Lime Road Update – 10 Jan 14

What a busy, noisy, messy week we’ve had up here! I look forward to Rectory Homes finally being finished. That will ease some of the strain.

Is it called Harcourt Place now? If I say, ‘Harcourt Place’ , will you know what I’m talking about?

Here’s the update for this week. I’ll be having a regular Friday talk with Bovis.

  1. The tarmacking didn’t get finished before Christmas, so some of it was done on 4th Jan (two days before they were supposed to be back!) I registered our discontent. In my opinion, one of the main things is to do what you say you will.
  2. From today, they’ve promised us no more parking on the bridle path. I saw two bricklayers lorries parked there this morning, and some lady walking her dog had to step off into the rough to get round them.
  3. Today, I’m told that from next Friday the 17th, builders will all be able to park on site. I’d expect that to ease the situation on Laburnum Road and Lime Road. With residents, OBU-HH students and builders all trying to park on Lime Road, when a laden lorry comes down there is just no way to get by!
  4. This morning, I heard the Beep Beep of a reversing lorry at 7:15. I complained about jumping the gun (work is supposed to begin at 8am). To my mind, 10 minutes might be acceptable. 45 minutes is not. Some people aren’t even up yet at that early hour. I expect this might become more of a problem as sunrise comes earlier. They’ve apologised to us — this morning a lorry showed up at 7:15. (Boo.)
  5. Remember we’ve been warned this period will be exceptionally noisy and messy, because they are hauling out rubble. That’s why the road cleaning vehicles have been so prevalent. They are noisy and splashy and not that much help.  Usually they would come once a week. While the hauling is happening, since lorries drop mucky bits on the road, they’re here all day. That will ease after next week.
  6. They apologise for damage to the verges. They will be repaired on Monday 13 Jan 14, and in future as necessary.
  7. Boundaries at the southern edge (near Yarnells Hill and the Denes) will be attended to. Meetings with residents have been held.
  8. Plans for the path that’s to join with Oxford Brooks University’s paths will be planned and consulted on with the university. There were plans originally, but they didn’t join up. Bovis says that will be taken care of.

I guess it’s helpful to have regular communication with them. Feel free to contact them yourself. Gareth.Neale@bovishomes.co.uk is the Construction Director. Alan.Cook@bovishomes.co.uk is the Technical Director. I find both men to be very approachable and nice. Stuart is the site manager, no email, but phone him on 07584 475435 and he’ll try to help. But do remember he is under the kosh to get homes built. Or contact me and I’ll do my best to help.

Doric update – 10 Jan 2014

I know I’m supposed to put a photo with every blog post, and keep them short. But I don’t have many photos, and I do have a lot of information! I hope you’ll read this post anyway.

Doric seem to have begun a charm offensive. I was invited to two meetings with Doric and their reps this week. The first, Weds 8 Jan 14, was about communications and community relations. Partially in response to the letter written by Cllr Matthew Barber encouraging Doric to meet with community representatives, and probably partially a planned part of their after-filing PR machine, we will see approaches to West Way Community Concern, local traders, local councillors and the media to increase and improve communications.

This morning, Fri 10 Jan 14, their planning consultant met with some councillors and Vale officers from the property team at the Vale offices. We had a chance to see some of the detailed plans for the first time. Not all, though. There are a lot, and we had two hours with them this morning.

The plans are expected to be available for public viewing early next week. (It’s taking a bit longer than expected for the planning team to check everything.) Consultation will begin after that.

Here’s some of what I learned. As on X Factor, these are in no particular order.

  1. Parking isn’t underground. It’s at street level with buildings above it. It won’t be visible from West Way. It backs up to houses on east end of Arthray Rd.
  2. Height has been reduced from the original plans by as much a four storeys. One remaining 7 storey building is in the corner nearest Westminster Way and is the student accommodation and hotel. The other is somewhere near the centre of the development, but I didn’t catch the details.
  3. There is a 100 room hotel, envisioned to be something like a Premier Inn. It’s in the same area as the student accommodation, facing Westminster Way.
  4. The ‘medical centre’ could be GPs, or a satellite office of a Beaumont St practice, or dentist, or combination of them.
  5. There are small, medium and larger shops.
  6. There are flats for elderly in the west end near the church and community hall (in cooperation with Sovereign, discussions in progress.)
  7. There are offices. They might be something ala Regis, with shared administration or meeting rooms for public hire.
  8. Food store is 48k net square feet. 76k gross.
  9. Parking to increase from 380 to 560 spaces. (The 380 includes spaces at Grant Thornton.)
  10.  There is a gym overlooking West Way. Above the shops.
  11. They moved shops back off the road (West Way) and staggered the line so it looks less like a prison and more like different buildings. It’s an improvement, IMO.
  12. Main access is up at the western-most end. Community buildings and care home facilities and Baptist Church are there.
  13. Pedestrian access via Church Lane (is that the right road name?) off Arthray Rd. Next to no 32.
  14. Construction would be phased to minimise loss of local services.
  15. They expect a planning decision late summer-ish.
  16. Construction would take about 16 months.

From some answers that were not given very clearly, I surmise:

  • They haven’t entered into firm partnerships agreements for food store, student housing manager, hotel, occupiers of shops, gym, restaurants. The only firm name given is CineWorld.
  • They haven’t been overly successful at discussions with current traders. They say, “We’ve offered, but not much take up.”  Some local traders report they haven’t been approached.

All in all, Doric have made significant changes as a result of community lobbying. (Well done WWCC, all letter-writers and petition supporters!) They still, however, plan to move the vicarage further away from the church, replace Field House flats, and demolish Elms Parade. And their poor image in the community has left them with a big mountain to climb to get to any sort of good will.

There will be several hard copies of the plans, one set is earmarked for the WWCC shop. Another will go to each parish council; I don’t know where those will be displayed. I expect these will be distributed next week.

We requested two things today:

      1. An Executive Summary document, one that would be a good summary and starting place for people who want to understand what’s proposed without going through the detailed docs.
      2. A 3D model. The photos you will see with the application are from a fly-through software package, but are still 2D and it’s difficult to know where you’re ‘standing’ to get the view before you. (I don’t fully understand where a 3D model would be displayed — another question to ask.)

Those were the highlights. Today’s briefing was two hours.

 

Upsetting notices

Some people reported seeing a poster outside Field House announcing plans to redevelop the area that could lead to demolition of Field House. Similar messages came by letter to some Elms Parade traders. These messages were confusing and upsetting.

The notices contained misleading information; the deadlines given were wrong.

I asked the Vale officers about them. The notices didn’t come from the Vale. They said perhaps it was a legal notice required by the applicant, Doric. I spoke to Doric’s planning consultant, and indeed, that was the case.

Notices are required to be sent to all freehold parties and those with leases longer than 7 years. That’s why some traders had a letter and some didn’t.

At the time they were sent or posted, the deadlines were correct. Now that it’s taken a bit longer than expected for the planning officers to check all the documentation, the dates have moved along.

Consultation will begin the day the official letters to residents and local businesses are sent out, and will last for 6 weeks. Everyone will be notified, and I’ll post it here. Even after 6 weeks, you can still send in your comments. There will be more info about the consultation later, probably next week.

 

 

Waste (further disruption)

I’ve just had this notice from the Vale:

Dear Councillors,

As you may be aware, flooding in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse is continuing to have an impact on waste collection services. This is due to a number of road closures across the two districts. The flooding and its associated impact is set to worsen over the next 24 hours.

We have been advising residents in both districts that, if their waste is not collected on their scheduled collection day*, they are to leave the bins on the roadside and crews will attempt to pick them up the following day.

At present, the increased severity of the flooding is having a continued knock-on effect on waste collections and these catch-up services are slowed down. The waste crews are working extremely hard to minimise any delays, however as the situation worsens this is becoming increasingly difficult due to the flooding itself, the associated road closures, and traffic congestion.

The Biffa street cleaning crews are currently working into the evening to assist with the filling and distribution of sandbags. These crews would normally be deployed to help the waste collection crews catch up after delays, but we are sure you’ll understand that protecting people’s homes from flooding has to be our first priority at the moment.

This information will be broadcast on our website and via Twitter, as well as communicated to local radio stations, news desks, and other local authorities.

We are grateful for our residents’ patience and co-operation at this time.

*Please note that our adjusted Christmas calendar is effect at the moment, so scheduled collection days are different to the rest of the year.

Kind regards,

Natalie.

Communications Team
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils
communications@southandvale.gov.uk
@southoxon / @whitehorsedc
01235 540300.

 

 

 

Waste collection disruption

I’ve just had this notice from the Vale.

Dear Councillors,

As you may be aware, flooding in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse are having an impact on waste collection services. This is due to a number of road closures across the two districts.

For now, we are advising residents in both districts that, if their waste is not collected on their scheduled collection day*, they are to leave the bins on the roadside and crews will attempt to pick them up the following day. We will let you know if this situation changes.

We are also publishing this information on our website and via Twitter. Residents subscribed to the text and Binfo services will also receive this information directly.

*Please note that our adjusted Christmas calendar is effect at the moment, so scheduled collection days are different to the rest of the year.

Kind regards,

Natalie.

Communications Team
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils
communications@southandvale.gov.uk
@southoxon / @whitehorsedc
01235 540300.

Doric’s Application Submitted to Vale

At a little after 2pm today, the Vale received Doric’s planning application.

This will be checked on Monday and put up to the web as soon after as is possible. I’ll put out a message when it’s available to see online. A paper copy of the application’s attachments and plans will take longer to arrive in Botley, but I’ll let you know about that too.

Consultation begins on the 6th of Jan.

For info, the applicants previously filed this notice, which mentions a hotel and gymnasium (for the first time, as far as I know) but doesn’t mention a community hall: http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/archive/2013/12/20/10890840.Botley_District_Centre/

Arnold’s Way Road Repairs

Arnolds Way for web(UPDATE 18 Dec 13. The road signs have come down. I heard from County Councillor Janet Godden that these repairs have been postponed. I don’t know the new date. Disappointing.)

Arnolds Way is set to have its potholes repaired. At least, I assume that’s what’s happening. Months ago they were all outlined in green, which I like to think means, ‘Go Ahead and Fix These!’

Road is to be closed Monday 23 Dec for all day.

This is between Cedar Road and Hurst Rise Road.

Handily, school is out.

More handily, Lime Road is on its Christmas break.

 

 

Neighbourhood Plan for Botley?

At the most recent meeting of the Botley Traffic Advisory Committee (BTAC), discussion was around the basically unsatisfactory nature of the traffic in Botley. One instance after another came up for discussion and possible solutions.

At one point, Keith Stenning, the Oxfordshire County Council Area Steward for the Vale locality, said, “The biggest weapon for tackling traffic problems is a Neighbourhood Plan. I don’t know how far you’ve got along toward developing one?’ He looked around. Parish Clerk, Parish Council Chairman and Cllr Erc Batts (all of whom have been unsupportive of recent community efforts to start creating a Neighbourhood Plan) looked down and shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Keith continued, ‘Until you have a Neighbourhood Plan in place, you won’t be listened to.’

That was both good news and bad news. It’s good news that someone from outside the parish has said that it would be good for the parish. I’ve been encouraging the parish council to explore this for a long time. It’s bad news in that we don’t have a Neighbourhood Plan, but we DO have serious traffic problems, which are likely to increase as a result of current and upcoming planning applications that will bring more cars into Botley.

In the last two months, a working party was set up, a professional expert panel was assembled for a public meeting (which was very well-attended, by the way) with time for Questions and Answers. But the parish council hasn’t supported the work they did nor recognised that people want such a plan, nor that such a plan will be helpful.

A Neighbourhood Plan for North Hinksey, or for Botley (if we join hands with Cumnor Parish) would give local people a say in where local development takes place, and go along way to ensuring development is where we need it and of good benefit to the community.

Garden-grabbing specualtive planning applications to demolish one or two family homesand put up blocks of small flats must be controlled.

The Vale adminstration hasn’t been able to get any policies in place to help. The Localism Act gives parishes and towns some power, but they must exercise that power through consultation and a Neighbourhood Plan.

In case I’m not being clear, I support a Neighbourhood Plan for Botley, and the working group that has already been formed. I call on the Parish Council to authorise this important work, to give local people the control we need over development in our community, and to recognise the already established working group as having shown they can get the work done professionally and bring the community along with them. I applaud that and what to help however I can.

The parish council has Neighbourhood Planning on their agenda for Thursday the 19th meeting (at 8pm). You can attend and hear the debate, you can write to them via the clerk (nhpcclerk@msn.com). If you write, please copy the working group: botleyneighbourhoodplan@yahoo.co.uk so they’ll know your views.

More info onthe Government’s Neighbour Hood Planning scheme. 

Oxford Times article about Botley’s NPAg Em Phil NP Botley