Sustainable Didcot and young people from Didcot TRAIN recently helped put in new planting with a bee-friendly focus outside Cornerstone Arts Centre.  The bright new recycled steel planters and reclaimed hardwood benches, paid for by a government fund, have been welcomed by local people and have added a welcome splash of colour to this busy open space.   

Following local engagement, we now have designs for improving biodiversity along Station Road and Hitchcock Way from Foxhall roundabout to Jubilee roundabout.  We are working with landowners for permissions to install new plants, trees and wildflower areas along these busy routes in town and will put more plants into the courtyard at Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot.  

Our contractors are also developing plans for three other areas in Didcot. They have met with Ladygrove Residents’ Association, and Didcot Parkrun and asked other residents at our last Community Update meeting to hear their views on creating a community space around Ladygrove Loop. This spring we should receive final designs for this area, which will include play equipment, large wildflower areas and fruit trees.  

Our contractors are starting to look at two routes in south Didcot and on Great Western Park. They have met with local groups to discuss how people use and access the routes and how to make the areas more interesting and engaging. Designs for these routes will be coming later this year.   

If you are interested in finding out more about these projects in our Didcot Green Infrastructure Strategy(PDF)

We paid for consultants to prepare a community-led plan, known as the Didcot LCWIP, that informs planning decisions and identifies local level cycling and walking infrastructure improvements including new and improved routes to benefit the health and wellbeing of local people, the strategy.  Visit our documents library to read the Didcot LCWIP. 

Members of the Steering Group, and interested parties, have been working together to share information on projects they have been working on, will be doing or would like to do in the future.  We have fed this data into an Action Plan to help identify partners and organisations that can work together to address the identified health inequalities for some residents.  

The Action Plan is a live document that is evolving under the leadership of the multi-agency steering group.  

Thank you to all our Didcot community partners who have co -produced the Healthy Didcot Action Plan with us, creating a resource and platform to recognise, grow and support all the incredible health focused work being delivered in Didcot presently and in the future.  Key priorities in the Action Plan include communication and development, wellbeing, health and built and maintained environments, using the Didcot Community Health Insight recommendations to focus the work.     

To contribute to the Action Plan with Health and Wellbeing work in Didcot complete the Healthy Didcot Template and return to didcotgardentown@southandvale.gov.uk

We are delighted to share our Public Art plan for Didcot. The plan centres on sustainability and nature, connecting residents to their surroundings and celebrating visual responses to our landscapes – something that everyone can get involved in. 

The plan will focus on leading by example, the evolving identity of Didcot and inviting people to share their stories and celebrate different cultures.  With connectivity, movement, innovation, science, technology, and transformation as our commissioning approaches. Download Didcot Public Art Plan (PDF)

We have been progressing the Cow Lane Connecting Communities Project, which aims to transform the underpass into a safer, more welcoming and visually appealing route linking the town centre with green spaces to the north of Didcot and the railway station. The project has been made possible through funding from Great Western Railway’s Community Investment Fund, along with additional support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

If you’ve passed through Didcot Railway Station recently, you may have spotted the first phase of artwork now in place. This installation marks the beginning of a creative trail that will eventually extend all the way to the Cow Lane underpass. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with commuters and residents stopping to enjoy and engage with the new visuals. 

“The artwork has made a real positive impact to the station and its visitors.  It tells a story of Didcot and triggers thoughts and memories; it means something to people.” Kim Higgs, Station Manager 

To continue the Garden Town’s environment and sustainability projects we have enabled local groups to help provide advice on how to reduce home energy use and costs.  

We were thrilled with the attendance and engagement at our Energy Champion training. We worked with the Low Carbon Hub to provide the training, which aims to reach those in the community who need the most support to reduce energy bills and create warmer homes. Our local Energy Champions are now helping to reach residents and embed energy saving and efficiency initiatives within our community. One participant said “the resource box will be invaluable for increasing knowledge going forward”.  

Want to know more about keeping warm during winter? Our Energy Champions can come and visit organisations and groups to share more. Contact didcotgardentown@southandvale.gov.uk for bookings. Visit Low Carbon Hub website to find out more about their work.

Visit the Sustainable Didcot website if you want to sign up for the Wildlife Garden Charter that we helped to set up by providing flyers, charter plaques and free seeds. 

We provided resources to help colleagues set up this innovative trail. Visit the Didcot Nature Trail website page.

The annual summertime Didcot Garden Party, originally created and delivered by the Didcot Garden Town team, is a vibrant celebration of community, offering a colourful programme of affordable and free events across central Didcot and surrounding areas during the school summer holidays. 

Through imaginative programming and meaningful community engagement, the Didcot Garden Town team has brought people together to celebrate health and wellbeing, active lifestyles, and sustainable living. 

As the programme evolves, a growing number of local organisations and community groups are now taking the lead in hosting Garden Party events across the area. With a strong focus on legacy and long‑term sustainability, we are supporting this transition, ensuring the Garden Party continues to flourish and grow within the community. 

We’ve been working on providing new signage around the town to help new and existing residents to find the wide and varied walkways and cycle paths in Didcot. This year we hope to install new information boards, signage posts, community information boards and way-markers along paths and roads in Didcot. The wayfinding scheme is has been based on the Wayfinding Strategy, which was approved by the councils’ Cabinet last year.

Wayfinding toolkit – our contractors have put together a toolkit to help developers and others to introduce their own wayfinding scheme using the same designs and principles that we’ve used in Didcot. Here’s a link to the wayfinding toolkit for all the signage. Find out more in our Wayfinding Strategy (PDF)

The Eco Fair took place at Cornerstone, bringing together a wide range of local eco‑friendly organisations from in and around Didcot. Visitors enjoyed an eco‑marketplace offering unique sustainable goods and gifts, learned about the work of local environmental groups, and took part in hands‑on activities and arts and crafts throughout the day. Hundreds of local people attended the family-friendly event hosted by South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils with support from community action group, Sustainable Didcot.

Cllr Helen Pighills, said: “While we were pleased to offer a platform for small companies offering climate-friendly goods and services, it was also lovely that so many children were able to come and enjoy the activities on offer, so we can get the ‘green’ message to the younger generation.”

We partnered with the International Tree Foundation (ITF) and Community Action Group (CAG) Oxfordshire to pay for and give away 140 trees to residents living in the Didcot Garden Town area.  

Residents applied to the ITF and were allocated crab apple, hazel and silver birch trees amongst others. Each tree has a guide on how best to plant the trees, so they get the best possible start. 

Organisers were given a helping hand by Leaders of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils who joined the efforts at the library where they were being distributed.      

Using government funding we installed three bike repair stations in Didcot, at Didcot Wave in Newlands Avenue, at the District Community Centre on Great Western Park and outside Cineworld at the Orchard Centre.  

Cyclists in Didcot can now make fixes on the go.  The stations include a bike stand, an array of tools including a hex key set, Philips and flat screwdriver and an adjustable spanner, and a pump with pressure gauge so that cyclists can make small repairs or tune up while out and about. As well as bike repairs, they can be used for wheelchairs and prams.   

We supported successful ‘driverless’ bus trials carried out by a government funded conglomerate of MEPC Milton Park, First Bus and the University of the West of England.  Around 1,400 people took part in the trials, which included a free bus service connecting Milton Park with Didcot Parkway railway station.   

The trials used electric buses and gathered lots of information about how the buses react to problems such as when to enter a roundabout or stopping for a person crossing the road. During the trials there was always a human driver ready to take over in case of a problem and because national legislation is needed to allow completely driverless transport. 

We supported preparation of a placemaking strategy, Options Appraisal Report and associated Technical Note for three main routes known collectively as the Didcot Central Corridor.  Led by Oxfordshire County Council’s Highways teams the work identified options for improving roads, footpaths and cycleways and is integrated several other Garden Town projects including wayfinding, green infrastructure and public art.  To learn more about the project visit Didcot Central Corridor. 

We have input wherever we can with plans for highways infrastructure improvements that are required to enable development in Didcot.  These projects include the Highways Infrastructure (HIF1) improvements and the Northern Perimeter Road extension (NPR3)

To ensure that new development follows principles set out in the Didcot Garden Town Delivery Plan the team regular responds to major planning applications, such as those over ten dwellings, in and around Didcot.  Proposals that we have commented on range from the Homes England Gateway masterplan to developments at Valley Park and North East Didcot. 

Similarly we respond to emerging planning policies including Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.  The following Neighbourhood Plans have been made in and around Didcot: Culham, Clifton Hampden, Long Wittenham, East Hagbourne, Blewbuey, Chilton, Steventon and Sutton Courtenay.  Western Valley and Didcot are preparing Neighbourhood Plans and Harwell has applied for area designation.  To see emerging Plans visit the Vale of White Horse Neighbour Plans or South Oxfordshire Neighbourhood Plans.  

We also contributed to the preparation of two Local Development Orders (LDOs), one for Milton Park and one called D-Tech LDO for the development of data centres north of Didcot.