Window on Wallingford has been ‘at the heart’ of the South Oxfordshire town since 1962, sharing news and information on what’s going with locals for free.

Run solely by volunteers, support dwindled in recent years, and by February the production of the monthly magazine had fallen on the shoulders of a single person.

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The lack of a magazine for the past six months led a group of volunteers to organise themselves into a new committee, promising to relaunch the valued resource beginning with a fundraising campaign to get it off the ground.

A group of volunteers are fundraising to relaunch Window on Wallingford (Image: Dean Valler)

One of the volunteers, internal communications manager Dean Valler, 48, said the group plans to bring a ‘vibrant new look and feel’ to the newsletter.

H said: ‘We are not short on inspiration living in a town with so much going on and so many aspects of life to highlight and are all energised by the prospect of once again seeing Window on Wallingford hot off the press and informing everyone.

“Plus, we have our mascot, Wowly, for people to keep an eye out for.

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“First, though, we are looking for people’s support to get behind this.

“We are a small group of enthusiastic volunteers, happy to work for free, and would appreciate anything anyone can give to cover the costs of producing our first issue and making our ambition a reality, for the benefit of everyone in Wallingford.”

They’re hoping to raise £1,500 to get it back up and running, and are being supported by Wallingford for All CIC.

On July 16, Will Boucher-Giles stepped down from the authority, leaving the Lib Dem administration without a majority on the council weeks after it had regained control.

The former representative for Chesterton and Launton has left his role “due to a family move to Switzerland”, a Lib Dem spokesperson has confirmed.

The party will continue to run the county council in a minority as they did after councillors Ben Higgins and Nick Cotter left the party in quick succession – this could mean it will have to seek support from other parties to pass its policies.

Mr Higgins has since re-joined the Lib Dems, restoring its majority for just under a month until Mr Boucher-Giles’ departure.

Councillor Ben Higgins (centre) back on the Lib Dem bench (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

Lib Dem council leader Tim Bearder had said Mr Higgins’ return was “providing stability so that we can get on with the job” of running the county.

On the latest departure, Conservative county leader and West Oxfordshire councillor Liam Walker said: “Oxfordshire deserves better than the chaos we’ve seen over recent months.

“Most importantly, the residents of the Chesterton and Launton division deserve strong, consistent representation.

“Instead, they’ve been taken for granted by the Liberal Democrats.”

A by-election is set to take place, and a party spokesperson said the Oxfordshire Lib Dems hope to take back their majority at the county council with “an opportunity to campaign on their record, which includes delivering safer roads in local villages and record investment in county council services”.

Buttercross Lane will be getting an improved drain, which is set to be installed in the coming weeks, funded by the public purse.

The Witney development, which is built on the site of a former industrial works in the town centre, has had repeated problems with flooding over recent years.

Over the last winter period the estate flooded several times, with one householder, who asked to remain anonymous, describing the situation as ‘appalling’.

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The householder said: “I can’t leave my house today as I can’t drive my car through this.

“This is the worst it’s ever been it’s appalling and the council think the solution is to send a deism lorry once on a while.

Water being pumped away (Image: Cllr Thomas Ashby)

“It’s totally unacceptable – a failure of their adoption of road management and safety – I’m at a loss with what to do.”

Initially Oxfordshire County Council put in place low-level drainage tanks to provide interim relief but now a more permanent solution is to be delivered.

The drainage improvements will be carried out from August 3 to August 28, with warning signs set to be installed at the junction of Station Lane and Buttercross Lane.

Buttercross Lane will be closed from its junction with Willowbank during the works.

(Image: Oxfordshire County Council)

Liz Leffman, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways construction and repair, said: “Residents have had to put up with flooding at this location for far too long due to a lack of proper maintenance by the developer prior to the road’s adoption by the council as highways authority.

“Officers have worked hard to come up with a solution to this problem, which was far from straightforward to resolve.”

Cllr Thomas Ashby on Buttercross Lane (Image: Cllr Thomas Ashby)

It appears the work will come from the taxpayer’s pocket, which Conservative councillor Thomas Ashby is unhappy about.

He said: “While I am deeply disappointed that taxpayers are footing the bill for a development that should have included proper drainage from the start, I appreciate the council officers’ hard work in designing a robust fix.

In 2017 South Swindon MP Robert Buckland (centre) presented an award to MD Peter Mapson (right) (Image: NQ)

“Thank you to the residents of Buttercross Lane and the entire Buttercross Estate for your continued patience while I worked hard behind the scenes to get this secured.”

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This comes after this paper revealed that Bower Mapson, the house-builder that developed Buttercross Works in Witney, owes a total of £434,164.

In a summary of its financial statements up to March 31 last year – as published on Companies House – it said the firm owed £145 to trade creditors, £233,020 to other creditors and £200,999 to participating interests.

The document was filed on November 21, just days after Peter Mapson was officially removed as a director for the Swindon-based company on October 28.