Maintenance work to replace the beams and waterproofing material to the bridges which carry the M4 over the B4009 Hampstead Norreys Road near Hermitage, Brocks Lane near Frilsham and Burnt Hill Road has now started.

As previously advised, during work to demolish and install the bridge deck beams, specialist working methods and equipment will be required which will include larger cranes that will sit across all lanes of the motorway.

To allow this work to take place we will be fully closing the M4 east and westbound carriageways between junctions 12 and 13 over the following entire weekend periods (9pm Friday through to 5am Monday):

• Friday 24 to Monday 27 November 2017
• Friday 8 to Monday 11 December 2017
• Friday 15 to Monday 18 December 2017
• Friday 19 to Monday 22 January 2018 (contingency)

During the closures a clearly signed diversion will be in place via the A4 (through Newbury, Thatcham and Woolhampton), however as we are expecting this route to be extremely busy alternatives routes will be suggested further afield.

Significant delays are expected during these weekend closure periods, and it is advised that you plan ahead of your journey to allow for extra time or avoid this route where possible.

We would like to apologise in advance for any disruption caused by these closures; if you have any questions, or if you’d like you know about our work please contact us on 0300 123 5000 or email info@highwaysengland.co.uk. Or you can visit our website at www.highways.gov.uk/roads

Care worker recruitment campaign from Oxfordshire County Council, NHS and Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers.

Make a difference every day – become a care worker. Oxfordshire urgently needs more compassionate care workers to support vulnerable members of our community.

Interested? Visit oacp.org.uk/jobs for job opportunities and to find out more about working in care.

After many months of hard work a draft of the Neighbourhood Plan containing the Vision, Objectives and draft Policies is now available.

Over the summer, further discussions were held with SODC as a result of which the Steering Group have initiated an evaluation of potential development sites in the parish with the intention of ‘allocating’ one of more sites for housing development.

To provide a wider base of knowledge and experience for the site evaluations, a Community Group has been appointed to work with the Steering Group. You can see the group membership, the draft plan and details of the recent work on www.easthagbourneplan.net where regular updates will be posted over the coming weeks.

The High Court has confirmed the decision it reached on Halloween. Grainger’s hopes of getting a Judicial Review and overturning the appeal verdict has taken a body blow.

In the High Court Mrs Justice Lang was unequivocal in her dismissal of the three legal points Grainger raised. She sided with the Secretary of State. No JR was granted – the appeal verdict stands.
Grainger did not seek leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal. We understand that today is the deadline for it to do so.

This is the second time that the High Court has thrown out the case. Perhaps now Grainger will realise that their argument has no merit. It’s corporate reputation is suffering. It is surely time for it to take down its fence, cut its losses, and go quietly into the night.

Grainger’s request for a Judicial Review of the refusal of their planning application on the Green Gap was rejected in the High Court on 31st October.

Mrs Justice Lang unequivocal dismissed the three legal points Grainger raised. She sided with the Secretary of State and a JR was not granted. The appeal verdict was upheld.

Grainger did not seek leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal. We understand that they have 7 days to do so.

HELLO Drivers!

The Didcot Volunteer Centre is a registered charity, providing a transport service to local hospitals, clinics and other nearby destinations, to inhabitants of Didcot and the surrounding villages.

The only cost involved to the user is a contribution to the driver`s fuel expenditure, plus any parking charges incurred. The contribution is based on the round-trip mileage from the driver`s home, at a rate conforming with HMRC limits, and is paid directly by the passenger to the driver.

This year, the DVC celebrated its 30th anniversary and has catered for over 1500 journeys each year. The demands upon the limited resources are increasing every year.

The service relies upon a group of around 26 male and female drivers, using their own cars, of whom perhaps 50% are available at any one time. Our drivers have their own personal commitments and are not expected to be available on a full-time basis.

Some of our present drivers have been taking part in the service for over ten years and enjoy the social contact with our passengers. Similarly, we have regular feed-back from passengers who appreciate our services. However, people retire, move or cease driving for the service, for a number of reasons, and there is always a shortage of volunteers. For this reason, the DVC needs to maintain its list of drivers at a level where the demands placed can be satisfied.

In short, this is an appeal for people to offer their time as drivers and join our list of volunteers. It must be pointed out, this is not an onerous commitment – if a driver is available, fine. If a driver cannot attend on occasion, well that`s fine too.

More information can be obtained from our office in Mereland Road, Didcot, by telephoning 01235 816709,
between 1000 and 1200hrs on Mondays to Fridays.

M I Page

For the DVC Committee
www.didcotvolunteercentre.org.uk
didcotvolunteercentre@talktalk.net

The DVC is supported by its Clients, Oxfordshire County Council and the Didcot Town Council

Download the PDF document at the link below. Note this is a very large document, so please expect it to take a while to download.

East_Hagbourne_Village_Character_Assessment_Final

Below is a download link to the Didcot Garden Town Plan which is very encouraging to East Hagbourne residents. Please engage with your support for it.

Summary

• Green Gap – Grainger and Nurton shown as green buffer.
• Catesby – shown as green buffer
• Greenlight – shown as woodland

Download Didcot Garden Town Plan

Thank you for everyone’s help in organising the fete and turning up to support it.  A special thank you to the fete committee: Denise, Trevor, Susanah, Michelle and David.

The context is that an application by the developers for a screening opinion on an Environmental Impact Assessment is needed.

Your comments are to be submitted by 9th June at:
http://www.gld-public-consultations.co.uk/east-hagbourne/#have-your-say

A planning application will follow later and at that time we (the village & Council) will make more detailed comments.

Here is the Parish Council’s  formal reply to SODC in regards to this initial proposal :

Although the size of the proposed development is beneath the normal size required for an EIA, we feel that the sensitivity of the location coupled with the size of the development should require the developers to produce a formal Environmental Impact Assessment. The reason being that the proposed development is situated directly opposite this Village School but adjacent to the School sports field which would require  the children to have to cross the access road to the proposed development twice every time that they visited the sports field. This area of the village is already very congested and potentially hazardous particularly between 8.15 and 9.00 when pupils are arriving at the school, villagers are leaving the village to go to work, and the commuter traffic is adding to the congestion. A development of anything like this scale would clearly be unsustainable and have a very severe impact on the local environment as well as occupying land that may be needed for future community use. We therefore submit to the planning office that a full EIA must be required before any possible development on this site could be considered.

The Hagbourne Fun Run and Walk 2017 results are now available to download:

• Mens Provisional Results 2017
• Ladys Provisional Results 2017