July 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.

https://hendredsandharwell.mycouncillor.org.uk

Facebook – sally4hendredsandharwell

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

sally.povolotsky@oxfordshire.gov.uk 

***************************************************************************

OCC news:

Cllr Sally Povolotsky OCC News – I discussed in my first briefing some of the committees I am on, and also I have been added to the Adoption Panel and we have our first locality group meeting in July. I am also assisting the Cabinet member for Climate and Environment on future strategy and several concepts, schemes and priority areas in which I have knowledge and experience. I look forward to sharing this!

Hendreds & Harwell Youth Assembly was inspiring, young people are the key to out recovery in every possible way. I hope to organise another in August, outdoors (hopefully at Chilton or Blewbury) and will publish details accordingly.

News items and newsletters – I have several requests for items for newsletters, and I am hoping we can keep news regular and current, and as a new administration move matters along faster than ever. Being aware of the speed and so things don’t end up ‘old hat’, can I ask that a simple publishing of the below is in each of your publications and you then save vital space for far more exciting community news!

————-START

Oxfordshire County Councillor – Councillor Sally Povolotsky (Hendreds & Harwell Division)

Hello Residents, making more changes, in order not to fill up your fantastic newsletters and bulletins with my ramblings, please find everything you need on my channels below. I am always around, approachable and here to listen, just reach out! 

Take care and Stay Safe, Sally.

Find Latest News and Information online here – https://hendredsandharwell.mycouncillor.org.uk

Find Daily updates / news and events on Facebook here – @sally4hendredsandharwell

Share your community news on our new GROUP on Facebook – SEARCH – Hendreds & Harwell Community Official – where we can share events / news and ideas together

You can whats app / call me on – 07939 912997

You can email me on – sally.povolotsky@oxfordshire.gov.uk

————-END

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.

I am pleased to have awarded EWHCC £1500 towards a youth engagement piece to encourage girls and women into cricket which builds on their All Stars and Dynamos success – please see website for more details.

PUBLIC HEALTH / COVID

Over the past few weeks, we have been keeping a very close eye on increases in new COVID-19 cases, particularly in relation to the Delta variant. In the seven days up to 18 June, there has been a total of 422 confirmed new cases in Oxfordshire, which is an increase of 49 per cent compared with the previous week. This is equivalent to a weekly rate of 61 per 100,000 residents. The sharpest increases continue to be in Oxford City and South Oxfordshire, where the weekly rates currently stand at 78.1 and 71.8 respectively. Across the county, 18 to 29-year-olds account for approximately 50 per cent of all new cases.

To help address this rise in cases and enable people to access vaccination services more easily, we have developed a five-point plan for Oxfordshire, which is being implemented by local authority and health partners with the support of volunteers.

This plan will see us:

1.      Target areas in Oxford City and South Oxfordshire where cases are rising rapidly

2.      Target younger age cohorts, particularly those aged 18 to 24

3.      Use pop-up clinics in key locations to encourage greater levels of uptake

4.      Use our vaccine supply as effectively as we can, for example by moving available vaccine to areas where we know it is needed and by offering a mixture of booked appointments and walk-in slots to maximise usage

5.       Encourage take-up of the vaccine through a concerted communications push.

As part of this action plan, we will be doing the following:

·         Increasing our vaccine supply to local vaccination sites in Didcot

·         Holding ‘Super Saturday’ events at the Leys Health Centre in Oxford, with increased numbers of slots available on Saturday 26 June and Saturday 3 July for those who have booked appointments and for walk-ins

·         Running pop-up vaccination clinics at venues in Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University, starting from today (23 June)

·         Running pop-up clinics at large employers who have a younger age workforce, starting from 5 July

·         Running mobile vaccination clinics using our Health on the Move van, starting from 5 July – the schedule for which will be confirmed shortly.

We will be working with the local authority outreach teams, the universities and local employers to raise awareness of these additional clinics, and we will be supplementing this with direct messaging via social media, advertising and leaflet drops.

How can you help?

We would be very grateful for your help in continuing to promote the benefits of vaccination and encouraging everyone aged 18 and over to get vaccinated. This includes the importance of people having a second dose to maximise protection from the virus and to stop the spread. The first dose of the vaccine will give some notable protection two weeks after people have had it, while you need two doses for stronger and longer-lasting protection. So please do encourage your constituents to take up their invitation for a second dose. 

If you hear of anyone struggling to book an appointment through the national booking service, then please do encourage them to try again. With eligibility for the vaccine now extended to everyone aged 18 and over, we know the booking system is very busy. But more appointments are being made available on a regular basis and so people should keep trying.

Thank you for your continued support with the vaccination programme, which is playing such a critical role in keeping our communities safe.

Highways

• REMINDER – 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 – I encourage all Parishes to find their Super User and start logging the issues. 

***************************************************************************

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. Please note on Highways Issues I am operating a RAG list – Red, Amber, Green, with Red being severe risk to life / incident etc.

Rowstock – (EH & HPC)

• Rowstock Review Study – I have now seen the first draft and phase 1 plans for the Rowstock review, and will discuss with the EHPC and HPC Chairs accordingly. The Purpose of the study Is to 1. Facilitate the delivery of transport network improvements to enable proposed growth in housing and employment in the Wantage & Grove and Didcot Growth areas. 2. Understand the issues and agree key scheme objectives, and 3. Identify potential solutions and ultimately a preferred scheme. Option Developments have been completed prior to this study. The study is just passing Stage 1 option development and moving into further appraisal and feasibility design. The review does have active travel and public transport at the heart of the solutions. I have had a chat with the officers engaged and made it clear this doesnt go far enough, and that we also need to talk about surfaces that reduce noise and vibration as well as reducing traffic from the schemes and car ownership from new housing. 
• Rowstock Residents are looking at creating an official residents association.
• We have also seen sight of a ‘Innovation Village’ proposal for Rowstock. This has been flagged with my upmost concern to VOWH colleagues. Please bare in mind this is an early stages proposal, in light of the VOWH Local Plan 2041 requests.

Steventon (SPC)

• We are still pushing the Steventon Hill water issue and I have been in talks with the Director and Assistant Director on Highways around the issue and despite also the email from MP David Johnston, I am still pending a response I feel leads to a solution. My next step is to fully engage the Cabinet member for Highways who is aware but asked me to follow the current process. I have been keeping the SPC chair abreast of updates and correspondence. – UPDATE SCHEDULED FOR EARLY AUGUST
• I received a distraught email from a Causeway resident about a planning case that was overturned (was rejected by VOWH) and I am pleased to say, with some speed, I got her the advice and information needed so she can be assured she can live in her home and enjoy her home without fears of the unknown. OCC officers were very speedy with responses and information.
• Sadly Truck Festival was cancelled due to Roadmap concerns. I spoke to the organisers and our Public Health / SAG teams around the event and will stay engaged ready for 2022!

Harwell (HPC)

• Had a good 1:1 with HPC chair and we agreed a priority list to work on.
  • Spoke with our Highways Supervisor who sadly has been on compassionate leave, about Reading Road / Overgrown hedges. The resident is a persistent offender and sadly there is no enforcement back up, which I am now going to look into. THIS HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY TRIMMED AND HIGHWAYS ARE LOOKING FOR MORE ACTION AND ENFORCEMENT
  • Reading Road Crossing needs to be reviewed urgently and I have emailed officers and a provisional discussion has started positively. HELD ON SITE MEETING WITH SENIOR HIGHWAYS OFFICER AND SENT RESIDENTS DATA AND REQUESTS
  • Am pending information on the Grove Road Consultation
  • We have a Valley Park meeting on 8th July with OCC and DC around the 5 arm roundabout (see below)
  • Discussions about the Far Field on the Rec and a Wildmeadow plan, to which I am going to make priority funds available towards this scheme.

Valley Park Proposal (VP)

• DC and OCC Meeting – Highways and Planning is due to take place on 8th July and I am pleased to say a key cabinet member has agreed to attend with me so we can ensure the new Alliance mantra on Active Travel is heard and planned for!
• I have bought up Valley Park with several of my OCC colleagues and cabinet members around the design scheme, active travel, ecology and biodiversity and major concerns that learning from GWP is taken on board, as well as aspirations for a Low Traffic Neighbourhood. The new Alliance is agreed we need to be bold and take risks, if we want change and a better place to live for our residents.

Upton (UPC)

• Sustrans Upton Route – I and my District Councillor colleagues received several communications on the Sustrans project, just a reminder the scheme was approved under the previous administration back in March 2021 – details are here – https://mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=931&MId=6043  SECTION 8 – further correspondance needs to goto the Ombudsman accordingly.

Chilton (CPC)

• Please note the Hagbourne Hill concerns are under investigation and details were sent to the clerk accordingly after the meeting. I appreciate the continued information but there is very little that will influence the investigation now, and officers do take on data from the Police / Incidents / Highways and Fix my street data. 
• There was a fatal road traffic collision (RTC) last November followed by a serious RTC a matter of days afterwards in the same area.
• OCC Highways carried out an immediate quick fix by reinstating the ruts with layered compacted roadstone and Officers in our Asset Management Team are now investigating the possibility of a more permanent solution, localised road widening perhaps.
• Adoption of Chilton fields – response sent to clerk but the issue sits with Land Registry and the Developer.

East Hendred – No Cases

West Hendred – No Cases

Ardington and Lockinge (ALPC)

• Investigating TOAD signs for the crossing hot spots with Highways Team
• I can confirm that OCC Officers have contacted both Milestone and Solagen to request updated quotations for the installation of ‘Wig-Wag’ flashing beacons and associated ‘children’ warning signage on the A417 at Ardington, OCC officers also confirm that upon receipt of said updated quotations they will place orders for the works.

Great Western Park Residents Association (GWPRA) 

• Trying to get a meeting with all stakeholders over the recent travellers incursion and access / reducing opportunity for offroad driving / land access. Ongoing – pending reply from developers.
• Ongoing push for Health Care provision, now raising with the HOSC new chair and fellow backbenchers and will push this as a motion / agenda item for urgent discussion.

END

As I am sure you can imagine there is much more than this, but no one needs War & Peace! I would ask all Chairs if they would like to contact me for 1:1’s at their convenience and also check that Clerks are receiving my communications as some Parishes are very quiet?

Please note I am away from 8th July – 19th July and have sent apologies for meetings accordingly, those online I will endeavour to dial into. 

Speak soon

Sally

   Leave a comment