Sir, I wholeheartedly agree with (headline, Herald, January 22, ‘Grove fears identity loss’), in response to more housing being given the go-ahead at Stockham Farm and thus blurring the lines between the village of Grove and the town of Wantage.

What is more, at this rate, I fear for the identity loss of Wantage the market town. If the developers continue to get their way and the VWHDC continue to appear unable (unwilling?) to stand in the way of this continuous haphazard and piecemeal development, I fear Wantage will be an urban sprawl, with permanently clogged roads, half a link road, inadequate parking in town and kids being bussed to school all over the county. I find it staggering that Oxfordshire County Highways had “raised no objections to the plans in respect of road capacity”.

Where the heck have they been looking? Denchworth Road is fronted by housing and a school, is a major route to King Alfred’s Academy, has numerous mini-roundabouts and T-junctions and culminates in the infamous ‘Camel Roundabout’, which, a highways officer admitted under questioning at a public meeting, was a problem. How I wish the solution was thought to be a western link road but I fear the highways department think much smaller than that. Where oh where is our Local Plan? So, where does all this leave us? Not giving up applying pressure, I hope — and that’s up to us all.

In this vein, I congratulate the Wantage and Grove Campaign Group on quickly switching their attention to bringing pressure to bear on how Section 106 monies (developers paying for some infrastructure) are to be applied.

And well done to councillor Jenny Hannaby for continuing to try to unravel the red tape and seeking to clarify how to get the views of the local people taken into account. As for Dandara’s quoted views (on behalf of the developers) on sustainable housing, I’m speechless, for which some may well be truly thankful!

Mark Rowe

Highclere Gardens

Wantage