Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation
The government has produced the White Paper whereby changes to Local Government will take place leading to a combine mayoral authority being put in place across the country together with the end of two-tier authorities which effectively means the end of the district and county councils in 2007/8 being replaced by combined authorities of Oxfordshire and Berkshire with possibly Buckinghamshire with an elected mayor.
Sitting under this will be either a single county unitary in Oxfordshire delivering the services currently provided by the county and district or a two-tier unitary with Cherwell, West Oxfordshire, and Oxford City as one and the other South, Vale and West |Berkshire. A third option is also being explored commonly known as a 3 set of unitary authority with a greater Oxford with new boundaries, a reduced sized Cherwell and West and a South, Vale, and west Berkshire.
The government wants a proposal by November 2005 and a decision will be made by the government minister shortly after in 2026.
Parish and town councils we understand will remain largely as they are with possibly some extended responsibilities. (Awaiting further details)
Stonesfield
Signage (children crossing), line repainting and pavement build out are being considered in the Pond Hill / Church St / High Street to make roads safer for children and others going to Stonesfield Primary School. A site visit with residents, OCC Highways and the Head teacher and myself was held last week. Proposals to come forward with actions.
Judds Garage Junction black spot at A44: I am working with OCC officers to reconfigure the traffic at the junction in order to make it safer for motorists and to move the bus stop so a new bus shelter can be installed for bus users largely from the Wootton area. It may well be traffic lights will be considered. A full consultation will be undertaken once plans have been drawn up.
Woodstock
Doctors Surgery: The next meeting of the Strategic and Action group is taking place on March 27th when it is expected a footprint and agreement on funding of the surgery with location and feasibility results and next step agreed.
Coach and bus routing site visit is taking place in the vicinity of Cadogen Park, Princess Ride, Flemming Road and Shipton Road on 11 March. Cabinet member for transport, residents, OCC officer for transport and I will be in attendance to get a first-hand insight into the issues of street parking, coach, and bus drop offs and to come up with strategies and actions to mitigate the impacts.
Banbury Road: Road surfacing and verge repairs will take place towards the end of May.
The works outside The Feathers has now concluded and generators removed which had been giving residents considerable disturbance over at least 6 months. This took considerable effort but at least happily resolved.
Bladon
A site visit at Eagles lodge with Blenheim and residents affected by the flooding took place a few weeks ago with agreement on the work being carried out now for a bunding in the grounds of Blenheim being introduced to hold the water from Blenheim land and mitigating the flooding on Grove Road. Residents looked at mitigation measures with Blenheim affecting their properties.
Combe
Ongoing disturbances and damage to the green and verges/highway because of renovation works at Combe House has been reported to OCC highways and WODC for action. This has been deemed totally inconsiderate and unacceptable. Further updates will be reported.
Road repairs and resurfacing will be scheduled in the vicinity from the railway bridge and combe mill.
Andy Graham
Oxfordshire County Councillor
Andy.Graham@Oxfordshire.gov.uk