Oxcam Expressway Corridor Decision

Posted on September 12, 2018March 17, 2019 by dorchadmin

Good morning everyone

We have been informed by Highways England that the Government has announced their Expressway Corridor decision this morning – there has been a Ministerial Statement in Parliament, and the Highways England website has been updated with some details and a map, Please look at their website on the link below for the information:

MAP AND STATEMENT ARE ON THE LINK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/route-announced-to-unlock-full-potential-of-englands-economic-heartland

PETER RUTT / EAG CO-ORDINATOR

Update on the OxCam Expressway

Posted on September 4, 2018March 17, 2019 by dorchadmin

The following are extracts from a letter to the Parish Council the Expressway Action Group received on 6 August. More recent information may be available before Dorchester News is published.
“A letter from Kit Malthouse, Minister of State for Housing has been obtained The clear message from this letter is that the Expressway project and its associated 1,000,000 new homes appear to be going ahead, with Government support. Our local authorities have just been given 6 weeks until the 14th September to prepare and submit proposals for ‘new settlements’ along the OxCam Arc, to try and achieve the 1 million new homes target. Oxfordshire’s ‘pro-rata’ share of this total would be around 300,000 more homes, effectively doubling the County’s population in just 20 – 30 years (this is on top of the 100,000 new homes already planned for construction in the current Local Plan by 2031). These ‘new settlements’ would presumably also influence where the Expressway would go.

We believe this is both unachievable and undemocratic, since there won’t be time to consult Councillors on any plan which Council officers might prepare. Any plans for a large or very large settlement should involve proper environmental, habitat, transport and services studies before a sensible decision on location and size could be made. Clearly they could not be carefully worked out in just 6 weeks – New Towns take years to plan, not weeks!

There would certainly not be time to ask all Oxfordshire residents if they want a New Town (or towns) built here, nor for any public debate on where it might go.

Many of our member parishes are in the South Oxfordshire District Council area, and we know that SODC full Council have voted and formally resolved that any Expressway route / corridor should run West of Oxford and via Bicester. SODC and its officers should therefore oppose any large new settlements / towns in lands to the South of Oxford – but I would suggest that as many of us as possible write to them asking them to respect and conform with that Council resolution, and not to propose any new settlements there to the Minister.

For everyone: can I ask you to read the Minister’s letter, circulate it as widely as possible and write to your District and County Councillors, your MP and to the District and County Council leaders to express your surprise and great concern?”

Best Regards
Chris Hill

Dorchester on Thames Housing Survey

Posted on July 7, 2018March 17, 2019 by dorchadmin

Message to all Dorchester residents!

Please don’t forget to fill in and return the Housing Survey, which was circulated with the recent edition of the Dorchester News.

Following on from the successful Neighbourhood Development Plan referendum in March, we need to find out more about housing needs and intentions in our village.

In most cases the survey only takes a few minutes to complete.

The survey is being organised with the assistance of Community First Oxfordshire (CFO), a charity that works with and supports communities across the County.

If you haven’t got the questionnaire, need assistance with completing the form or additional survey forms please contact:
Tom McCulloch at CFO: tom.mcculloch@communityfirstoxon.org Phone 01865 883488.

EAG NEWS/PHOTOCALL NOTICE – Time for Action is NOW!

Posted on April 11, 2018March 17, 2019 by dorchadmin

Thursday 12^th April at 10.30 am, at Rippon College, Cuddeson and Denton, Oxon OX44 9EX

Please join us to meet supporters of the EAG including councillors and representatives from many of the 34 Parishes that now make up the EAG membership protesting against the OxCam Expressway in the beautiful Cuddeson valley which would be affected by all three of the possible corridors being considered by Highways England without any proper public consultation. Dorchester could also be affected by the routes depending on the final choice by Highways England this summer. This is your chance to be in the news for this good cause.

Meet in the car park at Rippon College, where we will then go to a vantage point over Cuddesdon valley which has terrific views over the Thame valley, and is now heavily flooded. Cuddesdon is approximately 100 feet above river, so great views over the valley.

Expressway Action Group – urgent request for action

Posted on January 30, 2018March 17, 2019 by dorchadmin

The group, of which Dorchester is a member, held a “Stakeholder Engagement” meeting with Highways England’s team and their Engagement contractors Jacobs in late December. Because Highways England recognise that the Expressway Action Group represent a large number of communities across Oxfordshire and beyond and have a wide range of issues of concern re the Expressway, they have given EAG a special status alongside the ‘Environmental’ groups they are consulting. This allows us to bring evidence to them on the O2C Expressway’s impact in economic, amenity, growth and other areas as well as our important Environmental / Wildlife evidence.

They have opened an email address for us, so that we can submit evidence directly to the Highways England experts who are studying the 3 proposed Corridors for possible O2C Expressway routes: we are already submitting evidence using this new portal, including environmental data as they become available.This gives EAG and its member communities and their environment / wildlife friends direct access to the technical team at Highways: so we want to maximise this opportunity to affect O2C corridor and route choice – and we need your help.

We have been asked by Highways to gather as much information on important wildlife habitat areas, heritage sites and other risk areas and places which an Expressway would harm, either directly or by running nearby within the ’Noise Footprint” which a major dual-carriageway / motorway-standard road would generate.

Can I therefore ask all of you to speak to your, neighbours and friends within your Parish, and draw up a list of important locations in the parish which would be impacted by an O2C through / past your community: this needs to be in the form of a list giving details of each site / heritage building, plus a map showing those sites.

Please note, the evidence has to be based on objective data and should ideally be validated by one of the recognised Oxfordshire wildlife organisations: they may be willing to help you with data on your local key wildlife areas.

These include important Heritage sites – for example, here in Dorchester-on-Thames we would want to include Dorchester Abbey on the list of sites threatened by Noise pollution: we would list the Abbey and give a short description of its huge historical importance etc. There will undoubtedly be many Heritage sites and buildings which Highways team may overlook if we don’t tell them…!

We have very little time to gather this information – if we don’t get it to Highways England by the weekend of the 3rd February, we may miss the boat. Anyone able to make a submission should tryto get a map and list of sites back to us by the 3rd February: that will give us a few days to collate everything and submit it for inclusion. Please note, YOUR SUBMISSIONS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, AND COULD SAVE YOUR COMMUNITY FROM THE EXPRESSWAY’S IMPACT – so please do what you can!

Dawn McGiveron in the Baldons is kindly helping us by gathering all this data together: please send your responses back to her marked “EAG Evidence Pack from Dorchester on Thames Parish” at dawn@mcgiveron.co.uk as soon as it’s ready.

On the wider campaign there is an opportunity to meet the Treasury Minister on the 6th Feb in Whitehall, to make EAG’s case: we are also meeting John Howell MP and Ed Vaizey MP on the 2nd Feb to do the same (many thanks to Cllr Lynda Atkins and Cllr Lorraine Lindsey-Gale for setting up the Howell / Vaizey meeting).