District Councillor Andy Cooke
Dear all,
Joint Local Plan Consultation
One of the most significant responsibilities of the District Council is that of planning. The Local Plan is the framework around which planning in the Vale is built. Many aspects of it are driven by requirements imposed by central Government, but we get to set the overall direction and theme under those requirements; it’s one of the most crucial documents we ever get to write and pass into regulations.
We’re doing it in consultation with South Oxfordshire (which is why it’s now a Joint Local Plan, to avoid clashes and redundancy, and to ensure it’s all robust. It should govern planning here until 2041.
And we want your feedback. After all, it’s for all of us.
Different options have been drawn up and the idea is that we meet those imposed requirements, meet the needs of our residents, protect and restore nature, and help address the climate emergency simultaneously. This is obviously going to be a challenge, which is why we need to hear from you – if we want to meet the needs of our residents, we have to hear the voices of our residents. Some elements are:
· More of the housing that we are required to build in the districts (albeit we’ve managed to get a reduction in the imposed number) needs to be affordable housing to help those struggling to get on the property ladder.
· Setting ambitious targets, beyond the national standards, to ensure developments positively contribute to the local environment and wildlife, and deliver on climate action.
· New policies to identify and enhance our most tranquil places, and protect our dark skies by minimising light pollution for both residents and wildlife.
The consultation will run for six weeks, closing at 11.59pm on 21 February 2024. For more information, visit www.southandvale.gov.uk/JLP
(Also see https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/vale-of-white-horse-district-council/planning-and-development/local-plan-and-planning-policies/local-plan-2041/ which should now be updated with links to the main consultation document at https://jlp.southandvale.gov.uk/ )
There’s a LOT of information in there, so there are also summaries of “JLP in a nutshell” to try to overcome the firehose-blast of information. However, bearing in mind these summaries could easily gloss over elements you’d like to see in more detail, you can also burrow into it deeper into the Preferred Options document survey.
There are also options to see and use paper copies in libraries and at the Council offices, and a number of drop-in events in a range of venues across the district (concentrating on larger towns and areas which will see the most development). One of these drop-in events is in Wantage on 31st of January, another in Abingdon on 3rd February, and another Didcot on the 10th of February.
Flooding and SESRO
Whilst flooding is primarily covered by the County Council (OCC), and the floodwaters should hopefully have receded by the time you read this, residents affected by flooding can also potentially apply for government funding themselves – the information is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-payments-for-communities-affected-by-flooding
People can also call the Environment Agency’s flooding hotline for advice and support at any time, seven days a week, on 0345 988 1188.
This does link into the ongoing SESRO battle. Remember that a key missing piece of information is that SESRO is to be built on the floodplain that is used to drain waters away from our towns and villages? Thames Water have yet to share their brand new special modelling that they claim shows that this will now somehow not have a negative effect (unlike all previous modelling for it over the past 25 years, which invariably pointed to a “red” risk of increased flooding in Abingdon and the surrounding villages).
For background, this is the area covered by flood warnings on the 5th of January this year.
A huge chunk of that orange area would be under the mega-reservoir and its massive earth-walls. The water that otherwise should drain there (and build up there in this warning) has to go somewhere – so the floods we did see could easily be much worse (and more frequent).
Meanwhile, at the last Council meeting in December, we passed a motion opposing SESRO unanimously. Key takeaways were that we’re requesting a meeting with the Secretary of State on a non-partisan basis with the MPs for Oxford West and Abingdon and for Wantage, GARD, CPRE, and the County Councillors affected as well as ourselves, to discuss the issues ignored by Thames Water to date and overall options for governance of the water system – because the latter could be crucial. This is because water transfers – which are essential in the future and to create a long-needed National Grid of water – will need a governing authority to require the water companies to work together (they don’t trust each other at the moment, which is potentially behind their resistance to the simpler, cheaper, more flexible, faster, and far more resilient water transfer schemes).
We’re also requesting that the “RAPID” process be paused until the flaws and absent reports are addressed.
New Vale wards
The Local Government Boundary Commission are reviewing ward boundaries for Vale of White Horse. On the table are:
· the total number of councillors elected to the council in the future (they’re recommending no change at 38, despite significant growth in population, but you can put a case for more. Or less, if you see fit);
· the number of wards;
· the number of councillors representing each ward;
· ward boundaries; and
· the names of wards.
They’re holding a consultation until 18th March 2024 and you can have your say at https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/vale-white-horse
Cost of Living
As wages still have a long way to go to catch up with the (still inflating – albeit a bit slower) cost of living, and the bitterly cold weather has been biting, I’m going to continue with putting in the details for the Community Hub and potential support or advice:
Details for this are below:
Tel: 01235 422600
Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
All the best, and Happy New Year,
Andy
December 2023
Free Christmas Parking days – Abingdon, Wantage, and Farringdon
In order to encourage people to visit the independent shops in our local towns for Christmas gifts and support local businesses, drivers can park for free in local car parks on the following Saturdays
· Abingdon: 2, 9 and 16 December
· Faringdon: 2, 9 and 16 December
· Wantage: 9, 16 and 23 December
On the selected days there’s no need to display a ticket, however maximum stay times still apply in specific car parks. The car park machines will also indicate free parking.
Waste vehicles
There’s been some articles in local papers about South and Vale buying eight diesel bin lorries. I thought I should pass on what’s happened. The fleet of waste vehicles is reaching the end of life, and the contract for waste services with Biffa is up for negotiation/end/re-let/whatever the decision will be (obviously all commercial, so I don’t necessarily know and if I did, wouldn’t be in a position to say much). A small number of them needed replacement urgently. Electric vehicles would be the first choice, but after trials, they weren’t suitable (other than for food waste, so that one IS electric). The most cost-effective way forwards was for us to purchase these eight and Biffa are leasing them from us. This also gives us control over the replacement cycle so we can jump onto the options of using EVs or alternative fuels vehicles when they do become available/practical (albeit the chances of this within the life of these vehicles is unfortunately not high).
New Joint Local Plan
The second round of consultation is about to be launched on developing the new Joint Local Plan to 2041. Remember: this Plan provides the legislative underpinning for decisions on planning applications, sets out how and where new developments should happen, sets standards for carbon and energy efficiency, and guides infrastructure needs across both districts. This consultation will ask for your thoughts on proposed approaches across a bunch of policy areas (including community infrastructure and transport needs, affordable housing, protecting and enhancing local heritage and landscapes, and nature recovery). Proposals include reduction of the number of new houses needed each year (whilst rebalancing to increase the number of affordable houses), increase biodiversity, and improve minimum standards on water and energy efficiency, and more. The consultation will launch in January, but you can get a sneak preview of the materials, as they’ll be put in front of Joint Scrutiny on the 27th of November (I’ll be very interested, as I’m on this particular committee). Details are here: https://democratic.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=549&MId=3182
SESRO Update
Thames Water have conducted a bunch of local “engagement sessions” recently, during which they appeared to imply things would be going faster and were more or less a done deal. This is not correct. When I pressed them during one such session, pointing out a swathe of answers yet to be given (on floodplain encroachment, dam-breach analysis and risk details, costings, carbon calculations, microclimate issues (radiative fogs sweeping down over the A34), the effects of flexing 150 megatonnes of water on and off the clay floor of the Vale, no details on any way of mitigating their own flagged-up issues with Intrusive Non-Native Species that would otherwise require a total prohibition of any recreational use, etc), they then said it was very early days. That they would expect to address this later. The Development Consent Order process they have mentioned in these sessions is not as straightforward as implied, either, and would require FULL answers before it could go ahead. There are a number of planning hurdles they have to jump that they have glossed over, and we will be acting upon these (without, of course, prejudging or prejudicing them, as that would render our interventions powerless). Should they manage to push a DCO through incorrectly, it would be subject to Judicial Review. There arguments against the Severn-Thames Transfer remain weak and inconsistent. It all seems down to the fact that they would not directly control the water coming into the region – an issue that can be simply addressed by stronger governance and regulation. That is something we can press on. We are introducing a motion in the next Council meeting addressing our concerns (and including a request for an all-Party meeting with the Secretary of State to discuss our concerns and requesting a pause on the programme until addressed. This may well, of course, be refused (although I’ve learned to be less cynical about such things over my time as Councillor, having seen more effectiveness than I’d previously assumed), but it will at the very least add to a body of material to be presented during the overall planning process and highlight the specifics above.
Cost of Living
Whilst the inflation rate has, thankfully, dropped somewhat, wages still have a long way to go to catch up with the (still inflating – albeit a bit slower) cost of living. As the cold weather bites, the Cost of Living crisis will bite harder. Do not forget the Community Hub which is available for practical support or just advice Details for this are below:
Tel: 01235 422600 Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
All the best,AndySeptember 2023
HIF1 rejection – next steps
The County Council rejected the HIF1 transport scheme in July (A4130 Widening, Didcot Science Bridge, Didcot to Culham River Crossing, Clifton Hampden Bypass); this does have repercussions on us at the District Council (such as on our 5-year land supply, but not limited to that), but the story doesn’t end here. On 25th July, the government ‘called in’ the application and will hold a public inquiry in due course before the Secretary of State determines the planning application.
Here is a breakdown of some of the key steps:
- The Secretary of State will appoint a Planning Inspector to carry out the public inquiry.
- The Planning Inspectorate will manage the process through Oxfordshire County Council, so the County will notify all interested parties that it’s happening, dates for the inquiry, venue and various deadlines.
- The County Council will have to provide a raft of information to the inspector, including representations and consultation responses to the original planning application. This will include the VoWH DC and South Oxfordshire DC representation. (Note: our involvement at this stage is as a planning application statutory consultee as the Local Planning Authorities, and therefore any responses we provide need to reflect what are called “material planning considerations” under the relevant planning legislation).
- Parties who previously commented at the application stage can ask to speak at the public inquiry to present their written evidence and undergo cross-examination.
- The inspector may choose to call any of the interested parties to the inquiry, but that decision is a matter for them alone.
- Having considered all of the material submitted, the Planning Inspector makes a recommendation to the Secretary of State. This is then published along with the Secretary of State’s decision – and that decision doesn’t have to be what the Planning Inspector recommends.
- That decision is final, albeit there is a window to make an application for judicial review to the High Court based only on the legal validity of the Secretary of State’s decision
Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan
Following a prioritisation and intervention workshop on 25 July, the final draft plan is being prepared for the LCWIP Steering Group to consider at their meeting on 3 August, prior to four weeks of public consultation from 14 August.
New Council Headquarters in Didcot
The planned new shared headquarters (with South Oxfordshire) at the Didcot Gateway site has had the planning application submitted and the plans are now available to view online and for people to leave their comments. SODC’s Planning Department will determine the application, so the Planning Officers have had to be kept independent from council staff working on the project. The design is intended to adhere to Garden Town principles and the Didcot Gateway masterplan. You can View the full plans and have your say before 31 August 2023 on the South Oxfordshire’s Didcot Gateway webpage here: https://www.southoxon.gov.uk/south-oxfordshire-district-council/about-the-council/our-new-headquarte.../
Cost of Living
I’m keeping the links for support with the cost of living in my report, because it hasn’t gone away.
Whether it’s for practical support or just advice, get in touch with the Community Hub:
Tel: 01235 422600
Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
Splash pads in Abbey Meadow in Abingdon and Memorial Park in Wantage
Both of the districts’ splash pads have been turned on and will be available to use every day until the start of September. A new fence along the river front was installed at Abbey Meadow last year to help keep young children safely in the park and aim to reduce the problem of geese causing.
This year, the kiosk at Abbey Meadow will have a seating area for customers to enjoy their refreshments and make the most of the lovely surroundings.
The outdoor pool in Abbey Meadow will be open for 6 weeks during the school summer holidays.
£100,000 now available for community climate projects in Vale of White Horse
The Climate Action Fund has opened for applications from town and parish councils and local groups aiming to tackle climate change. Grants of up to £5000 per application can be made available.
The fund will be open for applications until 14th July.
In the past, earlier versions of the Climate Action Fund have supported projects such as tree planting and solar panel installation, as well as projects such as a sustainable eating course, funded professional ecological advice to create a community woodland and a boardwalk at a nature site to allow visitors access without damaging important habitats. We want to encourage even more groups to come forward with innovative ideas on how to help fight climate change. To apply, please go to our Climate Action Fund page: https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/vale-of-white-horse-district-council/community-support/grants/climate-action-fund/
Waste and Street Cleaning Survey
The District Council have launched a waste services survey. It should help identify aspects with which people are happy as well as areas which could be improved. It’s at southandvale.gov.uk/WasteSurvey and is open until 11.59pm on Monday 10th July 2023.
I’ve sometimes mentioned my frustration at the way responsibilities are split between County and District Councils (I strongly believe that Unitary Councils that cover all aspects make for a far more straightforward experience for residents, rather than having to work out which Council their issue falls under and where to go for help), and this is a perfect example. The District Council covers collection of the various bins (waste, recycling, food waste, and green bins) and recycling from there, bulky waste collection, and street cleaning services, but not the Household Recycling Centres, which are controlled by the County Council. This survey is only for areas covered by the District Council.
Reservoir Clay Compaction Trial
One issue with the Thames Water proposal of “let’s build up a mega-sized reservoir the size of thirty-odd average reservoirs in one place and have it solely dependent on one of the most water-stressed rivers in the country, oh, and not do the far better solution of setting up the long-required water transfer network until after the decades-long megaproject is finished,” is the lack of huge swathes of required engineering and project information. Instead, Thames Water have done brochures of marinas (despite the Intrusive Non-Native Species restrictions and possible security restrictions pointing to a prohibition on recreational use) and glossed over environmental and engineering information.
At last, though, and nearly quarter of a century after first putting this mega-reservoir forward, they’re proposing doing some of the necessary engineering testing. This will be carried out off the Hanney Road on land they already own, and will involved digging down into the clay floor of the Vale and building up smaller versions of the embankments on an area the size of a football field. They’ve given advance notice of the planning application they’ll be putting in, and will be gathering information on this trial throughout 2024.
This does NOT mean they’ve got the go-ahead; merely that they’re accumulating needed geological, civil engineering, and hydrological information for their application process. The fight against it continues, but at least they’re finally looking at getting concrete data to put into the evaluation process.
Cost of Living
As the Cost of Living crisis is still very much ongoing, here once again are the contact details for support for individuals and families from the Community Hub.
Whether it’s for practical support or just advice, get in touch:
Tel: 01235 422600
Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
Lastly – have a great summer, everyone!
All the best,
AndyJune 2023
Dear all,
Local Elections
The District Council elections were held on the 4th of May.
I know these tend to be more exciting for Councillors and candidates than for most people, but they do act to provide the District Council for the next four years. I’ve very pleased to have been re-elected for a further four years and I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me – thank you! I am very aware I represent all of you, regardless of who you voted for or if you voted at all, and I’ll continue to do my best to work for you.
The District Council is responsible for:
• Planning Services (Planning applications, Local Plans, and Enforcement)
• Environmental Services (Bins and recycling, street cleaning, food safety, public health, monitoring air quality and contamination, and licencing activities)
• Housing Services (Housing advice, managing the housing register, arranging temporary accommodation, grant and loan applications, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, community safety, housing standards)
• Cultural and Recreational Services (Sports and leisure services, parks and open spaces, community arts development, grant aid to local groups)
• Transport Services (assisted travel schemes, licencing for taxis, car parks)
• Other Services (Elections, electoral registration, Council tax collection, pest control, abandoned vehicles)
The roads (including potholes!), schools and education services, social services, fire service, trading standards, waste management, libraries, and museums are all under the County Council rather than the District Council. I still think we need to merge them together to get a Unitary Council so that it’s much clearer who does what,
The elections have resulted in a change to the make-up of the Council. There are now 34 Lib Dem Councillors and 4 Green Councillors. The Conservatives lost their six seats and are now no longer represented on the District Council, so the Greens will be the official Opposition. There are still no Labour Councillors, or Independents (or members of any other parties, for that matter).
Vale of White Horse District Council Elections 2023: Aggregate Votes:
• Lib Dems: 20,772, 55.5% (34 seats, up 3)
• Conservatives: 10,233, 27.3% (0 seats, down 6)
• Greens: 3,939, 10.5% (4 seats, up 3)
• Labour: 2,279, 6.1% (0 seats, no change)
• Independents/Others: 201, 0.5% (0 seats, no change)
The rather strange distribution of seats to votes (Conservatives have no seats on 27% whilst Greens have 4 seats on 10%) is due to the First-Past-The-Post voting system. Although my party is benefiting from this here in the Vale (with a hair under 90% of the seats on 55.5% of the votes and our main opponents on 0% of the seats with half our vote share), I am concerned that there are a lot of people in the Vale not represented by a party of their preference. All of us, no matter which party we stand for, will remember that we represent everyone in the Vale.
The first official meeting of the new District Council is occurred on the 17th of May. This inaugural meeting was to elect a Chair and Vice-Chair (Sally Povolotsky and Kiera Bentley respectively) and the Leader of the Council (Bethia Thomas), Deputy Leader (Neil Fawcett), and the Cabinet. All Committee appointments were also made (I’m on Joint Scrutiny for South and Vale again, the Scrutiny Panel for the Future Oxfordshire Partnership, and a substitute on the Planning Committee).
Most people remembered to bring photo ID in the elections, but there were occurrences across the Vale of people being turned away due to forgetting or not realising it was necessary. Across the country, it was estimated that this occurred tens of thousands of times. Given that there have been extremely few occurrences of “personation” (people turning up and pretending to be someone else in order to cast a vote to which they are not entitled) across the UK over the last several elections (there was a total of one confirmed case in the last General Election), it does look like this new initiative will have cost quite a lot of people their opportunity to vote whilst achieving very little.
Reservoir
In last month’s article, I mentioned that a national journalist came down to speak to the chair of GARD and representatives of interested local groups, as well as myself. The article was published in the Observer on the 22nd of April, and I thought it was a very fair article. It’s called “Lake or mistake? The row over water firms, drought and Abingdon’s new super-reservoir” and is available here: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/22/lake-or-mistake-the-row-over-water-firms-drought-an...
RAPID – the regulatory body in charge of the major water infrastructure projects – published its draft recommendations on its decisions. As it turns out, it avoided making any decisions and appears to have allowed almost every major project through to Gate 3. This is deeply disappointing – RAPID were supposed to eliminate “suboptimal solutions” at Gate 2 and now appear to have considered virtually every option as being “optimal.” It does feel like the water companies are in the driving seat rather than the regulator.
Gate 3 will require developed design and finalised feasibility studies. There will be a further checkpoint in December 2023, so the fight continues.
Electric Car Club Pilot Scheme
Local Authorities across Oxfordshire have partnered with car club providers Co Wheels, Enterprise CarClub, and Thame EV Car Hire to offer pay-per-use EVs on a 12-month trial basis. The scheme gives people the chance to access an electric vehicle when they need one, without the expense of owning or leasing one outright. Car clubs can make it more affordable for people who do not drive every day and they provide real-world experience of driving electric without a long-term commitment. Details are available at https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/electric-vehicle-pilot
Cost of Living
As the Cost of Living crisis is still ongoing, here once again are the contact details for support for individuals and families from the Community Hub.
Whether it’s for practical support or just advice, get in touch:
Tel: 01235 422600
Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
All the best,
Andy
May 2023
Dear all,
Planning – Housing Numbers update
I mentioned last month that the Planning Inspector has endorsed our new housing targets and underlined that we definitely have more than five years land supply in reserve. This means that we have considerably more power to assess applications and reject those we feel will violate Neighbourhood Development Plans or damage the character of our villages. We have already got ample sites approved to provide the housing we’re assessed as needed, so overturning our decisions at appeal is now far harder for developers.
We and South Oxfordshire have also informed Oxford City Council that we will not accept the City exporting their housing need to us any more. In the past, this has damaged the Vale’s five year land supply (we’ve had enough for ourselves, but adding their exported need has damaged that). They have also decided to use a calculation of housing need considerably larger than the government’s standard formula and tried to insist that we do the same – effectively running up a big bill and expecting us to meet it for them. We’ve told them we won’t do that. Forcing development outside of their borders like this is unwarranted and, when they successfully did this in the past, not only damaged the Vale’s own control over planning, but further gridlocked the roads into and out of Oxford as more and more people were forced to commute in and out. There is an obligation for councils to work with their neighbours, but this goes both ways.
Reservoir
After the latest campaigns, I’ve noticed that the Severn-Thames Transfer has started to get what appears to be organised pushback in the media. On the one hand, this is annoying. On the other hand, after years of being ignored, it is starting to look like the sane alternative may be now seen as a genuine threat to the unneeded, damaging, and expensive super-reservoir plan.
GARD contacted me a couple of weeks ago to come to a meeting with a national journalist who was looking into the lengthy process for planning for major infrastructure projects in the country. He was asking the question: was the planning process unnecessarily long, or were some of these projects actually bad ideas or do with major problems that would otherwise be glossed over? He went to the National Infrastructure Commission, logically reasoning that they'd have a decent independent viewpoint on this. He asked them if they could cite any major proposed projects that would look reasonable to the layperson but were actually bad ideas for one reason or another. They told him to look at the SESRO reservoir project(!). We shouldn’t be surprised; the NIC have continually pushed for inter-regional water transfers and creating a National Grid for water as the first and most important area for water infrastructure. He spoke to the chair of GARD, who suggested coming down to Steventon and Drayton, looking at the site suggested, and having a discussion with a bunch of interested local groups and representatives. The meeting happened three weeks ago (as I write) and all those involved made excellent points and the journalist went away impressed (I believe). I’ll update you when I know when the article will appear.
Cost of Living
As the Cost of Living crisis is still ongoing for so many, I’m once again going to put in the contact details for support for individuals and families from the Community Hub.
If you need help because you are struggling financially or if you are just finding life difficult, the Vale can help. Whether it’s for practical support or just advice, get in touch:
Tel: 01235 422600 | Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
Voting – Photo ID required from May onwards!
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE WITHOUT PHOTO ID.
As promised, I’m mentioning this in every article until the elections on May 4th. You’ll be relieved to hear this is the last one, and this time I’m finishing up with it. You must bring one of the following documents to the polling station to be allowed to vote, and it must be the original version and not a photocopy (however, as long as it still looks like you, it does not need to be in date):
- Passport Driving licence (including provisional driving licence)
- Blue Badge Older Person’s Bus Pass
- Disabled Person’s Bus Pass PASS card (proof of age card issued by Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
- MOD Identity Card Biometric immigration document
- National ID card issued by an EEA state
Please don’t lose your vote!
All the best, Andy
April 2023
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE WITHOUT PHOTO ID.
As promised, I’m kicking off each article until the elections with this.
The Government have decided that your Polling Card is NOT sufficient. Whilst there have been no issues with stolen votes through this method in Great Britain to date, they say their reason is to make it look even safer.
You must bring one of the following documents to the polling station to vote, and it must be the original and not a photocopy (however, as long as it still looks like you, it does not need to be in date):
- Passport
- Driving licence (including provisional driving licence)
- Blue Badge
- Older Person’s Bus Pass
- Disabled Person’s Bus Pass
- PASS card (proof of age card issued by Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
- MOD Identity Card
- Biometric immigration document
- National ID card issued by an EEA state
If you do not have any of the above, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate at voter-authority-certificate.service.gov.uk or visit https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voterID
The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for the local elections in England on 4 May 2023 is 5pm on Tuesday 25 April. There are no changes to postal voting.
In addition, make sure you are registered to vote BY MIDNIGHT ON 17th APRIL. You can check by contacting Electoral Services on 01235 422528 or at elections@southandvale.gov.uk
If you are not registered, you can register on https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote (or Electoral Services can help on the number above).
If you can’t make it to the polling station on 4 May – you can apply to vote by post – the deadline for postal vote applications is 5pm on 18 April, or you can apply to allow someone else to vote on your behalf, this is known as a proxy vote. The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 5pm on 25 April. To find out how to apply for a postal or proxy vote, visit whitehorsedc.gov.uk/localelections2023
Please don’t lose your vote!
Planning
One of the key factors in whether or not the Planning Inspector will overrule our decisions is whether we have a “Five Year Land Supply.” If we fall short of that, inspectors will typically overrule rejections (and have done so), regardless of the Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.
We have recently argued that our projected housing need should decrease from 1028 new houses per year over the Vale to 819 per year. This bolsters our five year land supply. Recently a developer challenged a refusal of planning permission on appeal saying our new method was wrong and we were right at the edge of a five year land supply. The Planning Inspector considered the case – and agreed with us, rejecting the appeal and saying we actually have close to a 6.3 year land supply. This very much strengthens the NDP and Local Plan.
This is helped by the fact that over the past decade, we have been in the top three out of 310 Local Authorities in England for rate of housing building. If the rest of the country had built at the rate of the Vale, there would be nearly three million more homes nationwide and no housing crisis. I think we can decrease our target by a little and still be doing our bit – and the Inspector has agreed with us.
Budget
This might come across as a bit boring, but it was a real concern back when I ran for election four years ago – the Council as it stood then was on track to break the financial limits, as had Northamptonshire County Council (which had just become the first council for a long time to effectively go bust).
Since then, we’ve not exactly had plain sailing – the covid crisis acted like a wrecking ball in the plans of a lot of councils, and the Cost of Living Crisis merely made it worse. Over the past few years, Slough, Northumberland, Pembrokeshire, and Copeland all went into Section 114. Thurrock went down just recently. Croydon just went down for the third time. Parliament had to approve an increase of 15% in their council tax.
Which means that our Budget showing us to be fully and with a considerably better forecast than we had four years ago is a massive win.
Cost of Living
As the Cost of Living crisis hasn’t gone away, I’m once again putting in the contact details for support for individuals and families from the Community Hub. If you need help because you are struggling financially or if you are just finding life difficult, the Vale can help. Whether it’s for practical support or just advice, get in touch:
Tel: 01235 422600
Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
Thames Water Plan Consultation
This has just closed as I write. All the issues remain valid:
- Wrong (and excessive) population figures used in contravention of the most recent ONS figures.
- Inter-region water transfers should be done FIRST, as per the National Infrastructure Commission recommendation.
- The plan is far too inflexible, aiming to lock in an unnecessary, damaging, hugely expensive, environmentally damaging reservoir the size of sixteen Farmoors.
- It wouldn’t provide a drop of water for at least a generation (assuming that unlike all other megaprojects, it DOES come in on time), unlike the Severn-Thames-Transfer option, which provides double the water, coming from the water-rich parts of the country into the water-stressed part, and can do so in a few years.
The Vale has responded strongly, pressing Thames Water on all of the above and pressing them to fix leakage as well (simply meeting the Government targets would slash the demand). It may be necessary to pressure the regulator, who has mandated these known inaccurate and excessive population figures.
March 2023
Dear all,
Voting – Photo ID required from May onwards!
I’m going to be kicking off each article between now and the local elections in May with this:
The Government have decided to change the way we vote from now on. In all future elections where you vote in person, you will require photo ID.
NOTE: YOUR POLLING CARD WILL NOT MEET GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS!
You must bring one of the following documents to the polling station to be allowed to vote, and it must be the original version and not a photocopy (however, as long as it still looks like you, it does not need to be in date):
- Passport
- Driving licence (including provisional driving licence)
- Blue Badge
- Older Person’s Bus Pass
- Disabled Person’s Bus Pass
- PASS card (proof of age card issued by Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
- MOD Identity Card
- Biometric immigration document
- National ID card issued by an EEA state
If you do not have any of the above, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate at voter-authority-certificate.service.gov.uk.
The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for the local elections in England on 4 May 2023 is 5pm on Tuesday 25 April.
There are no changes to postal voting.
In addition, make sure you are registered to vote. You can check by contacting Electoral Services on 01235 422528 or at elections@southandvale.gov.uk
If you are not registered, you can register on https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote (or Electoral Services can help on the number above).
Please don’t lose your vote!
Cost of Living
As the Cost of Living crisis hasn’t gone away, I’m once again putting in the contact details for upport for individuals and families from the Community Hub.
If you need help because you are struggling financially or if you are just finding life difficult, the Vale can help. Whether it’s for practical support or just advice, get in touch:
Tel: 01235 422600
Email: communitysupport@southandvale.gov.uk
Website: whitehorsedc.gov.uk/costofliving
Office hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm on Fridays
Joint Local Plan
Last month, I mentioned the Joint Local Plan timetable (where we’re updating and replacing the one we inherited) and the website where specifics are held. This was
There has already been a good response with people engaging on it and giving their say. Please take a look and have your say if you haven’t done so already.
It may seem boring and arcane, but it is a key element of the whole planning process, and one of the few areas where we can put our input into the legislative process. Councils have very little discretion on planning applications when those are made; the legal aspects and legislation dictate most of what is done (and if we don’t follow them closely, developers can and will appeal any rejected decision and conditions that they don’t like, and the Government Inspector will uphold their appeal).
The Local Plan isn’t complete power (precedent and national policy can override it), and we are limited in what we can put into it – but it’s our main way of having some control of the process.
Thames Water Plan Consultation
Public consultation is still open for the Thames Water draft Water Resources Management Plan, here: https://thames-wrmp.co.uk/. Consultation is open until 21st March.
GARD (here: https://www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk/ ) will be providing some guidance once more, but virtually everything that was valid as an objection before is valid still.
- An old and excessive model for population growth is still used, instead of the latest ONS projections
- Inter-region water transfers are still not targeted until later, despite the National Infrastructure Commission putting a national water network as their top-line recommendation (they concluded that inter-region water transfers were the only options with positive cost-benefit cases in all circumstances and enhanced resilience all round, and have been historically lacking).
- The plan is still non-adaptive – tying us in to the multi-decade multi-billion-pound and environmentally damaging megaproject of the huge and unneeded reservoir (which, if they actually believed their population projection figures, would leave us exposed to drought for a generation and more in order to avoid making it redundant by the faster, better, and cheaper solution of water transfers and fixing leaks).
- They claim (without any evidence) that building and operating the megareservoir (with huge amounts of earth movement required) would somehow cause less carbon emissions than the pipeline of the Severn-Thames Transfer (which would use an ever-more-decarbonised electrical grid for power…)
Homes for Ukraine
There has been a Government support package that has enabled Councils to provide payment of £550 to all hosts for the winter period. This support ends with the March payment; those hosting beyond the 12 month period are supposed to then receive £500 per month with all others receiving £350 in line with the government package.
We committed to reviewing what this means for the scheme in Oxfordshire and, from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, all hosts will now receive a monthly payment of £550 regardless of when the 12 month period is due.
These payments will continue until March 2024, or until hosts have completed a 24 month period, whichever comes sooner. The increase will not be subject to tax and will not affect entitlement to any benefits.
EV charging has doubled in first six months of the Vale of White Horse District Council scheme
Since installing EV chargers in the Council car parks, charging volumes have doubled in the first six months of operation.
In June last year 62 EV chargers were installed across five of the council’s car parks in Abingdon, Faringdon and Wantage as part of the county-wide Park and Charge scheme.
The number of charging sessions has gone up by 60 per cent in the first six months of installation. During the same period the average amount of electricity consumed has doubled, meaning that people are now using them for longer charges.
Since the first chargers went live in summer 2022 there have been 3,631 charging sessions in the first full six months, which equates to around 169,000 EV miles. This represents a saving 45,863kg of CO2e* if those miles had been driven in a petrol or diesel car.
Saturday is the most popular day of the week to charge an EV in Vale of White Horse and 4pm is the most popular time of day to charge.
All the best,
Andy