STOP! Save These Oxfordshire Parishes!

After the celebrations of our removal from the Western Corridor, what next? One way of protecting the area from future threats might be to extend the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Beauty to include those parts of our parishes which, because of their high landscape value, naturally belong within it.

STOP! believes there is a strong case for doing this, since in other areas the Chilterns AONB extends right to the river. Beautiful landscapes like that to be seen on the A4155 between Playhatch and Henley deserve protection and it is an anomaly that they are excluded. South Oxfordshire District Council is in full support of this proposal.

AONB reviews are undertaken by the Countryside Agency. Once a court case involving the New Forest is settled in around 18 months time it may be prepared to consider applications for boundary revision locally. It is hoped that all the STOP! parishes will take a vote at their Annual Parish Meetings which will record strong support for this move.

Subsequently STOP! hopes to be able to draw up a clear 'roadmap' for individual parishes which will describe when, how and to whom they can present the case for AONB enlargement.

We are no longer in the Western Corridor Sub-Region! This completely unexpected development is thanks to a vote on March 1st at the Regional Assembly. SODC Leader Councillor Ann Ducker put forward a motion for our removal. This was in spite of SEERA fears that taking the seven parishes (and part of Sonning Common) out of the Western Corridor would 'open the floodgates' to pressure for similar boundary changes elsewhere. The vote went ahead nonetheless and was won 44 votes to 29, on the basis that there was no significant housing development currently scheduled for the area and that it did not therefore fit with being in a development sub-region. SEERA's boundary for the Western Corridor will not include any part of Oxfordshire. Our thanks to Cllr Ducker and to all the others who have been working so hard for this change.

There are full details in a press release on the SODC website, which also confirms that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (John Prescott) still has a potential veto on the proposal: so vigilance will be vital, although the fact that the area was not due to yield any housing development may well be significant. Meanwhile it has been confirmed that the STOP! camapign will stand down with a recommendation that parish polls not go ahead.

The dates of parish meetings at which it is hoped parish polls will be proposed are:

Mapledurham: Parish Meeting 21st March 2006
Kidmore End: Parish Meeting 22nd March 2006 (to be confirmed)
Eye and Dunsden: Parish Meeting 23rd March at 7.30pm
Binfield Heath: Annual Parish Meeting 27th March 2006
Shiplake: Annual Parish Meeting 30th March.
Harpsden: Annual Parish Meeting 3rd April 2006 at 6.30pm

Whitchurch may be joining the campaign, date to be confirmed.

This is a new site for the STOP! campaign. Eight parishes in South Oxfordshire are seeking their removal from South East England Regional Assembly's Western Corridor Sub-Region. What this means is that these rural parishes, consisting of unspoilt countryside and picturesque villages, wish to be under the control of South Oxfordshire District Council and Oxfordshire County Council for planning, environment and future development.

If you live in Binfield Heath, Eye & Dunsden, Harpsden, Kidmore End, Mapledurham, Shiplake, Sonning Common or Whitchurch parish we think it is vitally important you find out more about the Parish Poll which we hope will be held on April 27, 2006.

You can do this by following the links on this page. Please let us know what YOU think by leaving your comments. To be told when this site updates, you may also wish to sign up for our email newsletter by adding your address in the box on this page.

Oxford Mail of 6 February reports that South Oxfordshire District Council may be abolished as part of the Government's move towards regionalisation. Minister David Milliband sees two-tier authorities as inefficient. The STOP! campaign believes that local government should continue to be just that - close to the people it serves.

Dates for parish meetings were confirmed at last night's meeting of the STOP! group. It is hoped these meetings will enable people to have their say in a poll on April 27: do we want to remain in SEERA's Western Sub-Region for planning and future development or do we wish to be returned to the Oxfordshire area?

Parish polls are a century old mechanism that give the people a voice. SEERA is run from Guildford: miles away from South Oxfordshire. Unless we vote on April 27 how else will they know what we think?

The STOP! group is concerned that if we are included in an area that includes Reading and is mostly in Berkshire it may make it easier to absorb us into Reading in the future. Reading desperately needs land for housing development. The STOP! group feel that our beautiful countryside should be protected from this pressure.

It is hoped that Whitchurch parish will soon join Binfield Heath, Eye & Dunsden, Harpsden, Kidmore End, Mapledurham and Shiplake in this campaign. Follow the links to the left to view the flyers for the campaign.

What do you think? You can leave your comments by clicking on 'Comments' below.

At a cabinet meeting this week Oxfordshire County Council decided to write to the South East England Development Agency to express its opposition to SEEDA's division of the county into inner and outer south east zones. Whilst this has no direct relevance to our campaign against the inclusion of six South Oxfordshire parishes within SEERA's Western Corridor development sub-region, it is further evidence of the growing influence of regional planning on all our lives. For more information, see the large scale map in the links section, which is taken from SEEDA's 'Review of Regional Economic Strategy for South East England 2006 – 2016'. This document is out for public consultation and available from their website.