Charney Bassett Parish Council

The results of the March draw made on 17 March 2010 at Buckland Village Hall are as follows:-

Number Prize
1st prize      115     Colin McGuire            £25.00
2nd prize    101     Debbie Little               £10.00

David Nellist

BT have recently surveyed UK Telephone Boxes, those little used are being removed but not without first giving the community where each is located an opportunity for sponsorship or to purchase for . . . £1.

Charney Bassett Parish Council has bought ours for this princely sum and must now decide how best it can be utilized for us all. Kiosk will remain illuminated at night and will most probably be kept locked to help ensure the future content will not come to any harm.

Here is a list of things folk elsewhere are doing, but we would like you to have your say before the final decision is made.

Village Photograph Gallery

Flash Flooding Home for Sandbags 

Local wild life Information

Large Village Map Inside or on Rear

Into a “ TIP “ ie Tourist Information Place

An Exhibition Greenhouse

Lifesize “ Character/s Within “ ie Santa, Guy Fawkes & ???

 Should you have an idea or think one of those listed is appropriate please jot it down plus your name and address and give it to

Jos Bath Wayside Buckland Rd or Jim Harper The Moorings Barnfield

They are overseeing the transformation for the PC.

In addition please let them know your willingness to help in either setting this up and/or assisting with maintenance and any changes in the future.

Dates for the next Buckland Village Diner are :-

March 17th. & April 21st.

St Peter’s Church

Dates for your diaries  in 2010:-

  March 27th. Spring Bring and Buy Sale 

  June 12th. Lunchtime Meal on the Green

  September 4th. Church Fete       

  October. Harvest Supper (date to be  announced)

Charney Rangers FC

Any children interested in playing, please contact Bernard  Townsend on 868181, Mobile: 07747 094351 or Mr D Kitchen on 07823 446757.

Aunt Sally

Want to participate in this traditional Oxfordshire game played outside at local Public house venues during the summer? 

You have only a few days left to sign on:

contact Roberta or Husnu at the Chequers

Table Tennis

Interested in playing table tennis in the Village Hall?

Sessions will recommence as soon as the Village Hall re-opens:

Contact Dave Sibbert on 868734 for more details.

Village Hall Bookings

Village Hall bookings are obviously suspended while the extension work is going on. 

However, contact Eunice Davies on 868646 for hire of tables, crockery, cutlery and the gazebos.

I was very sorry to hear about the death of Peter Davies, the editor of Charney Chatter, among many other things.  Peter and I spent a brilliant day together with RAF Benson, at his suggestion, so we could learn more about the work of the base, because of local concerns about helicopter flights over the village.  My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Planning issues are once again dominating my postbag, and therefore dominating my agenda.  While they may not be relevant to all my constituents, they are big issues in all the main towns and villages.  Wallingford is concerned at plans to build 750 houses in the town.  Not only is the number deemed too large (something like a 30 per cent increase in the town’s size) but there is also concern about the fact that the homes are to be built on one site.  Similarly, In Wantage there is concern at plans for 1500 houses, on top of the 2500 planned for Grove.  Again, a massive increase, and all in specific areas.  Didcot is set to grow by about 5,000 houses.  Faringdon has fewer concerns about housing – there the issue is a proposed new Tesco on the outskirts of the town, which could affect local businesses.  And finally, the expansion of Swindon to the east remains a threat though this is receding.  Add to this the on-going battle over an incinerator at Sutton Courtenay and the proposed reservoir at Steventon, and you can see there are a whole range of big planning issues affecting almost every community.

What do all these issues have in common?  First, although there is consultation, local people do not feel that they are really being consulted.  Rather, they are being presented with options, none of which they really like, and asked to choose the least worst.  Second, there is the feeling that these developments are being carried out by developers and companies that have no connection with the local area, who hold the upper hand, who will build their houses and then disappear.  Third, there is a feeling that these developements are taking place piecemeal.  There is no real overarching discussion taking place about how the Vale and South Oxfordshire should grow.  No one disputes that we need more houses, particularly for young people.  But what about a discussion about where it should go? For example, if every village in the area took another five or ten houses, much of the housing need would be met, and those villages would benefit from having new people.

One of the arguments in favour of large-scale development is the so called 106 agreements, whereby developers pay for infrastructure improvements.  Without large-scale development, it is argued, we wouldn’t get the infrastructure we need.  This is easily solved by levying a tax on every new home built, and ring-fencing the proceeds for affordable housing and infrastructure improvements.
In March (probably by the time you have read this) I am holding a meeting with the distinguished architect Sir Terry Farrell, in Wallingford, to look at these kind of issues.  Sir Terry is a master-planner, and has worked on a lot of projects in Kent, including the Thames Gateway.  Sir Terry argues we no longer do planning in this country, only development control.  We need to seize back power from developers and put it back into the power of the community.

In Parliament, I called a debate on the pernicious effects of the Criminal Records Bureau, and how it is affecting my constituents .  The CRB takes so long to carry out checks that often people lose the jobs which they have been offered.  Also, too many people are subject to multiple CRB checks which is time consuming and expensive.   As usual, the debate and all my other parliamentary work can be read on my website at www.vaizey.com

The Charney Rangers played their first home game on 25^th January. The day before, I picked up TEN piles of dog mess on the playing field. I could have picked up more but ran out of plastic bags. I hope everyone agrees that this behaviour by some dog owners is completely unacceptable. As a dog owner, I do not want to see a ban on dogs playing on the field. It is a wonderful place for them to run and exercise and for owners to meet and chat. PLEASE watch your dog at all times while on the field, bag up any mess they make, even round the edge of the field and take it home to your dustbin or dog mess composter. It has been suggested that we should have a bin on the field for dog mess. Apart from the cost of installing one, the smell and the health risk, who would empty it? I would not enjoy emptying a bin full of dog mess and the one rubbish bin we have in the village by the bus shelter seems invisible to the dustman most of the time.

 We are all very fortunate to live in a small village but it does require everyone to respect our community and not assume someone else will sort out the problem they have caused. To misquote John F Kennedy, “ask not what your community can do for you, ask what you can do for your community.” In this case, clear up after your dog!

 Julie Rumble