The Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum Steering Committee met on 22 October 2021, and made the following recommendations for Community Projects to be allocated CIL funding. These recommendations will now be taken to the City Council by the local City Councillors. For more details, see the WNF website.
Defribrillator for Five Mile Drive / Lakeside area: Not recommended for funding. A34 sound survey: Not recommended for funding. John Rowland portrait and clock: Recommended for funding. Five Mile Drive notice board: Recommended for funding. Harbord Road traffic survey: Not recommended for funding. Blandford Avenue & Sunderland Avenue area traffic calming: Not recommended for funding at this stage. Cutteslow Park Woodland Trail: Recommended for funding. White Hart Pub & market garden): Recommended for funding. Davenant Road – traffic calming Phase 2: Not recommended for funding at this stage. Tree planting on Nixey’s Field): Recommended for funding. Lower Wolvercote playground improvement: Not recommended for funding at this stage. Godstow Road canal steps improvement: Application withdrawn.
From a communication from the Oxford North developers:
“Hill is preparing a Reserved Matters Application (RMA) for Canalside, part of Oxford North. Canalside forms the area to the south of the A40 and will deliver the first phase of new homes, public park, streets, and landscaping. As part of Oxford North’s continued community engagement, we invite you to join a public consultation event between 9am and 1pm on Saturday 27th November 2021 at Jurys Inn, Godstow Rd, Oxford. Here you can view our proposals and discuss the timescales for our application. Most importantly, we are seeking your views on the application and the project team will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.” “If you do plan to attend we are implementing a booking system to maintain social distancing and to reduce the risk of COVID spreading. Please email: oxfordnorth@hill.co.uk or phone: 0800 032 6760 to reserve an hour time slot. 9:00-10:00 10:00-11:00 11:00-12:00 12:00-1:00″
Applications for eleven projects in the WNF area were received in the first round (closing date 7th October). Comments from the community are encouraged to help the steering committee make decisions on funding. The deadline for comments to be received has been extended to 21st October 2021. See http://www.wolvercotenf.org.uk/cil-funded-projects/ for more details.
The application process is now open for the first round of funding for projects in the WNF area, funded by the Neighbourhood Portion of the Community Infrastructure Levy..
Information will shortly appear here about the application process, which is soon to be opened, for local projects funded by Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL ) money.
…That was the term used when the plan was officially accepted by the full City Council on 23rd June 2012, following the referendum landslide. It means that our Plan, like the Local Plan, now has to be considered in deciding planning applications. It also means that the community is entitled to a larger share of the money from local developments. If you want to see how it happened on Wednesday 23 June look at the City Council’s YouTube channel. Christopher Hardman , Steering Committee Chair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY-6gwy0FuU: from 05:05
Work on Oxford North Phase One will start soon and construction will affect local residents. Now is the time to tell planners what you think about the detailed proposals and also what might be done to minimise damage to nature, pollution, congestion, and disturbance from noise. Everyone will be affected by proposals for soil movement and lorry movement on the A40, A44, and at the Wolvercote roundabout.
If you live in Goose Green Close, Rawson Close , Mere Road, Millway Close, the tops of Woodstock Road and Godstow Road, Linkside or Lakeside, you will want to look carefully at the proposals for the times and days on which work will be done and when deliveries to the site are proposed.
The West Area Planning Committee two days ago delayed making a decision, by seven votes to two, on the change of use application for the surgery space and workshops to flats until the next meeting. The Committee was seeking clarification of a number of issues. This provides a little time but there is no presumption that it means that an eventual decision will be to reject the planning application, perhaps quite the contrary. However, we will continue to do what we can and keep you in the picture.
Thanks again to all of you who commented to the Council on this planning application.
It will cost £2.62m to expand Wolvercote School and provide the school places needed by the 480 homes planned for Oxford North. The County Council, responsible for the provision of education, was clear that it would object to the planning application for the development unless the funding was secured. The City Council has now chosen to ignore the County Council’s objection and approve the application without making any provision for education funding.
The work of the Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum is done by the volunteers making up its Steering Committee: currently just ten of us. There is much going on at present in the WNF area:
We need more help.
What we do
We have created the Wolvercote Neighbourhood Plan, approved by residents in the 2021 referendum, and accepted by the City Council. We now monitor all developments and planning applications affecting the area. We respond and challenge when they threaten the vision for our area expressed in the Plan, and favoured by residents.
We access money from the ‘Community Infrastructure Levy’ that developers pay the City Council. We use this to provide financial support to local groups with projects improving community infrastructure. The amount of money available is growing, so there is great potential for new projects.
To do all this effectively, we try as hard as we can to keep in touch with our members (i.e. all residents) through publicity, social media, emails, periodic public meetings etc.
Come and join us
If you are a resident of the WNF area, and are interested in joining us in these tasks, please email us at wolvercotenf@gmail.com .
We especially need more help and expertise in local authority planning issues and communications (particularly social media).
