Compulsory Purchase Orders – West Way

At the public session of the Vale Scrutiny Committee meeting of 21 Nov 2013, we were told:

The vicarage and Field House are not proposed as part of the development by the council, they were put forward by Doric, the developer. They are not subject to compulsory purchase and it will be up to each land owner if they wish to sell.

On 2 May 2014, I had a meeting with the Vale CEO David Buckle about the West Way land sale and how it was progressing. We spoke of this Scrutiny minute, which I had previously brought to his attention. He told me that he conferred with other officers and they determined the Scrutiny minutes were wrong. I remonstrated for a bit and he essentially shrugged and apologised and reiterated that the minutes were wrong. I said clearly the minutes were unchallenged so everyone remembered this was said. He said that it wasn’t known who said that, but whoever did say it was mistaken.

This contradiction between the Scrutiny and reality was what prompted the formal CPO statement to be drafted and publicly published. (You can see what they Vale says about it on Dropbox, here.) Several of you have seen it on the Vale website and written to me about it.

I learned a few things.

  • The Vale officers believe it’s all about money and that if enough money is offered all landowners will sell. Apparently if it goes to CPO, the price offered is “fair value” and not as much as if one were to sell earlier.
  • Here was the message from the top man: this is a Cabinet decision, made by those elected and appointed to Cabinet. He, and his staff, are employed to carry out Cabinet decisions. It is a political issue. The way to correct this is at the polls in May next year.

What burns me up is that these people in Cabinet making decisions that affect us in Botley, weren’t voted into office by us. None of them live here. None of them have a stake of any kind in this community.

Let me repeat: this is a political issue. It’s not me that’s making it a political issue. The decision was taken by the political party with a majority, without consideration at all for those of us who live here. Since more Tories were elected in the Vale than Lib Dems, Tories decide what happens. They’ve sold off Tilsley Park in Sunningwell. They’ve rented out the Vale offices in Abbey House to tenants, forcing Vale officers to now be located in Crowmarsh. They’re about to sell off Old Abbey House in Abingdon. All of these things were done without consultation or community assent. But the first thing they did when they took power was to decide to go along with Doric and their plans to flatten all of the Botley shops and more.

We really need the planning officers to refuse this or demand radical changes.

I am maximally frustrated.

 

Waitrose planning app recommended for approval

Matthew Parry, the Oxford City Planning Officer, has published his recommendation report. He recommends the planning committee, when it meets on 7th of May, grant permission for this development.

You can read his reasoning on the planning website, here.

He does caution everyone that it isn’t guaranteed to be a Waitrose. Still, that’s who consulted the community. Not clear to me.

Doric & West Way – what’s next?

I’ve had a very informative meeting with Stuart Walker and Adrian Duffield, planning officers at the Vale. We talked about West Way, what’s happening now and what happens next.

As you probably know, the statutory consultation ended on 27 March. But the Vale will still accept comments up until probably the middle to end of May. Why so vague? Because none of the upcoming deadlines are cast in stone. Here’s the detail of what will happen:

  • Doric submit their Environmental Statement. They have indicated they are aiming for mid-May. This is not cast in stone.
  • Vale Officers will check it and notify the public of the consultation period.
  • A three week public consultation period begins, where everyone can comment.
  • Concurrently, the Vale will consult with their experts.
  • At the end of this time, Doric may submit any amendments that come about as a result of any feedback.
  • If Doric submit amendments, there will be another period of consultation.
  • At the end of all consultations, Stuart Walker will consider everything that’s been assembled from all consultees and will publish his report with his recommendation. This is the point at which we can see what he recommends.
  • A week after that, the Planning Committee will determine the application. This is expected to be the end of August, but that is only an estimate. We have requested that this planning committee meeting be held in Botley to allow people to attend easily. This may be problematic for two reasons: first, there is only one week notice of what will be included on a planning committee agenda, and second, there isn’t an abundance of selection for a venue that could hold all the people. But they have acknowledged our request.

Doric’s Environmental Statement must include several things, all of which are listed in the orignal decision published by Mr David Rotheray of the Vale’s planning department. I’ve put it on Dropbox, so you can see it by clicking here.

 

Ash Close, the name game

The new close that’s off Lime Road near Yarnells Hill, where Arrundale used to be and Woodbank Homes now are, is nAsh Close 22 Apr 14amed Ash Close. This is in the Vale of White Horse District Council area.

I snapped a shot of the road sign the day it went up 22 Apr 14.  We’ve  complained to the Vale that we aren’t in South Oxfordshire District. Or, does the recent co-location of staff have a more serious message — that we are now part of SODC? Surely not.

Ever since the current administration decided to relocate the (already shared) Vale staff to the SODC offices in Crowmarsh, we’ve been reassured repeatedly that this co-location was a cost saving measure and in no way indicated a merging of the two councils.

On 29 Apr I noticed a change and snapped another shotAsh Close 29 April 14:

I’m 70% amused and 30% irritated. I heard that in a Vale by-election in April, ballot papers were printed with SODC instead of Vale of White Horse.

This isn’t good enough.

 

Vale objects to Botley Rd Waitrose

The Vale filed its objection to the proposed Waitrose in West Oxford on Botley Road at the site where MFI used to be.

You can read it on Dropbox here: Vale Objection to Waitrose

Doric did their own objecting, and you can read it on the Oxford City planning site here: Doric Objection to Waitrose

For info, the reference number for the planning applicaiton is 14/00067/FUL. It was registered in January 2014 and is currently under consideration (consultation is closed).

 

 

North Hinksey Neighbourhood Plan, I’m IN!

North Hinksey PC has asked us if we are for or against a neighbourhood plan for our area. I sent in my consultation response this morning. Here’s what I said.

Dear Alan,

Both my husband and I are in favour of a Neighbourhood Plan for our area. I am willing to help.The PC’s letter claims there is no more undeveloped land in North Hinksey. In my opinion, that’s not quite true and is only part of the picture anyway. There is the very large plot up beside the A420 behind Elms Road and Hazel Road for potential housing development. Additionally, there are plans mooted to remove lands from the protected Green Belt status, which could escalate in coming years. Also, there will likely be many more applications to demolish one or two family homes to build blocks of flats. Also, there was the hotly debated Oxford Brooke’s University’s master plan to redevelop their campus, which I expect to hear more about in future. And of course, we have no locally produced plans to help West Way development to meet local needs; if the current application is refused, there may be an opportunity for us to be more proactive in defining what this community needs from the West Way shopping area.

Another benefit, and maybe the largest one for us, isn’t mentioned at all in your letter. If we have a NP in place, the parish will get a guaranteed and larger share of the CIL money that comes with every new development. This money is for the parish to use in any way it sees fit to enhance the quality of life in the parish. I don’t understand why the PC decided not to let people know about this aspect.

Creating a Neighbourhood Plan is a proactive step we can take that can help us control development in the parish.

My understanding is that the first step is for the PC to apply for a Neighbourhood Area designation. Nothing has to be in place prior to this. Once we have that status, then there is advice and help available for the next steps. This isn’t a commitment to anything except exploring the usefulness of a NP for North Hinksey.Your letter and the choices for feedback (all in or not interested at all) makes it sound like there are only two choices. IN or OUT of Neighbourhood Planning.

In reality, there’s a third choice: Take the first step of designating this a NP area, because there’s a lot of public interest, and then we can find ways to explore how this could benefit the community and take the next steps if appropriate. I would have voted to do that.

And finally, we have an area here that we call ‘Botley’, which is larger than just North Hinksey. Botley has shown a keen interest in planning issues in our area. Please consider whether it might be appropriate to collaborate with Cumnor Parish in this effort.

Regards,

Debby

Deadline for reply is 15 April. You can email the parish clerk: nhpcclerk@msn.com