CGR_D – North Hinksey

Any personal information supplied to us within the comments that could identify anyone has been redacted and will not be shared or published in the report. Further information on data protection is available in our general consultation’s privacy statement on our Vale website.

1. How far do you agree or disagree with this proposal?
Answer Choice		Response Percent	Response Total
1	Strongly agree	12.5%	1
2	Agree	25.0%	2
3	Neither agree nor disagree	0.0%	0
4	Disagree	25.0%	2
5	Strongly disagree	37.5%	3
6	Not sure	0.0%	0
7	I don't have a view	0.0%	0
answered			8
skipped			157

2. If you have any comments on this proposal please provide them below:

Answer Choices

Response Percent

Response Total

Open-Ended Question

100.00%

1		Botley has been a forgotten part of VoWH with recently the Council failing to plan for its resources appropriately, removing funding from the West Way to pay for facilities elsewhere when there is a higher need here. It appears that the VoWH fail to recognise it as one of its main communities. So a change of name is much overdue. Plus the change from a Parish reflects the multicultural nature of the area.
2		Renaming to something like Botley and North Hinksey makes sense (in either order, ‘and’ or ‘with’, I don’t care), but I disagree with the suggestion of moving from ‘Parish’ to ‘Community’. A civil parish is a defined level of local government, a community council could be a statutory council (ie a parish one), or a non-statutory body. So a Parish Council has a definition, but a Community Council doesn’t, so I do not agree that the change would add any clarity - in fact, the opposite.
3		Agree with including Botley. Disagree with ‘community’. I know what a Parish council is, I don’t know what a community council is.
4		Community as secular rather than Parish as a local diocese term is preferable in our community which is changing and not based in christianity. I assume Botley needs to be included as we are now a larger local centre with the justification of the new Westway centre.
5		The boundaries of the Parish of North Hinksey are well-defined from historic times. "Botley" is not defined at all, and could be considered (and often is) to include Dean Court (in Cumnor Parish, of which it forms one electoral ward), and unspecified parts of West Oxford (in Oxford City), up as far east as St.Frideswide's church on the Botley Road. More modern building has of course led to developments in some places on both sides of the boundaries (as in many cities), but this does not invalidate their use for governance. The eastern boundary of N.Hinksey parish is the Seacourt stream of the river Thames, and a natural boundary. The western boundary with Cumnor Parish is less natural, and no similar alternative natural boundary suggests itself that would not result in the transfer of major parts of Cumnor Parish to North Hinksey. The same considerations apply to the use of the word "community", proposed in the change to a "community council", which implies that it would encompass within its remit major parts of Cumnor Parish, notably Dean Court ward. In recent practice North Hinksey Parish Council has shown little respect for the local community, notably in ignoring the decisive result of the Parish Poll, carried out in 2021, to keep the Scout Hut on the Louie Memorial Fields. There have been many complaints, official and unofficial, of the poor governance shown at Parish Council meetings, and in some of the decisions made there. I suspect that the suggestion for a "community council" is an attempt to make the Parish Council sound more community friendly. I therefore oppose the proposed change in name.
6		1. I prefer the name of the council to reflect a clearly defined administrative, geographical and/or historical area, in this case the Parish of North Hinksey and I wish the council to retain parish council status. 2. Inclusion of the name Botley risks confusion with New Botley, Botley Road, Old Botley and parts of Cumnor Parish which are sometimes referred to as Botley (e.g. Dean Court, Deanfield, Fogwell, lower Cumnor Hill). 3. The proposed new name is not inclusive. Although it includes the names of Botley and North Hinksey it excludes other development areas such as Harcourt Hill, Elms Rise and Tilbury Fields. 4. The proposal for a name and status change may reflect and progress a minority local political aspiration to enlarge the administrative area of what is now North Hinksey Parish to include parts of Cumnor Parish e.g. Eynsham Road, Dean Court, Deanfield, Fogwell and lower Cumnor Hill. This is not appropriate without first consulting the communities potentially affected. 5. Change of name and status to Community Council may offer unfair electoral advantage to Councillors belonging to the 'Councillors for our Community' group in North Hinksey Parish Council who put forward this request.
	Submitted at end of survey under ‘Any other comments’	This feels like a necessary change as we have now, through the redevelopment of the Westway centre moved from being a local community to a more significant centre of activity. Not necessarily a change I have supported but now it is here we need to make the best of it and see it for what it is.
	Submitted at end of survey under ‘Any other comments’	Explain what a community council is and the benefits of all changes proposed.

answered

skipped

159

3. Are you responding to this request as: (tick all that apply)
Answer Choice		Response Percent	Response Total
1	a resident within the parish	62.5%	5
2	someone who works within the parish	0.0%	0
3	a business / organisation operating within the parish	0.0%	0
4	a visitor or interested party	12.5%	1
5	a councillor (parish, district, county)	0.0%	0
6	an officer (parish, district, county)	0.0%	0
7	Other (please specify):	25.0%	2
answered			8
skipped			157

Other (please specify): (2)

1		Property owner, parent of school attendee in the parish and adjacent area resident.
2		A previous North Hinksey Parish Councillor and its Chair for three years.

23. If you are responding as a business / organisation, council or body please provide its name:
Answer Choices		Response Percent	Response Total
1	Open-Ended Question	0.00%	0
No answers found.
		answered	0
		skipped	165

24. To help us analyse responses, please provide the first part of your postcode (e.g. OX12 1)
Answer Choices		Response Percent	Response Total
1	Open-Ended Question	100.00%	8

		answered	8
		skipped	157

25. You can upload any supporting documents using the button below.
File Type	Average Size	Files Uploaded
To view the files uploaded, go into the individual results.	answered	0
To view the files uploaded, go into the individual results.	skipped	165