Thanks as ever to Dan Levy. You can contact him at
dan.levy@oxfordshire.gov.uk
News from County Hall
Following the elections on May 1, there is now a majority Lib Dem administration at Oxfordshire County Council.
There are two opposition groups with 12 members each, i.e. Labour and the Tory/ Independent/ IOA alliance. Unfortunately, the constitution of the county council never envisaged this happening, so both are the “official opposition”. They were offered the opportunity to come to an amicable agreement over splitting opposition roles and over sharing special responsibility allowances. However, that came to nothing and both groups have chosen to take the full allowances.
We need to amend the constitution, not least to save the £44k pa this is costing. In the meantime, the administration is getting on with the job it was elected to do.
Local Government Reorganisation
The government has now responded to the three possible options for setting up unitary arrangements for Oxfordshire. As expected, they demanded more details for each option. The City Council has released the map of its preferred expanded Oxford City – it takes nearly all of the Green Belt around Oxford, and key places like Kidlington and Culham.

It does not include Abingdon or Eynsham. It is hard not to think that it is an attempt to build on the green belt and to try to avoid too many Lib Dem voting areas. The other options are
a) a whole Oxfordshire unitary, which would avoid breaking up key services like Adult Social Care and Children’s Services and
b) a two-unitary option with Oxford City, West Oxfordshire and Cherwell in one unitary and Vale of White Horse, South Oxfordshire and West Berkshire in another.
The government will make the final decision. Whatever happens, we need to make sure that decisions are taken at as local a level as possible, especially for things like planning applications, and that there is an enhanced role for town and parish councils.
Buses
A new school service to Bartholomew from Standlake and Stanton Harcourt will be starting in September. The numbers of pupils using the service provided by First and Last Mile, who run a scheduled service, has increased to the point where a school-specific service can be provided by Pulhams and in which F&LM would have had to make a major investment in new buses. In turn this has called into question whether a scheduled “ordinary” bus route can be provided by F&LM. County officers are working to maintain a regular service from south of Eynsham.
The Witney to Oxford services run by Stagecoach (E1, S1 and S2) and Pulhams (H2) continue to offer an excellent service for Eynsham residents. The H2 is an excellent way to get to the JR or to the coaches to London, and it runs every 30 minutes.
Roads
The A40 Shores Green junction work is going well. You will have seen that huge amounts of earth need to be shifted to build the slipways. There will be some overnight closures of the route to Witney over the next month.
You will also see increased activity fixing our roads – for instance, the route to Stanton Harcourt has recently been re-laid. This is because of the record amount of money put in the budget for the year that commenced in April.
Local Cycling and Walking plan
OCC is working with the parish council, with residents and with local groups to develop a Local Cycling and Walking plan. This looks to improve the places in which there are obstacles to getting around and to prepare for bigger projects if the money becomes available. The emphasis is on routes within the village, but it will also draw attention to the routes between Eynsham and its neighbours, including the currently sub-optimal bridleways to South Leigh and to Stanton Harcourt.

Sue Osborne and Tricia Crowley joined a set of county council officers, and me, for a long walk around the village pinpointing areas to improve. There is time for residents to contribute by adding to the interactive map - consultation closes on 24 June.
Car access to Oxford
OCC is looking to introduce an interim version of the bus filters scheme, while Botley Road remains closed to motor vehicles at the station. This is designed to make bus travel quicker and has been called for by the two main bus companies.
Most of the features of the originally planned filter scheme have remained, but because of the removal of the Botley Road access to the city centre for cars, it has moved from a “penalty” scheme to a “pay for access” scheme. It will cost £5 per day to pass a camera point - but it remains possible to get to everywhere outside a very small area (including County Hall) by car, by choosing your route. The intention is to discourage the use of the city centre as a through route. £5 is of course less than the return bus fare.
There will be exemptions for small businesses that need to use the city, and a limited number of passes for residents. The charging period is proposed to be 7am to 7pm. A consultation on the proposed scheme will be launched in a few weeks