1

Total number of vehicles                                 107

No. of offending vehicles:                               27

Between 25mph & 30mph:                                14

Between 31mph & 40 mph:                             111

Over 40 mph:                                                       2

Highest offender:                                               52mph

 February  2025

No. of sessions:                                                     4

Total number of vehicles                                    775

No. of offending vehicles:                                   118

Between 25mph & 30mph:                                   89

Between 31mph & 40 mph:                                  27

Over 40 mph:                                                          2

Highest offender:                                                   42mph

• Speed Indicators
• Traffic Calming

13. Play Area & Recreation Ground

• Replacement Playground Equipment- Email from Tesco to say our application was successful and that it will be in the Tesco express on the A40 from the first week in April till the end of June.

14. Finance

Payments to be approved: