STOP! Save These Oxfordshire Parishes! - local_news

STOP! not in the sidings yet!

noreply@blogspirit.com (STOP!) — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:30:00 +0000

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.

Success! We are out of Western Corridor!

noreply@blogspirit.com (STOP!) — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:50:00 +0000

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.

Oxfordshire Cabinet opposes SEEDA zoning

noreply@blogspirit.com (STOP!) — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 11:35:00 +0000

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.