I think West Way redevelopment is a political issue. The decision to sell West Way, and the decision to make that sale conditional on Doric successfully gaining planning permission to demolish the heart of Botley and build the behemoth that is proposed, is political.

In 2011, the Lib Dem Vale administration, in collaboration with other property owners, listed the properties at the main corner in Botley for sale. Proceeds were intended to improve the West Way shopping centre.

Later in 2011, voters put the Tories in power. A decision to sell the corner site to Doric was quickly followed by a decision to sell West Way shopping centre to Doric too. The sale of both sites was conditional on Doric gaining planning permission for a much larger scheme that demolished the entire centre of Botley – businesses, residences and vicarage.

Since then, local Lib Dems have worked with this community to get the Tories to drop the Doric deal. We’ve presented petitions, tabled motions to full council, and provided information to the newspapers. And the Tories? Leader of the Vale Council Matthew Barber is unreservedly supportive of Doric. Your local Tory councillor has been on the radio alongside Doric, giving his support. But our Tory MP, Nicola Blackwood, is opposed to the plans. (Clearly they aren’t united in the issues they support.) I asked the Vale CEO what we could do to fight this plan. He said the only way was to vote differently in May 2015.

Debby Hallett Sycamore Road Oxford

Today’s letters

 

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