Cllr Keith R Mitchell CBE
This page was last updated
29-01-2011
Date
The views expressed in this Blog are mine and do not necessarily represent County Council policy
27/07/10
Adderbury Parish Council The Parish Council met tonight. I had to send apologies due to late meetings at County Hall. Attached is my County Council report to the Parish Council.
21/07/10
Bodicote Parish Council The Parish Council met tonight. I had to send apologies because I was addressing a group of leading business people at County Hall. Attached is my County Council report and Lynda's District Council report to the Parish Council.
15/07/10
Cherwell Planning Committee Decisions Good news and bad news:
Adderbury: Bad news, in my opinion but not necessarily all Adderbury villagers. I am afraid Application No 10/00512/OUT has been refused. This was for 35 houses and was linked with an offer of land to create football pitches and a pavilion. Although I thought the density was too high and the parking provision insufficient, I thought the offer for footballers was a good one and have consistently supported this proposal. Some villagers, mainly in the vicinity of the proposed site, have been strongly opposed to this application and they seem to have won. An opportunity for a good sporting facility in the village has been lost.
Bodicote: Good news and almost universally applauded in Bodicote. Application No 10/00558/OUT for 86 houses at Cotefield Farm has been withdrawn just before it was to come before Planning Committee with a recommendation for Refusal.
14/07/10
Gallagher's "Public Consultation" Gallaghers are the developers who have persuaded Cherwell District Council to give planning permission for more than 1,000 houses, almost all of them in the Parish of Bodicote to the east of the Oxford Road.
I have now discovered, with the help of Bodicote Parish Council and largely by accident, that Gallaghers are holding a "Public Consultation" in the Banbury Castle Quay shopping centre on 16 to 18 July. Their failure to give any real notice is disgraceful and their decision to hold this in Banbury when the development impacts directly on Bodicote residents is deplorable. I am afraid we would have expected nothing better from this developer.
If you can attend, I suggest you ask them:
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will the parking provision on this estate be adequate? How many car spaces will there be for each bedroom and, given that most people use their garage to provide for inadequate storage space in their home, will the parking provision discount garage space? |
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will social rented housing be "pepper-potted" around the development or will it be concentrated in ghettos? |
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will the primary school for this site be opened on Day One when the first resident moves in? If not, why not and when will the primary school be open? |
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what attempt will the developer make to create an estate that is separate from the Domesday village of Bodicote and how will they ensure the separate identify of Bodicote village is maintained? |
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what benefits can the villagers of Bodicote expect to see from Gallaghers in exchange for their joining to Banbury and their loss of a separate village identity and ethos? |
I encourage Bodicote villagers to attend this "public consultation" and to make their views known.
10/07/10
Our doctor's dispensing rights This is from a local Bloxham Constituent: Due to some archaic regulation, I and many other sickly people in Bloxham, cannot now obtain our medicine from the dispensary, adjacent to the surgery. Guess what? My pills are now delivered free to my door, on any day of the week, morning or afternoon, via a little van from Shipton-on-Stour. Great service, good luck to them but who pays for this, presumably an extra cost to the NHS? The oxymoron "joined up Government" springs to mind. There is no free lunch, I think we should be told
Monthly surgery
Second Saturday means it is my monthly surgery in the Horse & Groom Inn in Milcombe. I have one customer from Bodicote. Otherwise a quiet morning when I get on with various jobs, using the pub's excellent wi-fi.
Birthday celebrations Today was my birthday - 64 years young. We had a great "birthday babes" luncheon in Prezzos at Oxford Castle. This is for colleagues from or close to the County Council with a birthday in July. Those attending included me and Lynda; Charles Shouler and Pauline Liddington; Tony Baldry MP (just 60 on 10th July); John Howell MP; Meg Peacock (my trusty PA); Niina Kaariniemi (my trusty political researcher); Cllr Tony Crabbe (County Councillor for Benson Division) and Morgan Einon (policy officer for Hillingdon London Borough).
Milcombe Parish Council meets at the Village Hall from 8:00 pm on Tuesday 6 July 2010. I have to send my apologies because I shall be at the LGA Conference in Bournemouth but Lynda and I have filed our District Councillor's and County Councillor's reports which you can view by clicking on the links. Here is a link to the Milcombe Parish Council web site.
Bloxham Parish Council meets at the Parish Rooms from 7:30 pm on Monday 5 July 2010. I have to send my apologies due to commitments elsewhere but Lynda and I have filed our District Councillor's and County Councillor's reports which you can view by clicking on the links. Here is a link to the Bloxham Parish Council web site.
Housing on the north side of Milton Road I am being pressured by some individuals to withdraw my support for Planning Application No 10/00512/OUT by Timms Homes for 35 homes to the north of Milton Road. Timms are offering significant developer contributions to accompany this application and there are also on offer donations of land to enable the creation of a sports facility with a pavilion and football pitches for the local football club.
Some individuals have had the good manners to copy me in on their criticisms of my stance on this application. Other, gutless individuals, have criticised me in letters or e-mails without the good manners to copy me in but I am getting to see what they are saying.
There are some Adderbury villagers who are resolutely opposed to any more housing in the village. They are perfectly entitled to take this view but I do not think it is tenable. There is housing need across the South East and I believe all of us need to accept some housing growth, particularly if it is affordable and for local people.
Other Adderbury residents are opposed to any housing growth near to them and there are plenty of letters and e-mails saying "you will ruin this beautiful part of our village; please build them somewhere else in Adderbury".
I have worked for a long time with Adderbury Park Football Club, with Timms Builders and, while he was alive with John Harper and, more recently with Cllr Rick Atkinson. We believe the offer from Timms is a good one and will be beneficial to what is presently a thriving football club that is seriously constrained by its dependence on the Lucy Plackett Recreation Ground which is not an ideal venue for football.
I want to make quite clear my continuing support for this scheme. In the light of changes in national planning policy, I hope Timms might reduce the density slightly and increase the car parking provision now that Labour's absurd density and parking requirements have been swept away but I hope the overall scheme is approved and Adderbury can have a decent sporting facility for its young people..
Village
surgeries today:Bloxham, Ex-Servicemen's Hall from 9:30 am to 10:30 am; Bodicote, Church House from 10:45 am to 11:45 am; Adderbury, Church House from 12 noon to 1:00 pm; Milton, Black Boy from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.