Welcome to the
Didcot Garden Town Newsletter
Autumn 2021 Edition
Advisory Board meeting
Our next board meeting is taking place on 25 October from 10.30am-12.30pm via Zoom. We look forward to you joining us.
Please register to attend
Parish Council Sounding Board 
This meeting took place on 28 September via Zoom. We were delighted to welcome guest speaker Ian Nutt, Director of Programmes at the Earth Trust.  Officers provided a presentation to update everyone attending.  If you missed it you can listen to the meeting here.
Residents’ Sounding Board 
Last month we held a successful environmental workshop for our Residents’ Sounding Board with representatives from Didcot Allotment Society, Sustainable Didcot, Wild in Didcot, a Tree Champion, and two professional garden designers. 

The group discussed increasing partnership-working across local environmental groups to help identify new funding and how we can keep you up to date with the environmental projects happening across the garden town.

Together we’re now looking at how we can create exciting new areas of rewilding, community gardens/allotments and placemaking for Didcot.


If you’d like to get involved in the environmental project and Residents’ Sounding Board, please contact us via didcotgardentown@southandvale.gov.uk.

You can find out more information on all our Sounding Boards on our website.

Didcot Garden Town's Garden Party at Cornerstone Arts Centre

 

This summer we held our first ever Garden Party and it was a roaring success! 

We arranged seven weeks of themed events for families and young people and attracted more than 4,000 people, who enjoyed the series of free activities held at Cornerstone in Didcot throughout the summer holidays.

By holding different themed weekends we’ve helped to rebuild on the strong sense of community since the pandemic started and restrictions were in place.  It was great to see everyone celebrate our local culture, the arts and all the leisure opportunities for residents living in and around Didcot garden town.

We hope to build on the garden party success hosting more pop-up events or projects around the town and surrounding areas next year.

Photo of Gandini Juggling 'SMASHED2' 
We welcome your feedback! Let us know if you attended or have ideas for future programming. Email us via didcotgardentown@southandvale.gov.uk

New policy to boost planting and protection of trees

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils have launched a new policy which outlines how they will protect, plant and manage trees on the land they own, and how they’ll support communities to apply to plant trees on council owned land.

Protecting and increasing tree cover will ensure that trees across our districts continue to benefit residents and our environment, and will help to reduce carbon emissions by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.
Read the full article here


Consultation opens on how we engage with communities and planning
Didcot’s population is set to more than double over the next 15 years. Whilst much of the development that will lead to this population growth is already in the pipeline, it is vital that the town’s growth is led by a clear vision and integrated framework for its future. The Didcot Garden Town delivery plan aims to enrich the community by ensuring that the views of local people are taken into account.

Your views are needed on how we engage with you about the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils planning processes. 

The councils are preparing a Joint Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) which sets out who, how and when the councils will engage with local communities as part of the planning process. It covers both consultations on planning applications and also on the development of local plans which guide where development will be supported in the future. 
Register your views

Science Vale Update
Harwell Campus 


The Rosalind Franklin Institute, a new research institute based at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus has officially opened.
Read more here!

Milton Park 


Exscientia selects Milton Park for new laboratories
Read more here!

Culham Science Centre

Topping-out marks key stage in construction of new H3AT and Fusion Technology facility
Read more here!

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 July 2021