Dean Pit

A DECISION to shelve plans for a new recycling centre in Chipping Norton has met with a stinging rebuke from the town council. West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) had planned to convert the depot at Greystones into a recycling facility, following the closure of Dean Pit in September 2011.

The £190,000 project had been ongoing for almost two years due to delays over negotiations for a strip of land belonging to the town council, which WODC needed to widen for access. After months of wrangling, the district council could not agree to the town council’s request for £5,000 per year in rent and at a meeting last week, cabinet members decided they were unable to proceed.

The council also said a fall in the value of recycling materials has meant the site would now make a loss of nearly £43,000 rather than the £742 profit it first predicted. Chipping Norton mayor Mike Tysoe said: “They got the figures wrong from the beginning and they’ve wasted a year-and-a-half of our time

“If it doesn’t happen it’s not because of the greed of Chipping Norton Town Council, it’s because of the inefficiency of West Oxfordshire.” District Councillor Annie Roy-Barker, who is also a town Councillor, said the Conservative-led WODC’s handling of Greystones was the final straw and she has resigned from the party to become an Independent.

“I just couldn’t see how I could successfully work with my ex-colleagues on district after their gross, unnecessary discourtesy towards Chipping Norton Town Council and me personally at previous meetings,” she said. “I was absolutely appalled by some of the things that were said. I am still firmly behind the Tory party nationally.”

Councillor Simon Hoare, WODC cabinet member for resources, said they were “deeply disappointed”. “We are a small district council and the cabinet has decided that we could not and should not expose council tax payers to exposure to market variations and undue risk. It’s a disappointing position to be in but I believe the right one at the current time.”

Cotswold Journal.

“They got the figures wrong from the beginning and they’ve wasted a year-and-a-half of our time" says Mayor Mike Tysoe.

Looks like the blame has fallen on the shoulders of the town council for not rolling over to WODC's demands to let them have a bigger access for now't, DC Annie Roy Barkers account of how she was treated by WODC further goes to show how arrogantly WODC regards Chipping Norton Town Council and it's residents.

Nice shiny road.

Let me remind the everyone how WODC's contempt on this issue started, This first came to council during my time as a town councillor, the original planning application was not to relocate the Reclamation Centre but move the Albion Street depot to Greystones [incidentally I have just seen a FOR SALE sign above the Albion Street building]  with the additional facility to store waste bins?, however the devil was in the detail, hidden in the application was permission to employ up to 30 operatives?? Open 6-8 pm 365 days a year which was clearly an indication it was to be open to the public.

A WODC officer came to a council meeting and was asked to explain this, his reply was that they always did this in this type of application? after many questions he assured the council it was not their intention to relocate the reclamation centre to Greystones just store empty bins for future use, besides WODC was looking at several other possible sites to re-locate the reclamation centre one being Enstone (presumably the airfield?) the final question, how much was WODC earmarking for the move? Much to everyone's amazement £1million pounds he said, 'that includes new facilities and de-commissioning Dean Pit.

Infrastructure still in place

Fast forward- when it was announced publicly Dean Pit was to close I spoke to one of the employees working there and said to him I wonder where it was going to which he relied; Chipping Norton, it's moving to Greystones at Chipping Norton.

As for WODC having the cheek claiming of delays over wrangling, again during my time of town councillor, Councillor Gerry Alcock took on the onerous task over many months of freeing Greystones House (owned by the town council) of a covenant on it held by WODC that took many  delays over petty disagreements by their legal department as WODC "owned" one small back room in the building, in the meantime the house was further vandalised through lack of progress with WODC.

Strangely it was not settled until after Oxfordshire County Council took £200,000 from the £400,000 covenant from the sale of Parker Knoll for job creation in the town (money held by OCC) the £200,000 being Chipping Norton's contribution from the sale of Greystones House, possibly knowing the building would be virtually worthless with reclamation bins right next to it now leaving Chippy with a dead duck the value dropping from £190,000 to £90,000 virtually overnight, now wasn't that lucky for OCC??? 

Not CCTV surely?

Must be something dangerous in there?

It appears County Hall spends £5,000-a-year to maintain the licence for Dean Pit and meet its “ongoing legal obligation to look after the landfill site”, how ridiculous when it was OCC who ensured it's closure, perhaps we need to inform our local MP how ridiculous it looks where the District Council quibbled over paying £5,000 a year to open one tip and yet the County Council pays £5,000 a year for one that is shut!

Still there could be a ray of sunshine on the horizon over Dean Pit, as you can see from the photo the infrastructure at Dean is still there along with a shiny new road surface, since David Cameron's campaign manager and mentor Lord Chadlington President of West Oxfordshire Conservative President lobbied Oxfordshire County Council at his own expense to close Dean pit there has been a regime change at County Hall where the Conservatives no longer have an overall majority so quite possibly Charlbury Councillor Liz Leffman with support could get Dean Tip open again.