Dear [Forename]

I'm afraid that this is the first update of 2025 and it's June already. I can only plead ill health and hope that I stay well enough to make the updates more frequent for the rest of the year.

There have been some significant changes so far this year and more to come so I will try to keep each item reasonably brief.

The Joint Local Plan https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/vale-of-white-horse-district-council/planning-and-development/local-plan-and-planning-policies/local-plan-2041/ has been submitted for inspection to the Government Planning Inspectors on 11 December 2024 and the Inspectors are adopting a staged approach to the Examination. Part 1 considered Matters of Legal Compliance and the Overall Housing and Employment Need and Requirement only. Part 1 Hearing Sessions started at 09.30am on Tuesday 3 June 2025 and went on for 3 days. Feedback should be available soon and the inspectors will decide if the Plan goes forward to the Part 2 Hearing Sessions. These sessions are unlikely to happen until the Autumn. So the plan is unlikely to be signed off until next year.

Our GP Practices are providing a lot of information to patients via the NHS APP. Do you know how to use the NHS APP? Join this Zoom Talk on Thursday 10 July 2025 at 7pm and find out more. You can use this link  https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79016876951?pwd=cTo03n7tQVF2aHOZCk7KgpWdKRki6R.1 or us the zoom app with these details: Meeting ID: 790 1687 6951 Passcode: 895576

In parallel to the Joint Local Plan and West Berkshire finalising their Local Plan, big changes are coming to how Oxfordshire is run in 2028. The Government wants to change how local councils work across England. This is the biggest change to local councils for 50 years. This will include Oxfordshire County Council and the district councils including the Vale of the White Horse, South Oxfordshire, Oxford City, Cherwell, and West Oxfordshire, and West Berkshire. This webpage answers some of the questions: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council/local-government-reorganisation-and-devolution/your-questions-answered
There are a number of ways that the councils could be reorganised. 

1. A single county unitary council for Oxfordshire – Oxfordshire Council (providing all services to Oxfordshire residents). This is the County Council's preferred option.
2. Two unitary councils:
   • Oxford and Shires Council (previously referenced as North Oxfordshire Council) created from the existing district councils of Cherwell, Oxford City and West Oxfordshire.
   • Ridgeway Council created from the existing district councils of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse and the unitary council of West Berkshire.

   https://theconversation.southandvale.gov.uk/corporate-services/two-councils/ This is preferred by the Vale District Council (among others) https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/vale-of-white-horse-district-council/five-councils-launch-two-unitary-proposal-for-oxfordshire-and-west-berkshire-and-seek-residents-views-on-how-local-government-could-be-improved/

3. Three unitary authorities – with a unitary city on expanded boundaries as well as northern and southern unitaries, also including West Berkshire. This is preferred by Oxford City.

As part of the May Elections, the Wantage Neighbourhood Plan was voted through with 2780 people voting for and 437 against with a further 110 rejected https://www.southandvale.gov.uk/app/uploads/sites/3/2025/05/Wantage-Neighbourhood-Plan-Made-Version.pdf

At the same time the new County Councillors for the Wantage area were elected:

• Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing and Safety, Party: Liberal Democrat, Division: Wantage West
• Councillor Ron Batstone, Party: Liberal Democrat, Division: Grove
• Councillor Jane Hanna OBE, Chair of Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Party: Liberal Democrat, Division: Charlton, Ardington & Hendreds.

The County Council has commissioned a rail feasibility study into Wantage and Grove Station. SLC Rail has been asked to put together the strategic outline business case for the project. It is expected to be published by the end of September 2025.  https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wantage-and-grove-station/

Also Wantage Town Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Councillor Iain Cameron as the new Mayor of Wantage. He will be supported in his civic duties by Councillor Chris Walters, who has been appointed Deputy Mayor for the 2025–2026 municipal year. 

The spectre of Market Place Pedestrianisation has raised its head again. Oxfordshire County Council is consulting on permanent traffic restrictions in the Market Place area that could fundamentally change how customers access businesses throughout Wantage. While the initial focus is on the West End, these changes could set a precedent that affects the entire town centre. Changes to vehicle access could impact customer footfall across the town and changes to traffic flow may affect delivery access and business operations. This could be the first step in wider pedestrianisation plans with customers' shopping patterns and accessibility could be permanently altered. Don't expect them to listen to the residents though - it will be like the 20mph consultation where the minority view (of the Councillors) takes the priority.
Andy Sweeney - Team Leader Place and Planning from Oxfordshire County Council is managing the project and the consultation period is short - closing on 11:59pm Tuesday 22 July 2025 https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wantage-market-place 
There's an exhibition at the Vale & Downland Museum on Saturday 5th July 10am - 5pm and Wednesday 9th July 2025 5pm - 8pm in Wantage Methodist Church (in the Chapel area), 20 Newbury Street, papers are also available in Wantage Library.

South Oxfordshire District Council submitted plans for a New Head Office which it would share with Vale of White Horse District Council. The four-storey building would be located on the Didcot Gateway site opposite the railway station. Their previous HQ in Crowmarsh Gifford was burned down in January 2015 in an arson attack.   Since then, the councils have used offices in Milton Park, before moving to a temporary HQ at Abbey House in Abingdon in 2022. Councillors will decide whether to approve the plans at their meeting next Wednesday, July 2. https://democratic.southoxon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=123&MId=3634
It seems bad timing to be approving a new HQ building when devolution plans are under consideration and the new HQ could be in Newbury, Oxford or anywhere in South and Vale.

Wantage Leisure Centre renovations. In December I reported that the plans for the de-carbonisation of the Leisure Centre had been approved. From Monday 10 March contractors started work at the site and are expecting to complete it before the end of 2025. They will be installing triple glazing, as well as replacing and insulating the roof and adding three large air source heat pump units, and 115 solar panels to heat the building in place of end-of-life gas boilers.

Plans to invest in the Beacon in Wantage went to the VoWH Cabinet meeting on 30 May and suggest that there will be investment of £285,000 to improve customer experience at the venue. Work will include changes to the layout of the reception area, a facelift for the toilets and some changes to the exterior of the entrance making the venue more attractive for visitors.

Judicial Review into SESRO Decision!
Group Against Reservoir Development’s sister company ‘SAFERWaterS’ and CPRE have launched a claim in the High Court for a Judicial Review into the Government’s decision to approve Thames Water’s plans for the Abingdon Reservoir without a Public Inquiry. The Judicial Review hearing at the High Court took place earlier this week on 25th and 26th June. The High Court Judge has ruled that our claim is 'significant' and, as the case is complex, took the unusual step of fixing a 'Rolled Up Hearing' over two days. The issues of permission and the substance were considered together on the same two days. The outcome of the hearing will be available in July.
You can also sign a petition at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-thames-water-s-plans-for-a-devastating-mega-reservoir?

The newly formed Wantage Flood Group https://www.futurefloodresilience.co.uk/ is hosting a public meeting to explore and discuss local flooding issues – and everyone is welcome. Date: Tuesday, 22nd July 2025 Time: 7:30 PM Location: The Beacon, Wantage.
A Defra consultation was launched last week about transforming the approach to investing in resilience to flood and coastal erosion. The consultation is asking for feedback on two main proposals:

• The first is on a proposed simplified approach to funding new flood resilience projects
• The second is on a proposed approach to prioritise flood resilience projects

The consultation is open to everyone, including community groups/flood groups and members of the public. You can find the consultation on Citizen Space at Reforms to bolster flood protection for communities across the country - GOV.UK

And some bad news. The Kingsgrove Development on Crab Hill was supposed to have all the leisure facilities that residents would need (a woodland walk, sports pitches, children's play areas, a community hub, a cafe and of course a Public House). BUT despite some marketing of the site by the developers no-one wanted to build a new pub so plans for yet another retirement apartment block were submitted.
These were turned down by the District Council but the developers have appealed and the inquiry took place at the end of March. No decision has yet been announced by the Inspector.
Looking at this from a community point of view, which is worse? - A pub which could encourage people to spend time socialising together or another retirement community which will put even more pressure on our local health services. Perhaps we should be encouraging someone to submit an application for a pub/restaurant with retirement apartments above it?

A new outline application for the erection of up to 59 dwellings with associated open space, landscaping and access on Fullers/Tom's Field just to the East of Crab Hill Lane adjoining Primrose Avenue on the Kingsgrove development was submitted at the beginning of March. Over 130 comments have been received, mainly objecting to the application. https://data.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/java/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P25/V0596/O This application should go to a planning committee sometime soon.

More bad news. A few weeks ago, there was a little known consultation by the County Council about the introduction of a Raised Table traffic calming feature at the Denchworth Road/The Maples/Barley Way junction, in Grove. This is a very controversial junction which is where the David Wilson development to the west of the Letcombe Brook on Monks Farm has (what should be a temporary) access to the Denchworth Road.
33 responses were received, comprising of: 21 objections (64%), 4 partially supporting (12%), 4 in support (12%), and 4 not objecting (12%). So you would think that as we live in a democracy, the proposal would be refused but no, in common with all highways decisions, our County Council knows best and has approved the application. A Temporary Traffic Order (TTO) has been granted to lay a raised pavement at the junction giving DWH possession from 2^nd June – but no work has yet started.

Given the Government focus on more housing developement, it's probably time we started to campaign for a further extension to our Health Centre to cope with even more new residents in the future - it took more than 12 years to get the last one built so now would be a good time to start. Changes to the use of the Community Hospital are underway and more services should be available sometime in 2026 but that won't replace the need for more primary health care.

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 and sorry it is so long.

Best wishes and hopefully I'll be in again touch soon.
Julie

Julie Mabberley
Campaign Manager

Wantage and Grove Campaign Group
www.wantageandgrove.org

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