Tomorrow (19 January), South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils will ask local stakeholder representatives to comment on the proposed masterplan for Didcot Garden Town.
Over the past few months, town and parish councillors, schools, businesses, landowners, partners and residents from Didcot and the surrounding villages have all given their thoughts on what a new Garden Town could include.
Over 4,000 comments have been made, through face to face meetings and via the dedicated Didcot Garden Town website – which has helped to shape the proposals set out in the draft masterplan.
The main features include a better connected town centre, with safe cycle routes to multiple locations, including the Harwell Campus, Mowbray Fields nature reserve, Didcot Parkway, allotments and Culham, and a new Leisure Centre in the North East of the town.
There is also potential to upgrade the station and the access to the railway museum.
The town centre itself will build on its existing success and includes implementing the £50 million expansion of the Orchard Centre. Along Broadway, local businesses will be supported with improvements to the street and space for activities such as markets and events.
The Orchard Centre expansion is a significant milestone for the future growth of Didcot Town Centre and forms part of our wider plans to transform Didcot into a Garden Town and deliver 20,000 new jobs and 15,000 new homes over the next 20 years.
Nearby, on the Rich’s Sidings site, there are plans to develop new business premises and homes. In the longer-term there is also potential to relocate the railway station, creating an entrance directly into the Orchard Centre and providing access for more direct trains to Oxford and new services to Birmingham, Manchester, Southampton and beyond.
A mix of affordable and private rented housing will be the focus of our future plans for the current Gateway site opposite the station, with smaller shops and places to eat and drink to support the new community there. This replaces previous proposals for the Gateway site, which has been unable to attract strong developer interest. We envisage that both South Oxfordshire Housing Association (SOHA) and the Prince of Wales pub will be re-housed onsite.
Opposite the Gateway, to the north of the railway line, the masterplan proposes developing a world class Technology Institute, with the potential to make Didcot a centre of excellence for the research and development in advanced technologies.
The Technology Institute will be the focal point of a technology campus that includes homes for people working in the institute. hTese homes will be built adjacent to the boundary of Didcot Football Club, with most of the green areas being maintained as a public open space or park.
No new development is planned for the area north of Tyne Avenue – however the Garden Town proposals will aim to improve the quality and accessibility of this green space.
Didcot is surrounded by beautiful countryside and its local location is part of what makes the town such as attractive place to invest. The Garden Town proposals, once implemented will lead to an increase of almost four times the current amount of publicly available open space.
Ensuring green spaces between the edge of the town and the surrounding villages is also an important part of our proposals.
Plans ensuring the right infrastructure to support new development are also in place, such as the construction of a new road between Didcot station and Harwell science centre. The use of new technology is also planned to help manage traffic flow, including installing traffic signals that talk to each other to make travel better for people at peak-times. And where the lights turn green for emergency services travelling with their blue lights flashing.
The masterplan also includes recommendations for schools, health centres and other services and proposes to work the County Council, the NHS, highways, the ambulance service and the police to ensure the services they deliver in Didcot and the surrounding area are of the highest quality.
The enthusiasm of people to get involved in the Garden Town has been awe-inspiring. Business ranging from major employers in the space sector to small local firms have made suggestions to help Didcot business thrive.
People in the town and surrounding villages have also been passionate in telling us good things about Didcot and suggesting ideas that would make the town an even better place to live, work and invest.
The draft plans will be published on the Didcot Garden Town website www.didcotgardentown.org from 23 January 2017 and South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse councils are urging everyone who lives, works and visits Didcot and the surrounding villages to comment on these proposals.
The final draft Didcot Garden Town Delivery Plan will be published for public consultation in the spring of 2017, followed by a six week consultation.
These are our visionary proposals, following public engagement over the past few months and may change once we have carried out feasibility studies, testing and detailed discussions with landowners, potential funders and developers.
Everyone will have an opportunity to comment further when individual planning applications are brought forward.
Cllr Mathew Barber, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council said;
“The draft proposals give residents of Didcot and the surrounding villages a first glimpse into how great Didcot Garden Town could be. These plans are truly innovative, offering first class shopping experience, with more places to eat and drink, safe cycling routes, green spaces and new business opportunities.“
Cllr John Cotton, Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council said:
“The Didcot community have been very enthusiastic in telling us what they want from a Garden Town. Their input will ensure we can deliver a truly innovative scheme that will offer the housing, jobs and the infrastructure we need to make Didcot a wonderful place to live, work and invest.”