Meeting notes from Crab Hill Development Forum – 31 October 2024

Please note that some of the links to individual planning documents may give a response of Invalid security code. If this happens please use the application’s main link and search for the documents under the Downloads section. Most of the documents will be found under either Application Plans or Supporting Documentation

Council Development Officer for Wantage and Grove

Unfortunately, the Development Officer role has still not been advertised, either internally within the council or externally. The council state that they are still keen to find someone to fill the role, which is encouraging. However, the only progress since the Crab Hill Development Forum in June is that the vacancy has moved from the “Infrastructure” team to be part of the newly-created “Communities” team, which will work across both South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils. If / when it is made available for any applicants, I will aim to let everyone know. Apparently, the plan is that the recruitment process will start in earnest at the end of 2024, with the hope of appointing someone to the role early in 2025.

Bus gate

There was no discussion about the future of the bus gate, other than to say that measure are going to be trialled to increase its visibility to drivers to reduce the likelihood of motorists using it by mistake.

Bus services

The issues with the bus service that currently serve Kingsgrove were also discussed, along with some anecdotal evidence that it isn’t always the best service. If you have any specific examples of poor service that you have experienced personally, then St. Modwen are very keen to hear from you. If you are happy to contact them directly, then please send an e-mail to community@kingsgrovewantage.co.uk. Alternatively, please feel free to use our contact page and the reps can pass along an anonymised complaint.

Planning applications

Neighbourhood Centre – McCarthy Stone Retirement Apartments

The most contentious of the planning applications continues to be P24/V1243/FUL. The application was refused at the end of September 2024. However, the only reason that is was refused is that McCarthy Stone refused to pay money to the council to fund affordable housing.

This means that if the application were to be resubmitted with assurance from McCarthy Stone that the requisite contributions would be made to the council, then permission would likely be granted.

The exact details can be found in the Delegated Report.pdf that has been published on the application.

No other reasons were taken into consideration when making the decision to refuse the application. Councillors Jenny Hannaby and Andy Crawford continued to argue for an alternative to the retirements, something more in keeping with the original idea of a pub but were met with the same arguments as ever, namely no-one is interested in buying the plot, building and running a pub. One interesting point was raised about the pub on the Great Western Park development in Didcot. It required a £3 million investment.

Phase 6 – Vistry Homes (Bovis)

The planning application for 115 homes was approved at the end of July 2024 and building work has commenced across all three parcels.

Phase 7 – Vistry Homes (Bovis)

Vistry Homes is also the housebuilder for Phase 7. The application was submitted at the end of August 2024 and the original consultation finished at the start of October 2024. Following feedback to that original consultation, amended plans have been submitted and a new end date for the consultation has been set as Friday 15 November 2024. The amendments made are outlined, alongside the feedback that prompted them, in 2024-10-30 Covering Letter.pdf

Development updates

Video and aerial photography

The latest views for the aerial photography of Kingsgrove can be found at https://kingsgrove-residents.co.uk/go/drone.

Central Park

Landscaping work will be starting soon and is due to be complete by the end of 2025, though the multi-use games area (MUGA) may be ready in Summer 2025 and the football pitches should be ready in Autumn 2025. There is no timescale for the pavilion building yet.

The design of the Central Park has been carried out such that there will be very little permanent large fences. As a result, it is likely that any large fences that are present in the early days of the park development will only be temporary.

The final design, by a professional design company, for the skate park will be submitted for approval soon.

Neighbourhood Centre – retail units and nursery

Construction on the retail units is well underway and should complete by the end of 2024. After construction there will be a fit-out period, of about 8-12 weeks so Spring 2025 is the anticipated opening. The main retail shop will be a Co-op, who will also operate the nursery, under the “Little Pioneers” name. The nursery is likely to be open in time for September 2025.

The other retail units, a cafe in one and a “hot food establishment” in another unit, are going through the final legal contract signings at the moment. The remaining unit is still available.

Neighbourhood Centre – care home

Charlton Lodge, the new 72 bed care home on the Kingsgrove development, opened at the end of October 2024.

Neighbourhood Centre – community hub

Unfortunately, there has been a number of delays but work on the community hub should be started in early 2025 and will take approximately 18 months, so it will be open in mid 2026.

Although funded in the main through the S106 funding, the hub will also benefit from fundraising by Wantage Community Church. Oxford Community Churches has set up a separate, secular, charity for building and running of the hub.

The plan is that the hub’s cafe will be run as a social enterprise.

King Alfred’s Way

Following last-minute snagging problems found on WELR 3, there has been a delay of the whole road opening. The current plans are for an official naming ceremony, and being open to traffic, on Thursday 5 December 2024.

Western Area of Kingsgrove

Even though some of the road infrastructure will soon be complete in the western area of Kingsgrove, it is anticipated that the area as a whole will only be open for construction traffic, with the only exception of Kings Alfred’s Way.

Woodland Walk

The part of the Woodland Walk that runs parallel to WELR 1 is now open.

There is another part of the woodland Walk that will be to the north of the WELR 3. This will be created at the same time as the Central Park.

Public Art

Kerry Lemon held a workshop on on Saturday 12 October to help with inspiration for 13 bespoke architectural glass panes for the front of the hub.

3 more pillars, similar to the ones already in the Woodland Walk, will be arriving soon and Kerry is also organising a “Citizen Science” project about SuDS. Unfortunately, it was also noted that Taylor Wimpey has likely caused damage to one of the “pavers” installed in the play area. Investigations about what can be done to repair it are ongoing.

Kingsgrove Community Newsletter

The number of subscribers to the Kingsgrove Community Newsletter continues to grow with about 550 so far. It provides an update on news from around the development.

To sign-up visit https://kingsgrove-residents.co.uk/go/newsletter-signup

“Christmas at Kingsgrove”

The “Christmas at Kingsgrove” event will be taking place in the Public Square on the evening of Thursday 28 November. Further details will be available soon.

Update on discussions between St. Modwen and Wantage Town Football Club regarding Central Park facilities

There wasn’t any specific update on these discussions, other than to say that they are progressing well with an anticipated handover of the leasehold in September 2025.

S106 Open Space Contributions

Whilst the oft-quoted fund of £4M is predominantly promoted as being for, unsurprisingly, contributions towards the cost of maintaining the open spaces in Kingsgrove, it is also there to provide affordable housing. As a result, it is likely that nowhere near £4M will be able to be claimed back by the management company. Currently, only 5% can be claimed back each year and even that will come to an end when the development has been completed, c. 2031. Anything left in that pot would then be given to the council to fund affordable housing.

Despite seemingly positive conversations between the District Council, St. Modwen and Preim about raising the cap for this year, the decision was made to retain the cap at its current value of 5%. The reasons given by the council at the meeting were about making sure that the S106 Open Space Contributions are available to help offset the service charges of residents buying into a later phase of the development rather than just the “current” residents benefitting.

Wantage Town Council’s interest in adopting land at Kingsgrove

There was a recent meeting between St. Modwen and Wantage Town Council to explore the idea in more detail. Any council adoption of the land would need a “deed of variation”.

Importantly, both St. Modwen and the council are keen for residents to have their say on the matter.

Road surfacing and adoption

The adoption of any roads in the development is not expected to be until 2025 due to how the council prefers to deal with multiple interlinked roads. However, it was accepted that Cherry Croft and the south end of Elder Way are now virtually free of construction traffic so are likely to be resurfaced soon after Bellway have completed construction of their phase.

As for which roads are to be offered for adoption, I believe that virtually all the roads in Kingsgrove will be offered for adoption, with the one exception of Clover Close in the Cala phase. This is part of the Fullers Estate Management Company so won’t be adopted.

Oxfordshire County Council were quick to reassure residents that it is their intention to adopt all the roads that are being offered and are of a suitable standard. Obviously, there has to be the caveat that things may change before the roads are adopted but that is not unreasonable.

Active Travel

Wantage Active Travel have had positive dialogue recently with Oxfordshire County Council with the recent survey providing very useful background as to what local residents say that they need.

The lack of a crossing near the King Alfred’s Way junction with the Reading Road was the most commented on subject in the survey so OCC are well aware of the need for a safe crossing.

Crabhill Lane (aka “BOAT”) improvements south of Rutherford Road

S106 money has been administratively allocated to Oxfordshire County Council to carry out improvement works to Crabhill Lane, south of Rutherford Road. However, the occupation trigger is 50 homes on the new Vistry / Bovis phase so is not likely to be met for some time to come. As such the money hasn’t actually been paid to the county council.

Kingsgrove Cafe

One of the more contentious topics of discussion in the meeting was the future of the current Kingsgrove Cafe, located on the Public Square.

In late 2023, LSP Developments agreed a contract with St. Modwen to buy and develop the Co-op grocery store, the three other retail units and the nursery.

Unbeknownst to the current operator of the Kingsgrove Cafe, that contract included provision for a “non-compete” clause. With an, as yet unnamed, cafe, in the last stages of officially renting one of those retail units, this non-compete clause is going to be enforced when the new cafe opens in Spring 2025.

This means that the current Kingsgrove Cafe won’t be allowed to continue in its present form.

The Kingsgrove Cafe was always going to be temporary but everyone thought that it would be the opening of the community hub, now likely in mid 2026, that would cause its ultimate closure. Instead, it would appear that its future depends on the completion timescale of the retail units.

St. Modwen were keen to point out that it was their benevolence that had been quick to identify that Kingsgrove would benefit from a cafe, albeit a temporary one, and that they provided the cafe building and equipment. Their argument was that the new cafe in the retail units had to be given as much chance of being a success as possible, even if that was at the expense of the existing cafe.

Next meeting

Crab Hill Development Forum - Thursday 30 January 2025

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