MOTORISTS across Oxfordshire are paying an average of £5 a gallon for petrol for the first time as the price of oil continues to soar.

A litre of unleaded averages £1.10 on forecourts in the city - almost 20 per cent more than a year ago when the average price was 92.7p per litre - and motoring organisations could not predict when it would peak.

Diesel has risen to an average of 119.5p per litre.

The price increases mean a driver with a typical 50-litre (11 gallon) tank now has to spend £55 to fill up - £8.65 more than they did a year ago - while the AA said families are spending an extra £38 per month on petrol when compared to 2007.

The increases have forced families such as Gemma Barrett's to ration their use of their car.

Mrs Barrett, a mother-of-three from Lambourn Road, Rose Hill, Oxford, said: "The price of petrol is disgusting.

"It is a real struggle for families to run their cars. We only really use our car for essential journeys now.

"It's ridiculous. The price of petrol keeps going up but our budget can't stretch enough to meet it."

The 24-year-old, whose husband, Jamie, 27, is a delivery driver for Parcelforce in Kidlington, added: "This is penalising people on low incomes. I know two people who've sold their cars now because they can't afford to keep running them.

"My husband only uses our 1.8-litre Vauxhall Vectra to go to work and for food shopping.

WITNEY is a town with too much development and not enough facilities to match, and where people are worried about vandalism, anti-social behaviour, poor facilities for teenagers . . . and the prospect of more flooding.

That is a snapshot of concerns coming up on the doorsteps, as candidates for tomorrow's elections seek votes to give them a say in trying to change things.

Turnout at local council polls is never as good as General Elections, but this week the Gazette asked six candidates, all standing in Witney, why people should bother to vote.

Their responses, from canvassing in the run-up to tomorrow, show that local issues are very much alive and on people's minds.

We spoke to candidates from each of the five parties - Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and United Kingdom Independence - as well as an Independent to find out what local voters are telling them.

A common theme is Witney's continued growth, with new housing estates, and even more planned, but slowness in providing community facilities and infrastructure.

The Madley Park estate is almost completed, but it won't be until next year before there is a community centre for the several thousand new residents. On Deer Park, there is a sports field, but no separate changing rooms for girls.

And at the Gordon Way astro-turf centre, there is no access to free drinking water, just machine bottled water, which has to be paid for.

The candidates we spoke to are: Roger Curry, Richard Dossett-Davies, David Phipps, Duncan Enright, Peter Green, and Brenda Churchill.

SMALL shops in Witney are forming their own network to fight the threat from multi-national stores.

Ten independent businesses in the town have already agreed to be part of the new group, the Witney Independent Retailers' Association.

Its first official meeting is next month at Hacketts restaurant, in Wesley Walk, and they are ultimately hoping to expand to represent all 40-plus independents in the town centre.

The catalyst for the shopkeepers banding together is the Marriotts Close development, now under way, and expected to open next year.

Jeanne Chattoe, who instigated the new group, told the Gazette this week: "With the forthcoming influx of multi-nationals at Marriotts Close, many independent retailers are most concerned about how this is going to affect their business."

Stores such as Monsoon, Accessorise, Debenhams, and Marks & Spencer have already signed up to become part of the new development.

Mrs Chattoe added: "This will affect a whole spectrum of shops, some of whom are already struggling due to the retail slump, summer flooding, and high business rents and rates.

High street chains will be the next victims of cyber terrorism, some of the world's elite hackers have warned.

They claim it is only a "matter of time" before the likes of Tesco and Marks & Spencer are targeted.

Criminals could use the kind of tactics which crippled Estonia's government and some firms last year, they warned.

The experts were members of the infamous "Hackers Panel" which convened in London this week at the InfoSecurity Europe conference.

The panel includes penetration testers and so-called "white hat" hackers, who help companies tighten up their digital security by searching for flaws in their defences.

Previous panellists include Gary McKinnon, known as Solo, alleged by the US government to have hacked into dozens of US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense computers.

The "hackers" usually remain anonymous, "for security reasons", but this year's panellists agreed to break cover.

Common cause

First up was Roberto Preatoni, the founder of the cyber crime monitoring site, Zone-H, and WabSabiLabi, a trading site for security researchers.

His appearance came just a few months after he was arrested by Italian authorities on charges of hacking and wiretapping, as part of the ongoing investigation into the Telecom Italia scandal.

Mr Preatoni told the audience that the attacks in Estonia were a harbinger for a new era of cyber warfare.

"I'm afraid we will have to get used to this," said Mr Preatoni, also known as SyS64738. "We had all been waiting for this kind of attack to happen.

"Estonia was just unfortunate to be the first country to experience it. But very soon, our own [western] companies and countries will be getting attacked for political and religious reasons.

"This kind of attack can happen at any time. And it will happen."

During the two week "cyber war" against Estonia, hackers shut down the websites of banks, governments and political parties using "denial-of-service" (DoS) attacks, which knock websites offline by swamping servers with page requests.

As many of the attacks originated from Russia, the Estonian government pointed the finger at the Kremlin. But Mr Preatoni said that, having spoken to contacts in the hacking community, he was clear that "Putin was not involved".

"In my opinion, this was a collection of private individuals who spontaneously gathered under the same flag.

"Even though Estonia is one of the world's most advanced countries in IT technology, the whole economy was brought to its knees.

A NEW era of co-operation between Oxford city and Oxfordshire county councils was ushered in today after the authorities agreed a £2.5m deal over the running of park-and-ride sites.

At a date yet to be decided, County Hall will take over the running of Oxford city's three park-and-ride sites.

Currently, the city runs and maintains the Redbridge, Seacourt and Pear Tree sites with the county running the Thornhill and Water Eaton facilities.

Parking at the city-run sites costs £1 - in addition to a bus fare into the city, whereas parking is free at county-run facilities.

The agreement, which was taken at a meeting of the Town Hall's decision-making executive, means County Hall will take over the operation of all five sites for ten years and pay the city £250,000 a year for the privilege.

After ten years, Redbridge, Seacourt and Pear Tree will all revert back to city council control.

As part of negotiations between the two councils, a new "liaison committee" has been set up with the expressed aim of avoiding embarrassing, public disputes over areas of disagreement.

The two councils have been at loggerheads recently, disagreeing vocally on a range of issues, notably paid-for parking permits for city residents.

City council leader John Goddard said: "This is a good deal.

"We will discuss things with each other - we intend to work more consensually together."

Source: Witney Gazette

THE number of schools in Oxfordshire affected by tomorrow's teachers' strike has risen to 52.

Of the 232 primary schools, 33 secondary schools and one academy in the county, 31 have confirmed they will close and another 21 only have lessons for some pupils.

Listed below are schools expected to either close or be affected, according to Oxfordshire County Council or the NUT:

Banbury School, Ruskin Road, Banbury (Yr 13 languages oral exams and business case study exam will continue)
Bardwell Special School, Sunderland Drive, Bicester
Blessed George Napier Catholic School, Addison Road, Banbury (Yrs 7-9 closed)
Bloxham C of E Primary School, Tadmarton Road, Bloxham
Carterton Primary School, Burford Road, Carterton
Chiltern Edge School, Reades Lane, Sonning Common
Chipping Norton School, Burford Road, Chipping Norton (Yrs 7-9. Open Yrs 10-13)
Church Cowley St James Church of England Primary School, Bartholomew Road, Oxford
Cumnor Church of England School, Oxford Road, Cumnor
Cutteslowe Primary School, Wren Road, Oxford
Edward Feild Primary School, Bicester Road, Kidlington (except nursery)
Fitzharrys School, Northcourt Road, Abingdon
Fritwell Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, East Street, Fritwell, Bicester (three out of six classrooms closed)
Grove Church of England School, North Drive, Grove (all classes open except one)
Harriers Ground Community Primary School, Bloxham Road, Banbury (Yrs 5 and 6 open)
Hook Norton Church of England Primary School, Sibford Road, Hook Norton
Icknield Community College, Love Lane, Watlington (Yrs 7-9 closed)
Iffley Mead School, Iffley Turn, Oxford
John Blandy Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Laurel Drive, Southmoor
John Mason School, Wootton Road, Abingdon (Yr 11 exam students can work with teachers)
Larkmead School, Faringdon Road, Abingdon
Larkrise Primary School, Boundary Brook Road, Oxford (foundation unit open)
Millbrook Primary School, School Lane, Grove (Yr 6 open)
New Hinksey Church of England Primary School, Vicarage Road, Oxford 9Yrs 5 and 6 and foundation stage open)
Northbourne Church of England Primary School, Didcot (only pink, grey and brown classes open
Northfield School, Knights Road, Blackbird Leys
Orchard Fields Community School, Prescott Close, Banbury Orchard Meadow Primary School, Wesley Close, Oxford Our Lady's Catholic Primary School, Oxford Road, Cowley
Oxford Community School, Glanville Road, East Oxford
Peers School, Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, Oxford
SS Mary and John Church of England Primary School, Meadow Lane, Oxford (KS1 at Hertford Street open)
St Aloysius' Catholic Primary School, Woodstock Road, Oxford
St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Station Road, Chinnor (all classes open except Yrs 1 & 2)
St Christopher's Church of England Primary School, Langford, Lechlade
St Ebbe's School, Whitehouse Road, Oxford
St Francis Church of England Primary School, Horspath Road, Cowley
St Gregory the Great Catholic School, Cricket Road, Oxford (Yrs 7-10 closed)
St John's Primary School, St Johns Road, Wallingford
St Joseph's Catholic Primary SChool, Thame (Yrs 1-3 closed)
St Nicholas C of E Primary School, East Challow, Wantage
St Swithun's Church of England Primary School, Kennington
Stanford-in-the-Vale C of E Primary School, High Street, Stanford in the Vale
Stephen Freeman Community School, Freeman Road, Didcot (two classrooms closed)
Stockham Primary School, Stockham Way, Wantage
Stoke Row Church of England Primary School, Henley-on-Thames (KS2 classes closed)
Stonesfield Primary School, High Street, Stonesfield, Witney (KS2 classes closed for Yrs 3-6 only)
Tetsworth Primary School, Tetsworth, Thame
Thameside Primary School, Cotman Close, Abingdon
The Blake Church of England (Aided) Primary School, Cogges Hill Road, Witney
The Henry Box School, Church Green, Witney (open except for Yrs 8 & 9)
The Marlborough School, Shipton Road, Woodstock (Yrs 12 & 13 open)
Watchfield Primary School, North Street, Watchfield

Source: Witney Gazette

MORE than 20 Oxfordshire schools are set to close on Thursday as teachers walk out of classrooms on strike in their fight for better pay.

The strike - by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) - is the first for 21 years and it is not yet known exactly how many of the 2,750 Oxfordshire NUT members will be taking part in the industrial action.

So far it has been announced 25 schools across the county will be closed but that is not a final tally.

Among the largest secondary schools which have confirmed they will be closing are Oxford Community School, in Glanville Road, East Oxford, and Fitzharrys School in Abingdon.

Henry Box School in Witney will be closed to year eight and nine pupils. The Marlborough Church of England School in Woodstock will be closed to pupils in years seven to 11.

John Mason School in Abingdon will also be closed but students in year 11 and the sixth form will be able to go into school to work with teachers not in the NUT.

A number of primary schools will be affected including Cumnor C of E School, Cutteslowe Primary School, Edward Feild Primary School in Kidlington and St Ebbe's Primary School in Oxford.

Brenda Williams, secretary of the Oxfordshire branch of the NUT, said: "We don't want children to lose a day's education but in the grand scheme of things there has to be a point at which we identify what is happening to the teaching profession."

Members of the NUT voted three to one in favour of the strike over the Government's offer of a 2.45 per cent pay rise. The union leadership says any pay increase should at least match the retail prices index inflation rate, which was 3.8 per cent last month.

Here is the list of schools so far who are set to close due to the teachers' strike on Thursday:

Bardwell School
Carterton Primary School
Chiltern Edge School
Chipping Norton School
Church Cowley St James Church of England Primary School
Cumnor Church of England School
Cutteslowe Primary School
Edward Feild Primary School
Fitzharrys School
Fritwell Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Harriers Ground Community Primary School
Hook Norton Church of England Primary School
Iffley Mead School
John Mason School
Millbrook Primary School
New Hinksey Church of England Primary School
Northfield School
Orchard Meadow Primary School
Our Lady's Catholic Primary School
Oxford Community School
SS Mary and John Church of England Primary School
St Christopher's Church of England Primary School
St Francis Church of England Primary School
St John's Primary School
Stephen Freeman Community School
Tetsworth Primary School
Thameside Primary School
The Blake Church of England (Aided) Primary School
The Henry Box School
The Marlborough School

Source: Witney Gazette

Confidence in the UK housing market fell in March to its lowest point in 30 years, according to a closely watched survey of property surveyors.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (Rics) said that 78.5% more surveyors reported a fall than a rise in house prices in March.

This was the gloomiest reading since Rics began the survey in 1978.

The government's own house price figures confirmed a fall in prices in February by 1.6%.

The results come after leading mortgage lenders have offered similarly downbeat views on property prices.

Rics said the next six months would be crucial for homeowners and would-be buyers in the UK.

Historical low

The Rics house price balance dropped for the eighth consecutive month. It exceeded the previously lowest reading in June 1990.

Jeremy Leaf, Rics spokesman, said the gloom was the result of the credit crunch and its effect in stopping mortgage providers lending to each other.

LOSS-MAKING Cogges Manor Farm Museum, in Witney, cannot live on the past, and needs a new vision for the future.

That is the message from one of the country's leading museum experts, Roy Brigden, keeper of the Museum of English Rural Life.

As the owners, Oxfordshire County Council, look for new ways to turn the facility around from its annual £250,000 running losses, Mr Brigden said it needed to embrace a new outlook to get more people through the gates.

He said: "They have gone off the boil and fallen slightly out of favour. The costs remain the same, but the income has been diminishing.

"But it is happening with many of the 50 members of the Rural Museums Network.

"Many of them were formed between the late 1960s and early 1980s, and the motive for establishing them might be described as an attempt to remember a traditional rural way of life . . . to keep its memory alive.

"As original audiences have died out, the original motive for the museums may no longer be sufficient.

"The challenge to museums in this position is to find ways to become more relevant to modern audiences.

"We recognise the challenge for Cogges is now more heightened, and more immediate than elsewhere."

UK interest rates have been cut to 5% from 5.25% by the Bank of England in an attempt to spur the economy in the face of the global credit crunch.

It is the central bank's third cut in interest rates since early December.

The Bank said that disruption in financial markets and tighter credit conditions could lead to a slowdown in the wider economy.

The largest mortgage lenders say they will pass on the cut to their mortgage customers who pay variable rates.

Decision welcomed

Business groups welcomed the decision and called for further cuts to shore up growth.

"It is vitally important to ensure that problems in the financial sector and in the housing market do not damage wealth-creating businesses," said David Kern, economic adviser to the British Chambers of Commerce.

A WASTE recycling scheme, collecting from shops and businesses in West Oxfordshire, is to be extended.

Since it was launched last June, the scheme has diverted 130 tonnes of cardboard and glass away from landfill and into recycling.

Although so far only 120 customers have signed up, West Oxfordshire District Council is expecting to recruit more by putting a freeze on costs and collect more waste materials.

Customers, including pubs, restaurants, factories, and other commercial premises, have the choice of four different sizes of waste collection bins, which are emptied on Saturdays.

Satisfied customers include the Usborne Publishing archive store, at Stanton Harcourt. Zoe Wright, manager, said: "All our waste cardboard used to go in with the rubbish for landfill, and we were feeling very guilty about it.

"The recycling service is just the job, as it helps us honour our commitment to be as green as we can."

The council trialed a glass scheme for pubs, where brewers are reluctant to take back empty bottles.

Tom Gee, of the Clanfield Tavern, said: "I'm glad we now have an alternative to throwing empty bottles into our wheelie bin."

The council brought in the scheme following a survey that showed that 93 per cent of the firms contacted would rather recycle their waste than send it to landfill.

Weekly costs are to stay the same for the coming year, ranging from £3.15 for a 240 litre bin to £8.90 for 1,100 litres. Normal waste collection charges cost more.

In addition, cardboard recycling for traders at Witney Market was introduced last October, with collections every Thursday. They could also be extended to other West Oxfordshire markets in due course.

David Harvey, cabinet member for the environment, said: "The overall viability of our commercial waste collection service will be reviewed in spring 2009.

"In the meantime, we are exploring opportunities to offer commercial customers an enhanced service to collect a wider variety of waste materials for recycling."

Source: Witney Gazette

Snow has fallen across much of the UK overnight, with forecasters warning that there is likely to be more later.

Overnight snow descended in north-east England, Manchester and north Wales and headed down towards the Midlands, with similar conditions in southern England.

With wintry conditions in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Met Office has issued a number of flash warnings of severe or extreme weather.

BBC Weather warned driving would be "treacherous" in many areas.

Snow has also started to fall in central London.

Up to 8cm (3in) of snow is likely to fall in parts of southern England, according to BBC weather forecaster Chris Fawkes.

Icy roads

He also predicted heavy snow in all parts of Wales, with Scotland and Northern Ireland also likely to be hit by wintry conditions.

Where driving is concerned, the forecaster added: "The mix of snow and ice has created treacherous conditions in some parts of the country."

However, he said the snow was likely to clear in southern England later in the morning.

The Met Office said there was at least an 80% chance of heavy snow and widespread icy roads across Northern Ireland, north Wales and north-west England.

It also said there was a strong possibility of heavy snow in the West Midlands and southern England.

Aircraft search

The M56 has been closed in both directions in Cheshire, and there have been accidents on the M40.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said Bicester, Aylesbury and Oxfordshire had all seen heavy snowfall, with several reports of cars struggling to continue their journeys and minor accidents.

Snow in Scotland and parts of northern England on Saturday hampered the search for a missing aircraft in the Highlands.

The light aircraft disappeared off radar as it was crossing the Cairngorms, south east of Glenmore Forest, in poor weather on Saturday morning.

Temperatures have dropped significantly over the weekend after a warm week that had included the hottest day of the year on Thursday.

You can send us your snowy pictures. Email:

Source: BBC News

THE planned new road to bring relief to traffic congestion in Witney town centre would be a single lane, two-way road with a 40mph speed limit.

Provision would also be made in the Cogges Link for a three metre-wide footpath and cycle way between Witan Way and the Stanton Harcourt Road.

Oxfordshire County Council's decision making cabinet has formally lodged its application for the road, which is just over a mile long and crosses the River Windrush.

The project, which is estimated to cost £16.4m, will go to West Oxfordshire District Council planners and is expected to receive the go-ahead in the next month or so, but is almost certain to result in a public inquiry over compulsory purchase of land. Earliest opening would be in 2011.

Ian Hudspeth, cabinet member for transport, said: "This has been a real saga and I know that many local people are keen to see action to relieve traffic in Witney.

"I hope that a renewed planning permission will be a step in the right direction in terms of reaching solutions."

The Link Road was one of two options - the other an improved Shores Green junction on the A40 Witney bypass, to ease congestion, particularly in Bridge Street which is used by about 30,000 vehicles a day.

The area affected by the new road is mostly open land to the south and east of Cogges, mainly agricultural with some public open space made up of the country park between the two branches of the Windrush and a smaller area immediately to the east of the Stanton Harcourt Road between Cogges and the A40.

The county council said a replacement area for the lost public open space would be provided to the north east between the Cogges estate and the new road. Provisions to mitigate the loss of country park are also included in the scheme proposals. The county council said that a recent detailed flood risk assessment indicated that the chosen route did not impact on the floodplain of the River Windrush.

Source: Witney Gazette

A CASH boost of almost £25m has been awarded to Abingdon and Witney College to help it build eco-friendly buildings.

As reported in the Gazette last month, the £24.8m grant from the Learning and Skills Council is equivalent to 87 per cent of the cost of a £30.5m project to rebuild Abingdon and Witney College's Witney campus.

Most college building projects get just 40 to 50 per cent from the Government, and are expected to raise the rest themselves through selling off land and moving to new sites.

Steve Billcliffe, the college's development director, said: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for West Oxfordshire." Plans for the new college, which was formed in 2001, are on display around Witney, and people are being invited to comment through the planning process.

If approval is gained, planning work on the site could start as early as June. Mr Billcliffe added: "We are going to have to borrow the rest from the bank on a mortgage, but this level of grant means we will be able to stay where we are. It is an expensive build and it is going to take three years to complete, but at the end of it we will have a state-of-the-art campus."

When the campus is built, new catering and hairdressing courses will be on offer in addition to updated computer, media, film and music technology facilities.

The development will include new student accommodation across almost 7,500 square metres, including almost 500 square metres of specialist accommodation for students with higher-level learning support needs.

As part of the development, the redundant Welch Way ambulance station - which has already been purchased by the college - will be bulldozed to open up a walkway into the campus.

Witney has 600 full-time students, aged 16 to 18, and about 2,000 adult and part-time learners, with a staff of about 200.

Source: Witney Gazette

Flight cancellations at the new Terminal 5 of London's Heathrow Airport will continue well into next week.

British Airways plans to operate about 85% of its T5 services on Sunday, with 37 flights having been cancelled.

On Monday and Tuesday it hopes to run 87% and a "progressively larger flying programme" throughout the week.

The chaos is due to problems with the baggage handling system. About 15,000 bags are stranded and many passengers have had to fly without their luggage.

A total of 208 flights in and out of the terminal were cancelled during T5's first three days.

PEOPLE living in Oxfordshire are among those enjoying the best quality of life in Great Britain, research claimed today.

The county came sixth in Halifax's quality of life survey, which scored each county in Great Britain according to a range of factors, such as employment, earnings, housing quality, weather, crime, education and health.

People living in Buckinghamshire were found to have the highest quality of life, followed by those in Surrey and then Berkshire.

Counties in Greater London and the South East dominate the list, providing eight of the top 10, with Suffolk coming in seventh place, while the Vale of Glamorgan came in eighth, thanks to its relatively large homes, high owner occupancy rates, high life expectancy and good GCSE results.

The highest placed county in Scotland was East Dunbartonshire, which was ranked 15th in the survey due to its high employment and owner occupancy rates, generally good health and good education results.

Oxfordshire, Midlothian and Worcestershire have the highest employment rate at 81% of the population, while those in Kensington and Chelsea are the highest paid, earning an average of more than £62,000 a year.

Cambridgeshire was found to be the driest county in Britain, receiving an average of just 560mm of rain a year, while the Isle of Wight was the sunniest, with around 34.2 hours of sunshine a week.

People in Buckinghamshire are also the healthiest, with 95% saying their health is either good or fairly good, while life expectancy is also highest in the county, with newborns expected to live for an average of 79.5 years.

Primary school class sizes are smallest in the Western Isles, with an average of just 14.4 pupils per class, while exam results are highest in East Dunbartonshire for Scotland and Redbridge in Greater London for England.

Halifax found that average house prices in the top 10 counties with the best quality of life trade at a premium of 6.5% of their region as a whole.

House prices in Buckinghamshire average £313,644, making it the 25th most expensive place to live in the country, while Surrey is the 14th most expensive county with prices averaging £364,115, and Berkshire is the 24th at £315,693.

Source: Witney Gazette

HUNDREDS of balloons are to be launched from the centre of Carterton to show support for the armed forces.

The town is home to thousands of servicemen and women at RAF Brize Norton and the Yellow Ribbon Foundation, set up to provide information for their families.

The balloon launch is on Saturday, March 29, at 3.30pm in the town recreation ground, one of a series of events across the country to mark Yellow Ribbon for the Forces Week.

Foundation spokesman Victoria Evans said: "We've seen the armed forces act as first response to many natural disasters, both in the UK and across the world, as well as serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's a mark of respect to those individuals returning home from lengthy tours, but for whom a homecoming parade will not be on the agenda."

The foundation was set up five years ago.

Children at all local schools have been invited to go along with their families.

Families will also be able to send messages of support at the event, either over the radio or by letter.

Source: Witney Gazette

LANDOWNERS and developers are scrambling to get in on the act to provide thousands of new homes for Witney and West Oxfordshire.

Five major sites have been put forward for the next phase of Witney's expansion, while smaller sites are potential development areas for the district's two other major towns, Carterton and Chipping Norton.

Over the coming two months, all will be reviewed as part of public consultation in the drawing up of a Local Development Framework (LDF) - formerly the Local Plan - for the district through to the year 2026.

In Witney, the major sites are all greenfield, and submissions for them have come in from two consortiums, a development company and planning consultancy.

They are . . .

* 107 acres of land south of the A40 Witney bypass and bordering on part of Ducklington village (JWPC Ltd - Abbey Developments).

* The 'Cogges triangle', 32 acres of land east of the existing Cogges estate and bordering on the A40 and Oxford Road (Carter Jonas - East Witney Land Consortium).

* 23 acres of land north of Oxford Road (Carter Jonas - East Witney Land Consortium).

* North Witney, 58 acres directly north of the existing Madley Park estate (RPS - North Witney Consortium).

*North Curbridge, 72 acres north of the A40 between Deer Park Road and Downs Road (Barton Wilmore partnership).

Smaller sites have also been put forward for housing, including the Buttercross Works, off Station Lane, land south of Curbridge, and land at the north end of Ducklington. The size of the five major sites indicates that landowners and developers see the town as most likely to take the brunt of future housebuilding in the district.

But it also puts greater pressure on the town's need for a better road system. This week, the county council is preparing to put in its latest planning application for the Cogges Link Road, with the earliest opening date now 2011 (see Page 3).

West Oxfordshire District Council's cabinet gave the go-ahead for consultation on the LDF on Wednesday. Tina Rowley, planning policy manager, said the process should begin by the end of the month, and continue until May 12.

THE first day of the new season of Cogges Farm Museum had an Easter theme - with children watching cakes being baked and hunting for eggs.

On Saturday, the Witney museum, saved from the threat of closure, came back to life as it opened for the new season.

Throughout the weekend, Easter activities were on offer to keep young and old visitors amused - including an Easter egg hunt on Sunday. Maids were busy in the Manor House baking Easter goodies on the range, while visitors saw how butter was made in the courtyard.

Youngsters followed a 'bunny trail', and looked for clues in the site's extensive grounds.

A new children's farm was also launched, where children can get up close to creatures great and small in a petting area. Visitors were invited to buy season tickets at specially reduced rates.

Volunteers gave up their spare time the previous weekend to give the place a spring clean before the re-opening.

It received another boost with a donation of £5,000 from the Witney Town Hall Charity, which supports local good causes. This will be put towards marketing the museum in 2008.

Source: Witney Gazette

OXFORDSHIRE woke to a covering of snow today as motoring organisations warned of problems ahead on the road.

With snow settling in parts of the country, many motorists could face difficult driving conditions.

The RAC said many families face a miserable journey back from Easter holiday breaks tomorrow as millions of people hit the road to make it home in time for school.

This year's early Easter has meant many children return to school on Tuesday rather than enjoying a few more days off.

The RAC said the knock-on effect for road users will be vast numbers of families clogging the busiest routes on Easter Monday for their return journey.

And, with snow settling in parts of the country, many motorists could face difficult driving conditions.

As well as the school rush, the RAC said economic fears have forced Britons to shun foreign holidays for trips in the UK. And with fewer trains running during the break, there has been a surge in traffic volumes on the roads.

Although travel today should be relatively straightforward, there are some potential jam hot-spots - including the M5 between Bristol and the West Country, the M4 between London and the M4/M5 interchange, and roads radiating out from and around the M25 London orbital motorway.

There are no scheduled road closures tomorrow but a major setback for holidaymakers returning to Luton Airport will be on-going roadworks from Junction 6 to 10 on the M1 on both carriageways, which the RAC said can cause long tailbacks as traffic moves at about 50mph.

Despite the poor weather, planned engineering works on Britain's railways are running to schedule, according to Network Rail.

But a spokesman said crane work in Rugby had been put back because high winds made working conditions too dangerous for its employees.

The inclement weather has so far caused little disruption to scheduled flights, but staff at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are bracing themselves for a busy Easter Monday.

Source: Witney Gazette