View here

Vale of White Horse District Council is encouraging everyone in the local area to take part in Thames Water’s public consultation on the proposed South East Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO), before the 13 January 2026 deadline.

The feedback Thames Water gather will inform their Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the government, which they expect to submit in autumn 2026.

People can have their say on Thames Water’s consultation webpages and read more about the proposals.  

Cllr Bethia Thomas, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “With only a few more weeks to go for Thames Water’s public consultation, I urge everyone to have a say before the January deadline. Now is the opportunity to raise any questions or concerns.”

Cllr Thomas added: “It is no secret that we have deep concerns for the reservoir and the impact it would have on our district.

“Many questions remain around the size of the proposed scheme, its environmental impact and significant (growing) financial and carbon costs, as well as the potential for increased flood risk in local watercourses.

“We are preparing a response to the consultation, which we will publish on our website in due course.

“We remain opposed to this proposal, and we will continue to urge water providers, regulators and government to listen to local voices and reject these plans. We will continue to do everything we can within our power to ensure that the voice of our community is listened to.”

Cllr Andy Cooke, Vale of White Horse District Council's Water Champion, said: "We remain opposed to the current proposal, with all of the issues that are inextricably linked to its world-beating size as a fully-bunded reservoir - issues that remain unaddressed even at this supposedly late stage of design.  Dam breach concerns, Emergency Drawdown and flooding are all unavoidable issues when supersizing a proposal like this and I urge the public to have their say and ensure Thames Water provides these basic answers before going any further."

All the details on the council’s response and correspondence relating to SESRO is available on the council’s dedicated SESRO webpage.  
​

A statement from Cllr Bethia Thomas, Leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council 

Looking back, I think it is fair to say that it has been another challenging year – but like many previous years, I feel we have all shown great resilience and responded with determination to everything that has come our way, celebrating our achievements when they have presented themselves and taking on any setbacks with dignity and consideration.

It is hard to believe a year has gone by since the government announced its Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation plans. Working with other councils, in an effective partnership, we have successfully submitted our Two Unitary Authority Proposal to the government at the end of November. I want to take the opportunity to express my immense appreciation to everyone who contributed to the proposal, including over two thousand people and organisations who took part in our extensive engagement exercise over the summer. We’re confident we have a strong, positive, cost-effective proposal that meets the government’s criteria and protects and enhances what’s great about our communities. We will continue to strengthen message when the government publishes its consultation for our area in the spring, and we intend to be ready to keep the momentum up!

It has certainly been a challenging year for our Joint Local Plan. The JLP is an exceptional plan, and we are proud of the work that has gone into producing it. Although we faced a huge set-back in the autumn with our Planning Inspectors’ initial conclusions about the Duty to Cooperate, recent developments have suggested there may be a positive way forward. We are pleased that the Minister’s recent correspondence confirms that the Duty will not be saved going forward, therefore asking the Inspectorate to engage in dialogue with councils like ours with plans at examination. We received a letter from our Inspectors to start that dialogue, and I would like to announce that our councils have now sent a reply setting out that our wish is to ask them to resume the hearings and progress the Joint Local Plan through examination and, all being well, to adoption.

Challenges aside, there is indeed much to celebrate. This was the year that our ambitions to take action on climate and nature came to fruition as we are close to completing work on a multi-million-pound decarbonisation project at our leisure centres in Abingdon and Wantage. Both sites have been fitted with air source heat pumps and hundreds of solar panels to provide clean, green energy, which will bring down Vale’s carbon emissions by a quarter, as well as the energy bills.

Our joint Nature and Climate Action Plan with South was also published this year. This set climate and biodiversity targets for the district and the councils themselves. Earlier this year Vale found national recognition for its work when it was rated among the top ten district councils in the country for its action on climate and nature by environmental organisation, Climate Emergency UK. In autumn, the Climate Action Fund has once again proved incredibly popular with a wide range of local groups successfully applying for a total of £100,000 for projects which ranged from restoring a wetland area in Sunningwell to funding a free garden tree giveaway for residents across the district. As ever we were surprised and delighted by the ambition and enthusiasm of people looking to take action on nature and climate.

It's been a busy year in our Community Hub, who have supported hundreds of residents with cost-of-living concerns, including providing financial support and sharing advice on free or affordable food and health and wellbeing. 

Preventing homelessness remains a strong focus for us with huge impacts for our communities, and our new Joint Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy sets how we ensure support reaches people when they need it most. Over the last year our housing team prevented 264 households in the district who were at risk of becoming homeless, from becoming homeless.  We’ve also enabled many low-income families stay in the local area through our White Horse Lettings service which supports tenancies and landlords.

For organisations and charities experiencing financial strain, our White Horse Community Lottery is a helping hand, which has so far this year generated over £27,000 for local good causes across our district.  

We continue to provide heartfelt support for people fleeing conflict and seeking sanctuary - including Ukrainian and Afghan households living in the Vale. In partnership with many others, we help ensure a warm welcome for everyone and embrace integration, supporting independent living for those staying in the county.

As we head into our holiday break, if you (or anyone you know) need help or want to find out the details of our services over the Christmas period, including emergency support information, please head to our website. And if you’d like to book something special to look forward to in the new year, I can thoroughly recommend checking out The Beacon Arts, Entertainment and Community Centre’s new website which includes lots of shows to keep you entertained – from live music, comedy nights, theatre productions, and film screenings. 

And finally, my heart-felt thanks to all our local volunteers, community groups and charities that have been working tirelessly to help vulnerable individuals and families. I also couldn’t go without thanking my Cabinet, all councillors and everyone at the council in helping us to deliver our high-quality support and services.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  

Cllr Bethia Thomas
​

The Church has been beautifully decorated. With many thanks to Mandy for organising and all those who helped.

Many thanks also to Andrew Liddiard who donated the Christmas tree.😀

The Church is open daily so do pop in and take a look.
​

The current incarnation of the nativity scene up at the Great Barn started in 1999, and even with one pause in 2020 its been running for more than 25 years.

Jennifer has kindly shared some photos with us so I am adding them here.

You can read about the history of the nativity scene in an older post here. In it Ian Beckwith talks about finding some small ceramic nativity figures in the vestry, Joy Lee talks about being inspired by seeing life-size figures of the Nativity in Prague and Jennifer Norman talks about how the current incarnation came about with help from Geoff Lee, John Rounce, Richard May, Peter Turner and Helen Anderson and others no doubt.

The nativity scene and figures have had running repairs over the years, but apart from the Angel and sheep, are broadly the same as they were 26 years ago - a testament to the creativity, ingenuity and hard work of the original barn team and the tenacity of the current team to keep them going.

There were also some Christmas cards produced in the past to help with fund raising, one from 2011 and one from 2015 - both from photos by John Rounce.

Click on an image below to see it full-size, it may take a while to load as the images are quite big.
​

Pennyhooks Farm Trust

Some of you may have attended the Christmas Fayre at Pennyhooks on November 22nd, for those that weren't able to you can find our more about Pennyhooks and what they do here, including a video from Pennyhooks and a BBC program that was made.

You can donate too if you want to, there is a Christmas Crowdfunder running currently.

Root and Branch

Root and Branch also recently had a Winter Fayre in November, you can find out more about their work on their website, here.

You can also donate to Root and Branch using their JustGiving page.

Merry Christmas

Notice of temporary road closure for the Christmas eve procession. The Holloway Road from Foxley Cottage in the south to the junction with the B4019 between the hours of 17:00 and 18:15 on the 24 December 2025.

Link to notice.

The next Men's Night will be held in the Reading Room this Saturday from 6pm to 8pm (note change of time).

The format will be the same as before, drop in anytime from 6pm, bring along your own beverage of choice, it's all very informal, partners welcome to come along too.

The Reading Room has glasses so no need to bring anything else.

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
​