The Village of Charney Bassett

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A new webpage has been created to bring together all the information about the Application by Charney Manor for a Premises Licence. It includes advice about how to object/make a representation, details of a meeting of residents, a copy of the Application, Vale of the White Horse guidance and much more.

Premises Application Charney Manor

I was delighted that 2,620 people responded to my survey regarding Grove Station within just 2 weeks – thank you if you did. Some 98% of people respondents supported it being reopened! Over 90% said they would prefer it to a new bus service and 89% said they would use their car less if it reopened. We have stiff competition as there are 85 different bids to Government for stations or lines to reopen, but I will keep bashing away until we eventually succeed.

I continue to be frustrated with Royal Mail. Our postmen and women work hard but something is clearly not right as constituents have been complaining to me about mail deliveries for several months and the problem has been reported in the national news too. When I called a meeting with them last year they said they had gone from ‘a letter service delivering parcels to a parcel service delivering letters’ and it does seem to be the parcels they prioritise. Every fortnight I enter the ballot to have a debate in parliament about their service and hope I will be successful soon.

Unauthorised traveller camps were the subject of my speech in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill debate this month. The Bill has wrongly been accused of restricting our right to protest when actually the protest measures target actions we have seen by organised protest groups in the past year such as people gluing themselves to roads and stopping ambulances getting through, or shutting down printing presses because they don’t like the editorial line of the papers involved. It is a wide-ranging bill that increases the sentences or time served for a wide range of violent and sexual offences, but it also clamps down on unauthorised traveller camps which are a regular source of distress in the constituency. At the time of writing, in 20 of the past 34 weeks there has been at least 1 such camp somewhere in the Vale or South Oxfordshire, frequently involving mess, noise, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour. The Bill will allow the police to remove such camps more quickly and impose stiffer penalties.

I had my first appearance on the BBC’s Politics Live on 18th March, an interesting if slightly strange experience. Whereas you can see everyone’s face when you watch on television, each of us panellists look into a black screen on our computers as we can’t see anyone! We discussed various topics including the EU’s latest silly comments regarding the supply and safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has again been confirmed as completely safe. Despite the noise, we shouldn’t worry – we’ve now vaccinated over 25 million people, half the adult population, and remain on course to see every adult offered a jab by the end of July.

As ever, if I can help with anything then do email david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk .
David Johnston OBE MP | Member of Parliament for Wantage

The Charney Bassett Parish Council wishes to advise villagers of the Premises Licence Application recently made by Charney Manor.

The officer dealing with the application has confirmed that it is acceptable to post this.

The next Council meeting will be convened around 7.15 pm for a start at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 10th March 2021. The meeting will be a ‘virtual’ meeting held over SKYPE.

Residents of the Village are welcome to join by SKYPE. Please can they contact the Parish Clerk in advance for joining instructions, as indicated in the agenda.

Chatter, chatter, chatter…

Please be aware of the upcoming road closure on Charney Bassett Main Street.

I’m trying to get everyone to complete my Grove Station Survey by midday on 1st March. I’ve been campaigning for Grove Station to reopen since I was elected and the purpose of the survey is to show the level of local support and give the Government an indication that it would actually be used if it was reopened – so please complete it if you haven’t yet!

In the Armed Forces Bill Debate recently I was able to highlight our constituency’s contribution to the country’s efforts – not just in being home to institutions like the Defence Academy at Shrivenham and the 11 EOD and Search Regiment in Didcot – but in service by some of my predecessors, too. As most of you will know, when the seat was Abingdon the MP was Airey Neave, who had a proud record of service in World War 2; his predecessor was Ralph Glyn, who served in World War 1 and was awarded a military cross.

We were having the debate because since 1688, the consent of parliament has been required for the raising and keeping of a standing army. In modern times, this means that every 5 years parliament is asked to give consent to an Armed Forces Bill, without which there is no means to ensure service personnel obey orders. The Government used the Bill to do other things such as update the Service Justice System, extend the use of posthumous pardons for abolished sexual offences and further enshrine the Armed Forces Covenant in law. The latter means local authorities will have to have due regard to service in decisions they make about health, education and housing – and rightly so.

I take a particular interest in the armed forces as my dad served in the army for 18 years. The army has of course played a key role in our superb vaccination efforts – at the time of writing we have passed the Government’s 15 million target, which is a remarkable achievement in such a short space of time. From volunteering several times I have seen first-hand the fantastic efforts of our medical staff and volunteers – and the relief local residents feel when they have their first jab.

I recently became one of the Conservative Environment Network’s Net Zero Champions. What this means in practice is I will be campaigning for nature-based solutions to help tackle climate change, including stopping the sale of peat for use in horticulture, protecting and improving our blue carbon assets and undertaking a national capital audit. More on this in the future – and some other campaigns.

While I am not doing face to face meetings at the moment, I am still doing telephone/Zoom surgery appointments – to book one of these or contact me about something else, do email david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk 

David Johnston OBE MP | Member of Parliament for Wantage

….is here!

Vale of White Horse – town and parish update – 14 January 2021

Available here