Welcome to the website for the village of Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire, England. Within these pages you will find information on the village, the Parish Council and its activities, a directory of local businesses and services, information on clubs and groups, and lots of other things too.
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A reminder that the draft of the revised Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) went out to its first statutory consultation at the beginning of August.
Residents have until 11th September to comment on the plan. All the documents, can be viewed here:
http://www.longwittenham.com/revised-ndp-reg-14-draft-july-2018/
Please send comments to peter.rose@longwittenham.com.
The draft documents were completed in April 2018 but there were delays, in particular awaiting the completion of the Strategic Environmental Assessment which was carried out by an outside body.
The original NDP was not given much weight at the planning inquiry in November 2017 when the Kler homes plan was examined by an inspector. The main reason for this was that the NDP did not specifically allocate sites for housing development (following advice from SODC). The parish council was advised that a revision of the plan with an allocation of sites for housing would give the village more certainty against new planning applications in the future.
The revised plan includes most of the policies contained in the original plan: the community hub, design requirements for any new housing, housing mix, community infrastructure list, parking and the environmentally sensitive zone along Fieldside all remain.
In addition, the revised plan now allocates sites for housing. The sites are the community hub site with supporting housing, the site with existing planning permission at the end of Fieldside and the existing school and village hall sites. The parish council has also added a policy on footpaths and cycle paths and two new policies to protect the countryside outside of the current built area and the views in and out of the village.
Parish Councillor Peter Rose who heads the NDP Steering Committee said: “We still have a little way to go, as there are a number of statutory steps before we can hold the public referendum for the plan. Once the current consultation is complete, we will need to review and address any responses received, before submitting the final draft to SODC.”
The target date for submission of the plan to the district council is the end of September. Once given approval by SODC, there is a further six week consultation period by the district council. There is then an independent examination of the submitted plan which is expected to start within two weeks following the district council’s consultation.
The independent examiner will determine whether the plan should proceed to public referendum. Some of these stages are open ended, so it is difficult to give a referendum date at this stage.
Mr Rose said: “We have worked really hard to complete the revision as soon as possible. However, I share the frustrations expressed by others that it has taken longer than predicted. This is mainly due to circumstances beyond our control. I would like to thank Andrea Pellegram, our professional advisor who has worked tirelessly to get us to this stage.”
“The addition of a policy on allocating sites for housing and the policies protecting our surrounding countryside should give the plan more certainty against speculative development in the future.”
Long Wittenham Parish Council needs to recruit new members. Currently, there are five councillors, two short of the recommended number. Could you provide a voice for people living in the village?
The parish council is involved in many key areas of local administration: representing residents, delivering services to meet Continue reading
The August edition of the Thames Valley Police Wallingford Sector Neighbourhood Team Newsletter is available to read here.
Another in our occasional series showing images and items of interest from Long Wittenham’s past.
This time, two photographs of No. 15 High Street: the first taken in 2016 and the second taken sometime before 1900 when it was the village police house. Standing at the gate is Mrs Thatcher, wife of the village policeman P.C. Thatcher. Continue reading
The Long Wittenham Neighbourhood Development Plan that was made in October 2017 has now been reviewed and revised. The Parish Council invites all residents (as well as external consultees) to comment on the current draft of this revision as part of the Regulation 14 consultation.
The documents can be viewed here: Continue reading
Headington School is seeking planning permission to build a boathouse on Maddy Moorings, the land between High Street and the River Thames towards Clifton Hampden. Headington is an independent girls’ school in Oxford, founded in 1915.
The parish council recently met with representatives from the school, the planning agent and the architects to discuss the plans which include a two storey Continue reading
The parish council has been asked to let residents know that the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group is asking anyone who might be interested in the development of a new Older People’s Strategy for Oxfordshire, including professionals and older people, to share their views on what is important to people as they age.
The new Oxfordshire’s Older People’s Strategy 2019-2023 will outline how all health and Continue reading
Residents will be pleased to hear that the parish council have been advised that West Waddy and Lagan Homes have withdrawn their planning application to build twenty-nine houses on the field next to Bodkin’s.
The reasons for the withdrawal have not been made public but the fact that Oxfordshire County Council recently objected to the plans must have had a significant influence. Continue reading
Time is running short to register your objection with Oxfordshire County Council over the latest moves to establish a sand and gravel quarry on land near Clifton Hampden. The closing date is Monday 30th July. Hills Quarry Products has revised its plans following the county planning committee’s decision last November to reject by an overwhelming majority the company’s original proposals.
The main opposition group Bachport (Burcot & Clifton Hampden for the Protection of the Continue reading
Download the latest edition of Oxfordshire Matters, the county council’s monthly newsletter here.
