Village has become so big it’s now a town
The town vs. village rivalry has geared up in one leafy Cotswolds spot.
You might think that living in a town is the dream – supposedly more of a buzz, services and maybe less potholes.
However, the debate is far from clear-cut in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, where locals are aching over the village’s transformation into a town.
The 13,000-strong village was one of the biggest villages in Britain and Europe, with a proud history and records going back to the Domesday Book.
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It was all business as usual in the well-to-do village until the parish council decided to turn it officially into a town.
Locals were consulted before the vote last week, but many remain unhappy about the turn of events.
Some are keen to remain ‘villagers,’ saying that the council tax bill will go up.
They also fear Kidlington will lose its designation as one of the largest villages in the UK.
And then there is the pesky bureaucracy, and concern that more money will be dished out to councillors instead of residents.
What have locals said?
Tony Lewis, 81, a pensioner who has lived in Kidlington for nearly 40 years, said: ‘It’s a bad step because we had the distinction of being the biggest village in England.
‘Now we are just another little town.
‘The other thing is that once you become a town people want a mayor and a town council, loads more councillors and the rates will go up like mad.
‘So we’d be spending a lot more money for the privilege of being something which is totally unnecessary.
‘I believe money should have been allocated to other things like potholes for instance.
‘The roads are in the most disgraceful state I have ever seen.’
But the town designation could have unexpected perks for NIMBY folk (Not In My Backyard), concerned about plans for more housing surrounding the semi-rural area.
This is because changes to the government’s planning rules last year mean that green belt land around towns is awarded greater protection, while green belt land around villages is downgraded to grey belt.
Gloria Mundy, 72, who has called Kidlington home since 1975, said she ‘can’t see any advantages’ in the town designation.
She said: ‘I would prefer it to be a village – it just got more of a community feel to it.
‘A town to me seems something that it’s not. I don’t know what it represents being a town.
‘My experience, when things like that are said I have very little faith because it never comes to fruition.
What is the definition of a city?
There is no set threshold when a town is upgraded into a city.
City status is given by the monarch to population hubs, which meet the generally agreed definition of a city.
And just having the word ‘city’ in the name doesn’t necessarily mean the place has the official status.
Several big towns with more than 200,000 residents can dwarf some small cities.
Towns usually have more than 2,000 inhabitants, although there is no official definition. It will be larger than a village but bigger than a city, and traditionally have a market, high street and a town council.
A typical British village has around 2,000 and 5,000 people, a pub, church and village hall.
Last but not least are hamlets, which are small rural settlements made of a cluster of homes without a pub or any services.
‘I can’t see by being a town it’s going to improve.’
Lifelong resident Robert Allen, 49, said he had no ‘sentimental attachment’ to Kiddlington waving its village status.
He continued: ‘We were the biggest village in Europe, what did that actually lead to? It’s not like it became a tourist destination as a result of it.
‘If Kidlington becomes a suburb of Oxford and if that improves the actual overall standard in Kidlington if there’s more money for policing, for improving the roads and some of the parks then great I am happy for it.
‘You wake up and you still live in Kidlington. It was always a large village and now it might be a small town, you know? I don’t think it’s going to affect anyone’s day to day lives.’
Councillors said the move would make Kidlington more defensible from ‘land grabs’ and prevent it from being absorbed into Oxford.
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