This evening at the Long Furlong Community Centre, in Abingdon, about 120 local residents went to hear about the Vale of White Horse (VWHDC) Draft Local Plan.
Councillor Sandy Lovatt was there to explain the plan, and to take questions from concerned residents.
The draft plan involves building 610 extra houses (with possibly 900 cars) in fields between the peripheral road and the A34 in North Abingdon. This is because more houses are needed across the VWHDC to meet house building targets.
The video above shows the fields that are affected.
The main concern for residents was the extra traffic, and need for better infrastructure. One resident said it was very difficult getting out of their estate roads onto the peripheral road at peak times. It was a serious accident waiting to happen.
Another resident said that Abingdon had a very poor record in council led traffic changes and asked that any changes to the peripheral road be the subject of an independent traffic study.
Another resident said that the recent changes to the Wootton Road roundabout had made things worse. It had become a new bottleneck.
Approval of the plan will be in 2014 and adoption in 2015. 400 of the 610 houses could be built between 2015-2019, and 200 from 2020-2031. The consultation period for the housing plan is already over and 2,700 replies have been received by VWHDC. As a result some alterations could be made. Then the plan will go back to Councillors for approval. So there is a last chance to write to your County Councillor (for North Abingdon that is sandy.lovatt@oxfordshire.gov.uk) to influence that decision. Later on, residents can petition for the right infrastructure to be put in place when developers submit plans.
