Charlbury's new community-led plan

Thu 4 Oct 2012, 20:13

Though that is coming soon. The first Town Council meeting to think about how to approach the community-led plan will take place on 17th October. This will be our private discussion about how best to take this forward, including the date and form of a public meeting. So please keep the ideas coming now.

Thu 4 Oct 2012, 18:01

Absolutely, there'll certainly be wider public consultation if and when such a plan starts to be developed. Right now, any thoughts are at the very very early stages - we haven't even had the first Town Council meeting to discuss it yet.

Thu 4 Oct 2012, 10:20

Liz

Is there going to be a public meeting to discuss the development of a Neighbourhood Plan?

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 17:56

Not sure that many of the proposals that might arise in the plan are necessarily implemented by the Town Council. More that we all have something that we agree on (and change as circumstances change) which we can then look to different groups to make happen. One of the joys of a community like Charlbury that different individuals will appear and take on life-enhancing projects (just thinking today of CHOC and CHOC Live - who ten years ago would have said they wanted such a thing? Yes it's happening and it's brilliant). So that's why we need to brainstorm and not judge!

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 17:56

Thanks! Sorry - second post written before I saw yours.

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 17:55

On a more long-term subject, I wondered whether the council is planning to make use of the Environment Agency's new 'Climate Ready support service' (info here: http://cdn.environment-agency.gov.uk/gese0512bwnb-e-e.pdf) in drawing up the Neighbourhood Plan. Apparently their advice is free, and they are 'seeking opportunities to work with...delivery bodies, regulators, professional bodies and trade associations and will use our existing networks to integrate the new service.'

It seems to me that it would be very useful to have information on the risks Charlbury may face as weather patterns change (more flooding, for instance, and also at other times more drought), and advice the ways in which we might be able to mitigate some of the effects - not that this should mean being defeatist about low-carbon issues, of course.

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 17:50

Walkers are Welcome projects aren't usually implemented by a Town Council - and I don't think there's any suggestion that Charlbury would be any different. Instead, there's usually an independent steering group to take the project forward. (The Town Council is asked to give its seal of approval to the project but I'm sure that wouldn't be an issue.)

There was talk last year of setting up such a WaW group but I think it simply foundered on getting people together of an evening. But I'd personally be very keen to see this happen. I'll start another thread on the subject!

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 17:08

Charlbury seems like a natural place to do the Walkers are Welcome thing - or a Cyclists are Welcome equivalent. It seems to work well where my in-laws live, in Winchcombe, and they don't have the rail connections that we have. Was there a particular reason why the council didn't go ahead with the idea here?

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 17:04

Regarding the library, it surely can only be a good thing for the town to have a modern, up-to-date library with room for more books? Perhaps there could be a alternative plan to keep the Corner House an active, busy community building, such as basing the planned cafe there (move the Deli & Cafe to the Corner House?), so it still draws people down into the centre of town. What are the plans for the Corner House when the community centre is built?

As for the traffic and speeding, I think it is important to have a balance between how cars, pedestrians and cyclists use the roads and pavements. I admit I live on Park Street which has a problem with speeding by some but not all vehicles. I often see parents walking their children to and from pre-school on narrow pavements with cars and buses travelling at excessive speed, sometimes mounting the pavement when someone has parked too wide. It can be quite alarming and potentially dangerous. As I said previously, if the centre of Charlbury fades as a place for commerce and community events then the more it is likely to end up as a place to just drive through (like Crawley when you cut through there to Witney). We need to somehow encourage people to slow down (and hopefully shop!) as they enter the centre of Charlbury.

Liz, I believe, has started this discussion as one initial way to look into developing an overall plan for the future of Charlbury and, as we can see, many issues are linked. Better to have a plan (that we can all offer ideas for) than do things piecemeal.

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 15:45 (last edited on Wed 3 Oct 2012, 15:45)

Well just as long as our business rates don't go up to fund this new "improved service" if anything the rates in the town "centre" should go down as we are losing a service and that the Enstone road rates go up but something tells me that's not likely to happen.
If there is anything in life I've learnt is that you don't get something for nothing there is only so much money in the pot, and something will have to give.
Think that's enough Clichés for one post

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 12:16

Tim, we have been trying to get an appropriate Library for Charlbury since 1998! This was when OCC were really threatening to close the Library. The latest proposal was to have it run by volunteers but that has been changed to part-time staff/volunteers. Experince has it that when libraries are improved, lending goes up (surprise,surprise!) and if that happens we would then be entitled to more staffing. At the moment OCC has failed to recruit someone to organise this brave new world. Next year there are OCC elections so perhaps we shall have a county council that values culture and learning.

Wed 3 Oct 2012, 09:33

I hear what your saying Amanda but to think that not long ago they wanted to close the Library and now they want to make it even bigger sounds ludicrous as if they are short of funds in the first place how will they finance an even bigger place.
As to parking outside the shops Malcolm I think it may help the town centre shops if there was a 1 hr limit parking between certain times it may only be a short walk from the car park but look how many perfectly abled bodied people choose to park on the double yellow lines outside the co-op and cause chaos while they pop in and buy their groceries rather than park in the carpark not 20yards away maybe the town centre parking could adopt the station hill new parking measures where the time varies though not sure how well that is working to me you would need a permanent parking ticket person to really make a difference but that may just scare even more people away.

Tue 2 Oct 2012, 18:55 (last edited on Tue 2 Oct 2012, 19:00)

I just don't understand why people in Charlbury seem to be obsessed with traffic calming and speeding! Perhaps they have never lived in a larger town.
I can understand that parking outside shops might be an issue for the elderly but its only a very short walk from spendlove to the centre or even from most people houses for that matter. Perhaps its an Oxford thing but you only have to look at how disastrous the Oxford city anti car policies have been on the city. People have voted with their feet and go elsewhere they are more welcome.
What needs to done is to attract more bushiness to the town by making it welcoming and attractive to shoppers and visitors alike. There needs to be a critical mass of local businesses otherwise people wont come. So the key is making it attractive to open a business here, low overheads and planning regulations that enable easy change of use. I know several people who have tried to open businesses but seem to have been refused due to what appear to me petty regulations.

Tue 2 Oct 2012, 11:58

Tim, we tried years ago to get the access to the Library and Corner House altered for the disabled and elderly. It happens to be a listed building and the WODC officer is intransigent! Also the current library is a third of the size it should be for a town of like ours. Woodstock's is 4 times the size. The Friends of the Library and OCC looked at other premises in the Twon Centre but there was nothing suitable.
I think the idea of a community solar farm in Cornbury is great. The Westmill wind and solar farm near Shrivenham is community funded.

Tue 2 Oct 2012, 11:21

Here's an article about the new London cycling signage

bit.ly/qhy2mP OR

lcc.org.uk/articles/cycles-excepted-at-last-london-cycling-campaign-welcomes-unrestricted-access

Tue 2 Oct 2012, 11:01

[Admin note - if you want to talk about current highway behaviour please use another thread, not this one - thanks.]

Tue 2 Oct 2012, 10:45

Liz;

If a cyclist goes the wrong way up a one way street (in the middle of the road due to cars parked both sides) and gets hit by a car travelling well within the speed limit and quite correctly the right way down a one way street...who is to blame? As cyclists dont have to have insurance, who pays for the damage to the car and the damage to any of the parked cars who were not at fault in this example? Sorry to be harsh Liz, but I have to say that is a daft idea in this instance.

Tim, I like your idea re 'fold flat traffic systems', and actually had that thought myself. I have often made cars reverse back down the one way system because they are going the wrong way!

Mon 1 Oct 2012, 20:18

On tourism - the Town Council previously discussed but didn't implement - Charlbury becoming a Walkers are Welcome town. It doesn't involve a lot of effort, but we become part of a network that promotes itself to walkers. And we've got plenty of paths that start and end out of the centre of Charlbury. I've also seen Cyclists are Welcome as a new badge that towns are adopting.
We might also think of ourselves not just as Charlbury, but consider the satellite smaller villages that we could work with to develop our plan.
If cyclists do go up a one-way street the wrong way, they may be making a point - why are roads and routes designed for cars first, and cyclists and pedestrians second? Why not pedestrians first, then cyclists, and cars third? In London, many streets are one-way "Except cycles". Love it!

Mon 1 Oct 2012, 14:56

We could open the Post Office during Street Fair, however we would not be available to help on the day, with so few volunteers more are needed if more could be found we would open the Post Office any offers would be most welcome

Mon 1 Oct 2012, 14:17

I don't know how to make this a 'community-led' suggestion, short of a delegation of locals knocking at the door (without pitchforks) but if at least some of Cornbury Park were open to the public (beyond the rare footpaths and open days), it would draw more people to Charlbury in general. Hopefully many would then explore the town and use the shops. It's a shame there's no longer a Youth Hostel, for similar reasons.

Realistically it seems to me the only way to get people to use smaller shops is to encourage tourism, like Woodstock and Burford do (both having a similar population to Charlbury - Burford notably smaller, in fact). But I realise there are drawbacks in going down the 'chocolate box' route. Charlbury has so many benefits. It's a tricky balance between being a local town, a commuter dormitory and a tourist spot, which Charlbury juggles pretty well, but it would be a huge shame to see the few remaining shops further challenged. (I agree with the signposts idea as a small thing which could help. And if all the shops opened during occasions like Street Fair, it would be good - I realise yours did, Tim.)

Mon 1 Oct 2012, 13:54 (last edited on Mon 1 Oct 2012, 13:58)

I had a look at the Exhibition road link that mathew put up i believe this has been looked at before for church street a few years back, but you then have all the fun of where do all the local people park their cars if they live on that street which is a fair comment it always comes down to parking it seems
A few people have come into my shop and said they agree with what I have posted which is very nice of them but please if you do agree or even disagree with any of the posts on this thread do make a posting no one will hold it against you, they want idea's no matter how weird they might seem, some of them might if enough people agree even become reality and should you disagree with some of them again say as its no use complaining once an idea has been implamented.
So as I said I hate the idea of the Library moving to me its a complete waste of money and will be another nail in the town centre's coffin we need to atract footfall down to the centre somehow, again i'm against the idea of having a cafe in the new community centre would prefer a couple of squash courts instead, and stick a tea/coffee machine there, will keep costs down on staff because they will need to be paid even with a few volunteers thrown in, it will be hard enough to cover all the overheads at the best of times.
another grudge I have is the amount of cars/vans and cyclist that abuse the oneway system in the town centre not sure how we can stop that apart from road humps that fold flat into the road if your going in the correct direction, so come on lets see some ideas good or bad.

Sun 30 Sep 2012, 19:55

I agree that anything that can be done to keep the shops going in the centre of the town would obviously be a good thing. However, as I understand it, the library will be moving to the new community centre. News and Things is on the way out (unless someone can save it?). Along with help to keep the other shops going, I like the idea that Liz raised of inventive traffic calming schemes to stop Charlbury becoming a rat run. Speed bumps are one idea but there are other ways. Have a look at Exhibition Road in London. I am not saying this would suit Charlbury but inspiration could be drawn from these kind of schemes.

What Tim suggested about bringing the farmers market down into the centre of town would be fantastic. Church Street would be perfect for a market day and perhaps it could then happen more than once every three months?

By the way, what will happen to the Corner House when the community centre is built? Will it carry on as before but without the library?

Sun 30 Sep 2012, 19:03

I would have thought the best plan would be to get the council to substantially reduce or eliminate the huge business rates. Overheads must be a huge cost in relation to the population and business available in a small town like Charlbury?

Sun 30 Sep 2012, 14:16

I would like to see our bus service improved, particularly the Witney to Chipping Norton route. The buses are unreliable, dangerous and the customer service from RH Transport is atrocious, which is a shame since the Rail Bus operated by them too, is very good.
It would also be nice to see more local businesses in Charlbury employing local people. Obviously I understand businesses are shrinking at the moment and this suggestion may be a pipe dream but I always thought it would be good to have local coffee shop employing local people; somewhere for young people to go as an alternative to the pubs. I know at one point we did have a coffee shop and I remember it being quite popular.

Sun 30 Sep 2012, 12:22 (last edited on Mon 1 Oct 2012, 13:04)

The sign post idea Liz might be a help, something like they have in Witney for the waterloo walk etc but also a small description of what they have to offer, but if I understand you correctly as to having all the shops grouped round that corner is a non starter would be simpler to bring the co-op back down to the centre somewhere as that seems to be the main culprit for the most of the closed shops but at least the Pharmacy seem to be safe (at the moment)
But whilst i admit the co-op is a improvement on the old one and yes I do use it, the downside has been at the expense of the town centre shops, the town council could of course build replica shops round by the new co-op which the existing shop residents could then have rent free, but then you would need to consider the pubs as well, the list goes on.
You could of course make Enstone road a one way route so you can only come down not up it then that would bring traffic to the town centre change all the parking to 1 hr max in the centre between the hours of 9-5 that way there may be places to park outside the shops so that customers could actually stop and shop during the day if they wanted as this seems to be what I hear most of the time from customers saying parking is hard to find, of course with all the shops closing down and converting to residential parking can only get worse, with this in mind I hope the new community centre takes parking into serious consideration as it may end up being a white elephant as Charlbury is losing its community status the way its going on.

Sun 30 Sep 2012, 09:09

One simple thing we could do is to signpost all of the town centre shops by name from the Coop car park. And would there be a way of getting all town centre shops grouped around that corner?

Sat 29 Sep 2012, 16:49 (last edited on Sat 29 Sep 2012, 16:51)

Would it not be better if we tried to keep the centre of Charlbury in its rightful place? rather than encouraging everything to be at the car park area, in my view its bad enough that the library will move when this so called Community Centre is built seems stupid when you already have a building especially as money is tight and its now run by Volunteers and i just don't believe in the access for the disabled / elderly part we are spouted all the time when its got to be cheaper to put a ramp in than to build a whole new building, we should be trying to keep the shops open and what happens when the community centre opens up their cafe, goodbye Charlbury Deli we don't need you now ? bring the farmers market down to the true centre ( and yes the question was put into a letter to the organisers but were not not a hope)is this what we want Charlbury to become just a life less pile of stone ? we need to keep the centre vibrant somehow.
As for slowing down the traffic through the centre a speed bump by the bull should do the trick the times i look out the shop window and see the cars, vans and lorries (not forgetting some cyclist) not bothering to stop and look, one day it will be too late and they will hit someone and it might be you !

Sat 29 Sep 2012, 11:44 (last edited on Sat 29 Sep 2012, 11:45)

Regarding the issue of traffic, the centre of Charlbury is changing as more shops close down and become residential properties. Anything that can be done to make drivers feel they are passing through a slighly sleepy town/village, rather than somewhere to cut through on their way to the station, would be a good thing (cobbled streets anyone?). In ten years it is possible Charlbury may feel a bit like a larger version of Crawley.
Also, with the new community centre on the way there is a great opportunity to think about the whole area behind the Co-op so it is less like a car park and more like a town square (with parking of course). There is a feeling among some that the centre of the town may gravitate to that area so it would be a shame if it was just a place for cars...

Fri 28 Sep 2012, 15:51

Sorry, the hydro thing wasn't meant as an *entirely* serious suggestion! But the solar idea might be great, if the numbers work...

Fri 28 Sep 2012, 14:50

Just to say that the height if the fall at the river is not great enough to deliver an amount of electricity worth the investment. On a larger scale, Lord Rotherwick is still keen to host a solar electricity plant on the estate, an idea worth exploring further perhaps. Could this be community-funded?

Fri 28 Sep 2012, 10:53

I agree with Kat about the crossing; and (as someone on the allotments waiting list) more allotment space would be wonderful! A page explaining how the allotments are organized, how many there are, how to register an interest, etc. on the Town Council website and/or Charlbury Info would be useful.

Some friendly notices asking people not to let their dogs foul the play areas at Nine Acres and Ticknell Piece would be great - maybe run a competition with the school and use ones designed by the children? (I've seen this elsewhere, and I think it has a greater impact than the standard kinds of signs; it might also be a useful approach for places needing reminders not to speed...).

Is it worth thinking about street bins which allow separation of landfill/recycling/food? (not loads of extra bins, but bins with sections)? I don't know how well these have worked elsewhere....

I think it would be great if the Neighbourhood Plan could include a clear and explicit commitment to encourage and support local businesses and local producers.

Renewable energy: how about a mini hydro at the Mill Field.....?! That really would be reinventing the [water]wheel :-)

That's probably enough thoughts for one post!

Thu 27 Sep 2012, 23:06

My wishlist includes safer crossing at the Nine Acres/Slade crossroads. No matter where you stand, there's a blind spot in at least one direction.

Thu 27 Sep 2012, 18:00

I think we could brainstorm ideas and look at different ways of delivering what we want and costs further down the road.

Thu 27 Sep 2012, 16:01

I would welcome anything that could be done to reduce the amount and speed of traffic through the centre of Charlbury. I like the idea of shared spaces but are expensive to implement I imagine and may not be suitable for more rural roads?

Thu 27 Sep 2012, 14:51

Under new legislation, the Town Council can instigate the development of a Neighbourhood Plan - an opportunity for the community to set out what they would want from where the live and work - which will become part of the Local Plan for the wider area. Councillors want members of the community to be involved from the outset. If you've any initial thoughts, why not start posting on the forum now. Ideas can cover a wide range from new cycle routes, through to more space for allotments, reducing the need for cars in Charlbury (www.citycarclub.co.uk), local renewable energy production (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_power_station), shared surfaces for our streets (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space).

Please start giving us your thoughts - here. Now!