Out& About
Your guide for your leisure time in & around Oxfordshire
pers.co.uk www.taylornewspa r 28 - Wednesday, October Thursday, Septembe
4, 2017
‘I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading’ Jane Austen woul d have enjoyed Henley Literary Festival and so can you
Witney, Carterton and Chipping Norton GROUP Thursday, September 28 - Wednesday, October 4, 2017
oxfordshireguardian.co.uk
ey Estates. For the sed courtesy of Wheatl This property showca
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The ramblings and discontent s of Jeremy Hardy
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Thousands join Memory Walk for charity
Taking to the sky for Play2Give fundraising jump
Pages 8&9
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avoid any distraction from its Local Plan, which sets out a framework for managing the development in the district. Cllr Mills said: “The Secretary of State has made it clear that where no Local Plan exists, the government will take control. “Having a Local Plan in place gives us control and so we will no longer be subject to often inappropriate planning applications that have been causing us so much concern.” Following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday last week, further suggested changes to the Local Plan will now be sent to the inspector. Former Labour parliamentary candidate Duncan Enright said the party ‘broadly’ supports the plan but that they want it to ‘go further’. A petition has been set up calling on WODC to use some of its reserves to build council housing and tackle the lack of affordable housing. The west Oxfordshire Labour Party want to raise 1,500 signatures so the petition would automatically be scheduled for council debate. Cllr Enright said: “We must get the local plan in as soon as possible – not having one is a problem. “One of the biggest problems in west Oxfordshire is housing and, in particular, affordable housing. We must provide the local need for housing.” The petition can be signed at tinyurl.com/yc5kpbmg
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THE district council has pledged to ‘stick to the plan’ and continue building thousands of homes, despite recent figures suggesting housing demand across the county has been over-estimated. Up to 84 fewer houses would need to be built each year in west Oxfordshire under new measures being proposed to calculate the amount of new housing required in each district. A new approach using government statistics based on projected housing growth and local affordability has been put forward that is expected to recommend the district provides 601 new homes a year. Currently this figure is between 635 and 685 annually. But West Oxfordshire District Council leader James Mills has re-emphasised the ‘urgent’ need for more homes in the area and stressed the importance of making sure the district’s Local Plan is put in place as quickly as possible. This means ignoring the latest proposed figures and continuing on with building 15,950 more homes by 2031, an average of 1,227 homes a year. If 84 fewer homes were to be built in the district each year from 2018 up to 2031 (13 years) there would be 1,092 fewer projected homes in west Oxfordshire. However, the council is keen to
Witney mayor Chris Woodward and the LibFest team celebrate their fundraising efforts in honour of Liberty Baker, inset THOUSANDS of pounds have been shared between charities following a record-fundraising festival in memory of a Witney teenager killed walking to school. The LibFest team praised the town’s generosity after revealing this year’s total of £33,000 – the most in its three years. LibFest was launched in 2015 to
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celebrate the life of Liberty Baker, a popular 14-year-old from Thorney Leys who died after being hit by a car in June the previous year while walking to Henry Box School with friends. This year’s charities receiving £11,000 each are Yellow Submarine, an Oxfordshire-based group which supports people with learning
disabilities and autism; The Teenage and Young Adults Cancer Fund at the Churchill Hospital in Headington; and Oxford-based child bereavement charity SeeSaw, which benefits every year. Robert Blackwell was sentenced to four years in jail in 2015 after admitting causing Liberty’s death by dangerous driving.
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