Welcome to the Harwell Village Parish Council website
New on the Web Site
- Harwell News No 153, December 2008.
- Provisional Minutes of November Council Meeting
Local Plans
The “credit crunch” is taking its toll, and Taylor Wimpey has announced that it is suspending work on Great Western Park. This is just as detailed discussions are taking place about the amenities to be developed to support the new housing. Representatives from the Council and Keep Harwell Rural have attended those meetings. However, this is only a delay to the start of building west of Didcot; and, beyond the agreed plans for Great Western Park, there are proposals for yet more houses.
Two years ago the draft South East Plan allocated an additional 3000 houses to Didcot plus an extra 1500 under a ‘New Growth Points’ scheme, which South Oxford District Council (SODC) volunteered for and which provides additional money for infrastructure projects. The split between the District Councils was to be decided by themselves, and an equal split was agreed. At the time SODC didn’t consider specific sites, but the Vale WHDC, which only abuts Didcot on its western side, had to consider if the District had sufficient suitable land adjacent to Didcot in which to put another 2,250 houses.
Instead of what used to be a “Ten Year Plan”, the Vale, in common with all District Councils, now has a Local Development Framework, which includes a Core Strategy setting the location and style of major developments within the area. The Vale consulted on elements of this Plan a year ago, and has been working on a revised Plan. This revised Plan, with its options, has been through many drafts over the last few months, and is now ready to present to the Vale's Development Control Committee. The Plan, and documents summarising it, can all be found on the Vale’s website.
The most relevant documents are these:
- Local Development Framework: The Core Strategy Preferred Options (45 KB)
- Core Strategy Preferred Options Dec 08 (2 MB)
especially pages 19, 28-29, 43-44, 51 (map) 59-63 (61 map) - Appendices (27 MB)
especially pages 21-26 (map page 24) which contain
Appendix 4a which sets out the advantages/disadvantages of two site options, and
Appendix 4b which outlines a policy for major housing west of Didcot.
In short, the Vale plans to allow the building of about 2,250 houses in Harwell Parish, as part of the expansion of Didcot towards the A34. There may also be a “Harwell by-pass”, and road improvements at Rowstock, but nothing to connect those two schemes together.
A press release from the Vale follows, outlining a further period of consultation, with exhibitions and workshops. In addition to the locations defined in their press release they have agreed to our request for an additional exhibition and workshop in the Harwell Village Hall on Friday February 6th.
Please try to attend, and make your own assessment of the impact of these proposals on our Parish and Village. Let the Vale know your opinions by the deadline of 27th February, and help the Parish Council find the best way of maintaining the identity of our village, without it being slowly engulfed by Didcot.
David Marsh, Chairman, Harwell Parish Council
Development in the Vale - the Core Strategy Preferred Options
(information from the Vale)
As part of the work on one of the main planning policy documents for the Vale (the Core Strategy), the Council will be consulting on suggested alternative locations for major development and other aspects of policy - the Preferred Options. These Preferred Options have been informed by the responses received to the Issues and Options document 'Your Vale - Your Future' which was published in 2007.
The sites for major development include those that will be needed to accommodate the numbers of new homes required by the draft South East Plan, which for this area directs most development to Didcot, Wantage and Grove. During November and early December the Preferred Options will be considered by the Council prior to publication for public consultation in early 2009
The Preferred Options will be published for public consultation to find out what people think. There will be a number of steps:
- Publication of the Core Strategy Preferred Options for public comment starting 16 January 2009.
- A six week period for people to make their comments ending 27 February
- A workshop for Town & Parish Councils, 22 January, Wantage Civic Hall
- Further consultation will be through public exhibitions, from 3.00 to 7.00pm, and workshops, from 7.00 to 9.00 pm, at the following:
Abingdon Guildhall, 27 January.
Wantage Civic Hall, 12 February.
Grove Mill Hall, 13 February.
Didcot Civic Hall, 16 February.
Further details will be published nearer the time but please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Development Policy Team if you have any queries;
Telephone: 01235 520202, ask for Nick Burroughs, extension 496 or Melanie Potter, extension 511.
E-mail: planning.policy@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Letter: Vale of W.H.D.C., Abbey House, OX14 3JE
Village for a thousand years
In 1985 Harwell celebrated its first millennium, and to celebrate, a book, Village for a thousand years, was compiled as a souvenir of Harwell's recorded life of one thousand years.
The book is now out of print, but the Harwell Parish Council has decided to publish it here on their web site, so that the history and recollections of the village can be available to a new generation.
Browse the book, and remember the shortcut: village4a1000years.com
As well as the Harwell News, all the formal Parish Council minutes from 2000 to 2005 are now in the archives.
About our Village
Harwell is a village in southern Oxfordshire. The A417 runs east-west (lower left of picture) and most of the village lies north of that road.
The Map Reference of the War Memorial, which is roughly in the centre of the village, is SU 491 892. The village is 260 feet above sea-level, although the sea is over 50 miles away.
We are about 60 miles north of the Isle of Wight, 60 miles west of London, 60 miles east of Bristol, and 60 miles south of Coventry.
Historically we have always been a Berkshire village, but since 1974 we have been part of Oxfordshire, and are on the west of the Vale of White Horse. We are roughly half way between Oxford (North) and Newbury (South), and between Reading (East) and Swindon (West).
We are close to the North South trunk road, the A34, and a few miles from Didcot (new shops), and the railway at Didcot Parkway station for trains to London Paddington, the west country, and the north via Oxford and Birmingham..
The boundaries of the Parish reach beyond the village, from the Harwell Business Centre (previously UKAEA) in the south, to the Milton Trading Estate in the north.
