October 2024 Minutes

Botley Solar Farm – Report from Group

8. Correspondence

• Email from Resident regarding the flooding – A resident has emailed with regards to the flooding on Elms Road. They were worried that their garden and house would be flooded – Clerk responded to advise that the ditch behind Elms Road is the responsibility of the homeowner.
• Email from resident regarding the patch of grass by the wall outside The Tennis – The resident advised that since the wall has been rebuilt the grass has not been cut – Clerk advised that it may be OCC responsibility and that she will advise them that it needs to be cut. Clerk to put on fix my street.  Clerk suggests that the council map out the pieces of land that are OCC responsibility and that of the Parish Council.

9. Reports from County and District & Parish Councillors –

County Councillor 

Roads

Oxford

You will, I am sure, have read that Network Rail have failed to meet the timetable they committed to as Oxford Station is rebuilt. That is, to put it mildly, extremely disappointing. Botley Road remains closed to motor vehicles at the railway bridge, and we await NR telling us the new expected opening date. In the meantime, the current bus arrangements, which work well, are continuing to be in operation.

A40

Discussions with Homes England continue relating to the A40 improvement project. Once Homes England release the money promised, the Park and Ride junctions and bus lanes can be completed. You may recall that the P&R itself is financed by a different government agency, as part of the Science Corridor project which is largely paying for the junctions at Oxford North and at Shores Green. The new government has promised a more joined-up way of funding projects, and that is to be welcomed. It is worth stressing that the P&R was built prior to the other funding being released in order to ensure that it wasn’t affected by inflation, and to ensure that no Oxfordshire Council Taxpayer money has been used on the project. That includes the current maintenance costs, which are bundled into the government funding.

The fundamental issue has been that the project used two unconnected pots of money, and neither government pot was inflation indexed. That is what was inherited by the current administration, and although the situation is frustrating, it is the best that could be done with what we were left. As well as quicker bus services there will be an improved bike lane, and significant improvements to the Eynsham roundabout and the lights at Cassington, and an additional bus stop for Cassington. The redesign of the junction will cut the waits for residents coming into and exiting the village – not least because the new intelligent lights will mean that you won’t need to wait for a full cycle of changes at off peak times, I appreciate that people in Cassington can already use Eynsham as a park and ride if they want to get the bus via Botley, and have no reason to use it for other journeys, so the new facility won’t necessarily be used directly by residents.

Flooding

The gulley under from the stream running down Elms Road was cleared recently. The recent weather shows why this is important, although no drainage system could cope with a month’s rain in one day, and it was upsetting for residents that there was flooding. I believe that WODC provided some sandbags, although this isn’t its responsibility. The Fire Service is the contact when a flood event is happening. There is much more information on the county council web pages and at Oxfordshire County Council – Flood Toolkit (www.oxfordshirefloodtoolkit.com).

Buses

Reliability measures

As Botley Road is one of the key routes into Oxford, the knock-on effect of the closure is that the bus improvement schemes which were due to commence have had to be postponed. It is vital that bus movement in Oxford is prioritised, along with active travel, and it is a shame that there will be a delay in being able to put the filter scheme in place. The filters will permit people to drive to anywhere that they currently can drive to but will create clear key routes for buses.

New capped multi-company fares

With support from the County Council, the bus companies in Oxfordshire have agreed to combined ticketing, with a maximum daily or weekly fare. The daily cap is £6.50 for adults and £3.50 for under 18s. A weekly ticket is £25.00 and £14.50. That includes local buses from more rural areas, as well as routes in the city, and between the major towns. The First and Last Bus services from Standlake to Eynsham and to Hanborough Station Find out about My Bus Oxfordshire tickets at www.mybusoxfordshire.org.uk

The government will be announcing that local authorities will be able to franchise buses services in their areas. They are unlikely to provide funding that would enable this to make a substantive difference to local services, but we will keep the situation under review.

Democracy

The Electoral Commission has completed its final report on Electoral arrangements for the County Council, which Parliament will approve in time for the May 2025 elections. This has redrawn the county divisions, to reflect population movements since the last review. There will be a new Carterton South and Bampton division, which will contain Aston, Yelford and Standlake, while Northmoor and Stanton Harcourt will be part of the new Eynsham Division, which contains Cassington. This of course follows closely after the first parliamentary election under the new boundaries and will be followed by an Electoral Commission review of the district boundaries in the next year or so.

District Councillors

Planning

You may recall that WODC is preparing a new Local Plan, to supersede the current 2031 plan. Local Plans are normally reviewed so that they do not exceed 5 years of age. The expectation was that this plan would go out for consultation in October.

Almost the first action of the new Government was to put out a new NPPF. That is the central government rules which set up a planning framework. This has, among other things, increased the number of houses that WODC will be expected to accommodate and made that a mandatory target. That means there will need to be additional work before the new Local Plan can go out to consultation.

Despite what the government has asserted, it is not a failure to pass planning applications that is blocking house building. It is the failure of developers either to bring forward applications in the areas set out for them in the Local Plan, or to build what they have permission for. The new NPPF will not change this and might even make it even more attractive for developers to behave in this way. The top-down targets will continue, rather astonishingly, to measure expected completions and not the amount of permissions that are granted.

In the meantime, the existing Local Plan remains in operation and is the basis for planning decisions. The same remains true of the South Leigh Neighbourhood Plan Alongside these, the “tilted balance” rules mean that there is more of a presumption in favour of development so that it is necessary to show that there are more harms than benefits to reject an application.

CIL

At long last, and long overdue, WODC is on the verge of introducing Community Infrastructure Levy payments, to go alongside S106. CIL is payable on smaller developments, is not restricted to the parish in which the building is happening and is less constrained as to its uses. Most authorities, including all the others in Oxfordshire, introduced it many years ago.

Salt Cross.

The Area Action Plan for Salt Cross, prepared by WODC, included provisions for Net Zero housing. The Planning Inspectorate struck out this requirement, and a subsequent Judicial Review said it was unlawful for it to do so. There will be a reinspection of this section of the AAP in the autumn, after which I hope that the outline planning application can come forward.

Unfortunately, a Written Ministerial Statement, in the final days of the last government, forbade local authorities from insisting on higher environmental standards than the ones laid out by c0entral government. The new government has failed to overturn this WMS, despite being urged to do so by our MP Calum Miller in the House of Commons. I suspect there may still be some delays relating to Salt Cross.

Executive Change at WODC

Following Charlie Maynard’s successful campaign to become the MP for Witney, Hugo Ashton has replaced him as the Executive Member responsible for Planning.

And finally

There are some good news stories too.

WODC’s recycling contract has been awarded to a new provider, at a lower cost than the one which is about to expire. This will deliver a better service than before. There will be no changes to the kerbside collection regime, with the existing blue and grey bins and glass boxes.

Football facilities in Witney look set to be greatly improved by a £1m investment, derived largely from S106 contributions, for a new all-weather facility based in West Witney. The demand for pitches has grown greatly in recent years, not least because of the rapid and welcome growth in football for women and girls.

And Air Quality in West Oxfordshire continues to improve. Both central Witney and Chipping Norton had been in breach of government standards in 2005, and now both are significantly below that level.

Parish Councillors  

10. Ditches, Drainage and Flooding

11. Maintenance/ Grants
12. Village Walls

12. Traffic

• Speed Watch

September numbers as requested:

No. of sessions:                                             4 ( due to volunteer unavailability)

Total number of vehicles                            617

No. of offending vehicles:                           128

Between 25mph & 30mph:                           84

Between 31mph & 40 mph:                          55

Over 40 mph:                                                  2

Highest offender:                                            41mph

• Speed Indicators
• Traffic Calming

13. Play Area & Recreation Ground

• Replacement Playground Equipment

14. Finance

Payments to be approved: