Category Archives: News

LVCA Chairman’s Update

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Well summer is upon us, although some days it feels more like autumn or winter, I hope you’re enjoying the good weather when it’s here. Here’s my latest update on the LVCA’s activity.

The hall improvements continue, we are fast approaching the refurb of the ladies’ toilets, work taking place from August 12th – 25th is to bring them to the same look and standard as the gents and access toilet. We have been very fortunate to obtain government funding via Cherwell District Council which has given us the bulk of the costs, while we’ll also be using our own funding to pay the difference.

We have submitted a grant application for an upgrade to a heating control system that works with our online booking system that identifies what the required temperature is and uses indoor and outdoor probes to know when to put the heating on and for how long to heat the room to the required temperature. Within this grant application we have asked for more loft insulation. We hope to get an answer soon.

We will be starting in the autumn to apply for grants in the hope we can raise enough funding to upgrade the kitchen and install a dishwasher, hopefully this will complete the refurb for the next few years.

The VAS (vehicle speed indicator) unit has been along by the school for several weeks now and we have the first stats reports which will be published on facebook and our website shortly. It’s been a very useful tool and hopefully reminds people about their speed. We still have a few ‘boy racers’ who spoil things for the rest of us. We will continue to move the unit around as a reminder to continue the good speeds that the vast majority of people are adopting on the estate.

We now have agreement to replace all the street name signs on old Langford that are still the original ones. These will be done in batches hopefully during the financial year, all of which smartens us up and makes it once again easy for visitors to read the street names.

The general election has delayed the exhibition of the proposed two London Road options and as yet we don’t know when these will now be revealed. Please watch our facebook for updates.

We have had more changes to the 108 bus service through Langford. These started on July 1st, we have published the new timetable on our website for viewing or downloading a copy. You can click here to do so right now.

Finally, LVCA is in need of some help in the form of a person with a few hours to spare to assist in the administration of the classes we now run. This can all be done from home and just requires IT literacy. There must be someone amongst the 5,500 residents of Langford that can help with this.

Please contact me via email or phone if you’d like to discuss:

chairman@lvca.org.uk (tel: 07811 283257)

Kind Regards,

Carole

Carole Hetherington

Chairman, Langford Village Community Association (LVCA)

Voting arrangements for New Langford residents

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We’ve been notified ( via Councillor Cotter ) that residents of New Langford will need to go to the Garth to cast their vote at the General Election called for July 4th 2024. 

The previously used temporary polling station sited on Corncrake Way will NOT be in place and so we’re helping to give early notice of this to all on New Langford. 

The decision to make a polling station at the Garth instead of on Corncrake has been taken by the elections team based at Cherwell District Council. There has been no explanation.

Some residents have already expressed concern about this change and feel it is either too difficult or too distant for them to get to the Garth to vote.

If this is the case, there are two alternatives that New Langford residents can consider. You could choose to register to make your vote by post or by proxy, where you give another person permission to go to your local polling station and to make a vote as per your instruction.  

To apply for a postal vote the deadline is 5pm on June 19th and you should click here to read more and follow the instructions.

To apply for a proxy vote the deadline is 5pm on June 26th and to learn more you should click here and see if you wish to choose this method.

The polling station at Langford Village Community Centre will also be open on July 4th and remains the place for residents of original Langford Village areas to vote. People with New Langford addresses are not able to vote at the Hall and must go to the Garth on election day.

All polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm and voters are reminded that they must now provide an accepted form of photo id in order to be able to vote.

EWR Update for Spring/Summer 2024

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To read the latest newsletter produced by East West Rail please click here.

EWR has also recently announced that because of the General Election called for July 4th there will now be a delay in revealing its findings on the possible route of a new crossing at or near London Road.

Originally this information was expected to be unveiled in June but this will not now happen until a later date which is so far unstated.

The Welcome to Langford leaflet is here

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Do you know of new people who’re moving onto Langford Village?

Langford Village Community Association and FLTR Coffee have recently worked together to produce a leaflet with essential local information to assist all Langford newcomers as they start to settle in here.

All our local Bicester estate agents and letting agencies now have supplies of the leaflet to hand out and there are also some in FLTR and at the Langford Village Community Centre Hall, in Nightingale Place, OX26 6XX.

Please ask any new residents if they’ve received a leaflet and, if they haven’t got one, encourage them to pick up a copy soon – or you could help out by dropping a copy to them.

Many thanks,

Carole, Chairman LVCA

Preparing for the next EWR consultation

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Understanding the formal process for a solution to London Road Crossing

Every person on Langford Village should be involved with the process beginning in June regarding the EWR proposals for the solution to London Road Crossing. 

On May 9th we all get a chance to understand this process before we see the proposals in the following month.

EWR are holding an event at Weyland Hall in Bicester from 2.00pm to 7.00pm on that day which is open to all.

This event is designed to help people understand the statutory consultation and Development Consent Order (DCO) processes. Members of the EWR DCO and engagement teams will attend to answer any questions and queries people might have.

These sessions are not formal consultation events and there will be no specific design information or proposals available to view, however that design information will of course be available at the statutory consultation, where there will then be the opportunity to share feedback about the proposals.

June will see the first phase of the statutory consultation and we will have sight of the first plans of the two proposed sites for a bridge for access to town to replace the London Road crossing at which people will be able to give feedback.

One of the proposals, as far as we know, is to have a bridge over the railway at Gavray Drive, anyone backing on to or near Gavray needs to be ready to comment as it would mean Gavray being turned into much busier road with an extra 7.000 vehicle  journeys daily. it also means we have lost an access road into town as that would feed into Launton Road.

The other proposal, as far as we know, is a curved bridge alongside London Road cutting through the carparks near the ambulance building and coming down along Station Approach, a much more sensible option retaining an existing road into town.

Whatever happens will have a huge impact on everyone south of London Road Crossing.

Carole

Chairman, Langford Village Community Association

Your LVCA progress report (February 2024)

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I thought it would be of interest to keep you updated about what the LVCA committee has been involved with over recent months and share our success stories.

✅ We have spent nearly three years battling with Thames Water regarding the state of the paths around Jubilee Lake. At long last they have repaired some of the damaged surfaces around the lake. Sadly, they ignored the pathway from Avocet Way to the lake, and the pathway from the post box opposite Shearwater Drive to the lake. They have been incredibly difficult to deal with.

✅ We hope you like the improvements to the play area in Langford Park, we worked with Bicester Town Council (BTC) and are delighted with the upgraded play equipment. 

✅ We are loving the new signs erected to Langford Park, plus the information board, the two new seats, and the information posts to encourage children to find out information. Again, we have been involved with BTC on the improvements

✅ Over the next few weeks you will see some road name signs replaced, we have worked with Cherwell District Council to bring this about. We hope gradually to get all the old signs replaced however have concentrated on the worse ones.

✅ We have obtained another socket for the speed awareness device, which will be situated near the school. Once this has been installed, we will move the device to this location.

We are currently trying to obtain grants to undertake the refurb of the ladies’ toilets in the summer holidays plus a grant for loft insulation which is needed.

We hope you approve of the things we are tackling to improve Langford Village and the Community Centre for us all to enjoy. 

Kind Regards,

Carole

Carole Hetherington

Chairman, Langford Village Community Association (LVCA)

Langford’s New Bus Service Goes Live

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PLEASE ‘USE IT OR LOSE IT’

Langford Village now has a Monday to Saturday bus service on a restricted timetable. It would be wonderful to get a more comprehensive timetable, however it all depends on usage. This is the number 108 bus.

You can catch a bus into Bicester town centre at 11.00am and 14.10pm and there are returns from the town centre at 11.20am and 14.30pm – far from perfect however it’s a start.

I am concerned that there are people living on Langford Village who may still be unaware of this service. Please would you let any neighbours know who may not be on social media. Although the service exists it’s not being well used currently.

Many thanks, Carole – Chairman Langford Village Community Association ( LVCA)

(Please see the timetable posted here and please address any questions or enquires about the service direct to the Oxford Bus Company, which runs it.)

To PRINT OFF a timetable just click here for a pdf version that’s handy to keep with you.

Additional Langford Traffic Data

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We now have our second set of statistics from our speed sign, stating again for clarity, this is NOT a speed camera. It does not record any number plate details.  Also, for the avoidance of doubt, the LVCA does not have an objective of getting a 20mph speed limit on Langford, it simply wants to raise speed awareness on our estate.

This set of data is for vehicles traveling from the Pipits Croft roundabout towards Ravencroft and Kestrel junctions, so when exiting the estate.  The statics are for a four week period starting Monday 13th November and ending Sunday 10th December.  During this time some 58,462 vehicles passed the sign in one direction, which averages 2,000 per day, or 4,000 per day if you assume an equal number of vehicles in the opposite direction.

The chart below puts traffic in 5 mph buckets, so for example 28,220 vehicles passed the sign doing 25mph to 30mph.  A total of 13,167 vehicles travelled past the sign above the 30mph speed limit, which equates to 22.5% of all vehicles, compared with the 12% that  exceeded the speed limit when the sign was located near Shearwater and Avocet junctions.  For context, nationally 50% of drivers break the 30mph speed  limit, which was somewhat surprising to me.

(Clicking on any chart will make it larger and more easy to read on your device)

The chart below is complex, it shows that on average that vehicles are traveling below 30mph, however we do have a considerable number of vehicles traveling at 35,40, 45mph etc, with one vehicle hitting 60mph.

The chart below provides the daily volumes for a single week.

The final chart, shows the flow of traffic through the day, highlighting a considerable morning peak in traffic flow.

The primary objective of the speed sign is to encourage us all to drive at a safe speed on our roads on our estate.  We hope you find these insights useful.  The speed sign has now been positioned to monitor vehicles entering our estate from the Kestrel Way and Ravencroft direction.  In the New Year a new socket will be installed near the school, and enable us to provide statics on vehicles using this stretch of road.

In the meantime, from us all at the LVCA, have a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

Laurence Gray, LVCA Committee Member

Latest Langford Traffic Speed Data

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Following on from the original set of data from our local speed sign, we thought it would be interesting to take a sample week in order to share some more insights.  Specifically for the 7 days starting Monday 16th October, the following charts show:

  1. Volume of vehicles passing the sign per  day.
  2. Average volume of vehicles passing the sign per hour of the day.
  3. The range of speeds vehicles are passing the sign per hour of the day.

Please note, the sign records vehicles one direction only, so the true number of vehicles passing the sign is doubled if you assume the same number of vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. Clicking on any of the charts makes them bigger and easier to read.

On a week day, approx. 1,700 pass the sign. If you double that to take into account vehicles traveling in the opposite direction, that is 3,400 vehicles – a surprisingly busy stretch of road.

The above chart shows the high volumes of vehicles per hour during the morning and early evening periods.

This is a complex chart, it does show that on average vehicles are traveling below 30 miles per hour. However, during peak times each day we have a considerable number of vehicles traveling at 35, 40, 45 and even 50 miles per hour down this stretch of road. Let’s all play our part in keeping this busy road safe for all residents of our estate.

You’re welcome to leave a comment on this post here or to join in the conversations about this same topic on the Langford Life facebook page.

Laurence Gray, LVCA Committee Member