Focus on Parishes with Cllr Sally Povolotsky (Hendreds & Harwell)

June 2021 (sent 1st June 2021)

Welcome to my monthly update. Going forward I will be sharing a regular update in the first week of every month. In the interests of transparency and sharing good ideas I will be sharing this update publicly as well as with parish councils in Hendreds & Harwell division, as well as snippets on my Facebook and Councillor Website.

I believe change and transparency is needed in local and national politics, and I will be organising a 1:1 with all Parish Council chairs. The purpose is we will have a quarterly catch up and also I will copy all Chairs and Clerks into officer emails / escalations / communications on specific ‘RED LIST’ issues so that if I should be unavailable for any reason your empowered with contacts and data to help move things forwards.

Also on a matter of ‘process’ please just call me Sally, time for formalities to end.

In May I got to attend the Blewbury, Upton and Harwell Council meetings but sadly due to the timescales on the election and count I missed the others.

My regular local meetings will be…(as well as the OCC meeting schedule)

Monthly Parish Council Meetings – Monthly

Sustainable Harwell, Blewbury and HUGS meetings as well as Hendreds Environment Group and Ardington Toad / Wildlife Group. – Monthly

Great Western Park Residents Association & Rowstock Residents Group – Monthly

Hendreds & Harwell Youth Assembly – LAUNCH 6th June 2021

If there are meetings you would like to request my presence please get in touch:

sally.povolotsky@oxfordshire.gov.uk 

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OCC news:

Lib-Dems and Greens form alliance with Labour: Following the spectacular results of the May elections to Oxfordshire County Council, the Lib-Dems and Greens have formed a single political group, with 24 seats in total in the council chamber. Together with the support of Labour, we have formed the Oxfordshire Fair Deal Alliance and form a majority administration. Liz Leffman, Lib Dem, has been selected as leader of the council. Please note there is still an outstanding disputed seat in Banbury given incorrectly, this is now being raised at Electoral Court.

Cllr Sally Povolotsky focused on serving residents: As a first time councillor I have chosen not to put myself forward for a cabinet position and focus all attention on serving the residents of Hendreds & Harwell division, given the huge amount of work needed locally and the Valley Park development. As part of the Oxfordshire Fair Deal Alliance I am sitting on the Performance Scruitiny Committee and also am the delegated Spokesperson for Climate / Environment

Councillor Priority Fund now open: Applications to the Councillor Priority Fund are now open. This is a fund of £15,000 to be used over two years on projects in Hendreds & Harwell division. My approach to using this fund will be to encourage applications early and spend the money as soon as possible. I see no point in eking out the fund over two years when it can be doing good in the community now. Sadly this used to be annual, but the previous budget approval has meant a change in priority funding, we hope this will change at the next budget and I have made my thoughts clear about the importance of this for grass roots organisations and groups to the Cabinet Member for Finance.

PUBLIC HEALTH / COVID

Please see attached Vaccine Report – Omitted for Public

Fire & Rescue – please see attached report – Omitted for Public

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Parish round up

Not all parishes are covered – below are the main updates I have received / been working on. More parishes will be added as I attend meetings next month.

Row-stock

• Noise / Vibration / Traffic: I have received many emails from concerned residents around the issues in and around Rowstock, I have also met with several residents to discuss this in person. The Priority points for now are 1) Milton Park Interchange remove the Harwell Campus sign so all traffic comes through Chilton Sliproad. 2) Need for regular communications between HPC and EHPC, have requested a quarterly residents meeting. 3) Noise and Vibration – speed consultation needed and in areas around the hamlet. 4) Truck Festival concerns (a meeting has been requested by me to the organisers and I will engage Rowstock and Steventon in this. 5) Worries over the ‘Smilies’ and new speed logging devices locally.

Steventon

• I really enjoyed my 1:1 with the Chair of Steventon PC and we meet on 1st June, there is a list of outstanding issues, including the ‘Spring Water Leak’ which must take a priority due to the tardiness of resolution and another winter cannot go by as risks of a serious accident.

Highways

• State of Highways: I have also had allot of emails around the state of our roads and will be promoting Fix My Street as the first point of call, and also for Parishes to really get behind logging issues on the app / desktop page and even looking for ‘Super Users’ – Harwell has just got its first Super User

Harwell

• Harwell Village and Grove Road Speed Changes: At cabinet on Thursday, and checked with HPC and they are happy with the proposal – however I will be asking for a traffic survey / speed survey and to look at enforcement and possible calming measures on Grove Road. 20 is plenty in all our villages and I hope you will join me in trying to get all our villages as safe as we can!

Valley Park

• Outstanding Matters: The parish council and other stakeholders and councillors attended a developers meeting about outstanding matters. I felt this was a good start, although compromises will be needed and I await the official Parish and District responses. I held a meeting with OCC Highways over traffic flow concerns and am still pending a copy of the Traffic Audit – as these seem high which makes me wonder on other developments in the next 20-30yrs – I am still trying to explore this.

Traffic Calming

• Traffic calming: a Fellow Cllr attended a meeting with the main topic of discussion being an innovative trial of traffic calming measures in Cuxham village that will focus on narrowing the road in certain places with the use of planters and extending verges, and a 20 mile an hour limit. I am following this trial closely to see how other parishes can replicate it within our Division.

Featherbed Lane / Esso Planning:

• State of Play: I would advise all residents concerned to discuss with their local District Councillor and to file an objection or a support through the Vale of White Horse Planning Portal – the case is P21/V1171/FUL

Truck Festival

• Concerns: I have received several concerns by elderly residents about Truck and Covid transmission risks, I am meeting with organisers next week to discuss. 
• Congestion and Traffic / Noise: This is also on the list to discuss with organisers next week.

Travellers Incursion

• GWP: Last week a group of travellers took up residence on the H&H side of GWP, thanks to some swift team work from residents, the GWPRA, OCC travellers team, myself and the Police, we had enough to get Taylor Wimpey to Evict within 29hours! 
• Prevention: I am trying to get a meeting with Taylor Wimpey & GWPRA to discuss preventative measures previously bought fords to prevent this weak spot being used again.

Upton

• NHS / GP Services: Huge concerns over wait times and lack of provision. The GWP / Valley Park issue was discussed and I am asking for a meeting with the Cabinet Member for Health to look at a roaming service using local village halls / community centres to ease the concerns until new facilities are built, staffed and in use. Please do download the NHS app – this is very handy for e-consult and your Covid vaccine records and pharmacy requests.
• Nature Garden: I am a huge supporter and as such have advised the group to apply for funding from my priority pot for a Micro Orchard

END

As I am sure you can imagine there is much more than this, but no one needs War & Peace!

Speak soon

Sally

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